New Products

MiniLab153 oil analysis system[/caption]

Oil analysis

Spectro Scientific introduced the MiniLab153 oil analysis system for on-site lubricant analysis. This new version adds an elemental analyzer for the detection of contaminants, additives and wear metals. It is derived from the line of Spectroil Q100 RDE-OES (rotating disc electrode optical emission spectrometers). The MiniLab153 system allows plant personnel to perform consistently accurate analyses. A complete lab-quality measurement can be obtained on-site in less than 20 minutes. It analyzes oil for contamination, chemistry and machinery wear by integrating instrumentation for particle count, viscosity, infrared spectroscopy, ferrous wear and particle characterization. www.spectrosci.com

Monitoring small turbines

Condition monitoring specialist, Sensonics, has released the DN26 G3 protection monitor for smaller plants and equipment, such as pumps, fans, motors, centrifuges, turbines and other small-to-medium size machinery. DN26 G3 offers a dedicated speed monitor channel, which can also be used as a phase reference for harmonic analysis of the vibration signals. It is field upgradable and can be programmed for a variety of measurement options. It is available with mains voltage or +24V dc power supply options. It can accept accelerometers and velometers, proximity probes, and active and passive speed probes. www.sensonics.co.uk

Star-CCM+ upgrade

CD-adapco has released Star-Cast v11.02, the casting simulation add-on for Star- CCM+. It features a high-pressure, die-casting module, providing casting engineers with a tool for designing stronger, lighter and higher-quality casted parts. Defects in high-pressure die casting, such as gas inclusions and misruns, are hard to control and remain a challenge. This process has been difficult to simulate due to the complexity of the physical processes including multiphase flows consisting of both melt and gas. Star-Cast resulted from a partnership with Access e.V. www.cd-adapco.com

Trip system

Elliott Group has introduced a pneumatic trip system with partial stroke actuation for steam turbines (STs). The partial stroke pneumatic trip system provides turbine operators with a way to test the trip valve without interfering with the turbine's operation or its ability to trip. Testing the trip system on a regular basis can mean the difference between the turbine tripping when necessary and catastrophic failure. Elliott's system completes a partial stroke of the trip valve within seconds. It is available for new STs and retrofits. Operators can initiate the partial stroke locally or remotely via a distributed control system (DCS). Standard DCS hardware is suitable for either application. www.elliott-turbo.com.

Saturated steam mobile boiler

Nationwide Boiler has begun production on the world’s largest mobile boiler. The previous unit was a 120,000 lb/hr, 400 psi design saturated steam boiler, which was an active part of Nationwide Boiler’s rental fleet. This newest boiler is a 125,000 lb/hr low-NOx, O-type boiler built by Babcock & Wilcox. It will be mounted on a custom 6-axle, low-boy trailer. Designed at 750 psig, it will provide operating pressures for saturated steam applications from 250 psig to 675 psig. The boiler will be equipped with a low- NOx natural gas burner, FD fan and TEFC motor with VFD, fully metered combustion controls, a NEMA 4X panel, EconoStak economizer, stub stack and all flues, ducts and valving. An optional SCR is available for down to 2.5 ppm NOx. The boiler system is scheduled to be ready this fall and will be available for shipment worldwide. www.nationwideboiler.com

CNC machining

Okuma’s MU-4000V is a 5-axis, multi-sided machining center that is well suited for the aerospace, and die and mold industries. It provides high-speed, process-intensive machining combined with turning and 5- axis multitasking. It features a large work envelope and base in a compact footprint. The machine mass is 9,700kg. It supports spindles ranging from 12K to 25K RPM. www.okuma.com

Combined cycle fans

Howden American Fan has released a range of fan product lines for industrial boilers, gas turbines (GTs) and heat-recovery steam generators (HRSGs) in combined cycle installations. Howden’s direct-drive fans include the AF line of cast-aluminum, medium-pressure blowers, nine types of backwardly inclined fans, as well as turbo pressure blowers and industrial exhausters. Also available are dual skid-mounted fan assemblies, including two fans connected to a common diverter damper, all mounted on a common unitary channel sub-base. www.americanfan.com

Eliminating cross talk

Alliance Sensors Group has solved the ageold problem of cross talk between sensors even if the master signal conditioner fails. When signal cables are bundled together or laid close to each other in a wire trough, even for short distances, the result can be a mutual interference phenomenon called heterodyning or “beating.” This effect is created when the frequencies of the oscillator in the individual signal conditioner driving the excitation signal vary slightly. Since the signal cables are close together, they can couple among each other, resulting in a low frequency signal that is the difference between the frequencies of the individual oscillators. This can appear as low-frequency ripple or noise or as a repetitive slow drift. When a pair of sensors is used together for redundancy, this effect may be evident on only one channel of the system. In systems with larger numbers of channels, this effect may be found on one or more channels, depending on many factors, such as cable length and layout as well as shielding and grounding. Typically the way to solve this problem is to create a master oscillator by using the oscillator from one of the signal conditioners to supply the same excitation frequency to all of the sensors. The other oscillator is overridden by the master but this means the redundant system is no longer fully redundant. Alliance Sensors has developed a successful solution to maintain full redundancy using the digital address of the sensor. www.alliancesensors.com

Intelligent Vibration Management

Siemens has built a test center, the Clean Energy Center (CEC), in Ludwigsfelde near Berlin. It tests GT combustors for emissions and thermoacoustic phenomena (combustion dynamics). To measure these signals, high-temperature pressure- and, acceleration sensors, strain gauges and various other sensors are used. The IfTA DynaMaster based on IfTA Argus systems is a four-channel, dynamic measurement module with universal measurement inputs. This module supports the measurement of voltage and current signals for each channel. In addition, an integrated differential charge amplifier enables direct connection of piezoelectric high-temperature pressure and acceleration sensors. A measuring amplifier for strain gauges is also included, to which quarter, half and full bridges can be directly connected. Support for piezoresistive pressure and acceleration sensors, such as Kulite sensors, and an appropriate power supply for IEPE sensors are also featured. The desired input mode is selected via software. To avoid disturbing ground loops, each of the board's channels is galvanically isolated. This allows shared measurement through sensors in places with high potential differences, as found in large test facilities such as the CEC. The electrical isolation involved is executed in a manner that does not adversely affect signal quality. A signal to noise ratio of up to 145 dB is achieved. The integration of the amplifier not only reduces costs: the simplified measurement setup avoids sources of error. Changes in amplifier settings are automatically logged by the system and are reproducible at any time. This means that potentially error-prone manual documentation of external amplification factors is no longer necessary. The annual effort involved in calibration is also reduced. The system is designed to make optimal use of the data analysis software IfTA Trend, a tool that permits in excess of 10 GB of data to load and be analyzed quickly. In addition to dynamic data and ambient and process parameters, IfTA DynaMaster saves system-computed values such as peak-topeak, RMS and entire spectra. Via customizable views in the same software environment, up to 10 test engineers can monitor online streams of measurement data during measurement. The IfTA DynaMaster eliminates many of the errors common with conventional measurement systems. www.siemens.com

Vacuum system

The 200th vacuum system type RT manufactured by MAN Diesel & Turbo is to be used for dewatering in paperboard production. A South Korean paperboard manufacturer will replace ten old water ring vacuum pumps with two of these single-stage vacuum blowers. They are installed at the former and press section at which the system dewaters the paper by vacuum. MAN’s machines handle volume flow rates between 180 and 2,800 m³/min at up to 75 kPa. By using radial flow impellers, these vacuum blowers have a lower absorbed energy consumption compared with conventional systems since there is no frictional loss caused by water rings. Furthermore, the Turbair vacuum blowers discharge clean air at high temperature, and this heat can be recuperated and reused in the energy cycle. www.mandiesel.com

Siemens Digital Services, powered by Sinalytics

Analyst firm International Data Corp. says that the digital universe will double in size every two years and that by 2020 will reach 44 zettabytes, or 44 trillion gigabytes, containing nearly as many digital bits as there are stars in the universe. With advanced analytics, this Big Data is being transformed into smart data. Siemens new digital services, for example, are being deployed within the company’s Power Generations Services division. This includes a number of data-driven service offerings to support industrial, oil and gas, electric utility and wind power customers. Siemens Digital Services for Energy powered by Sinalytics are said to be intelligent knowledge systems that are enabled by algorithms, data analytics and machine-learning combined with domain know-how. This approach facilitates tailored service solutions to meet customer needs for operational flexibility, plant performance and condition-based maintenance. “Big Data is transforming our industry into a digitally driven, intelligent ecosystem,” said Randy Zwirn, CEO of Siemens Power Generation Services. “Siemens is investing significant resources across its various businesses to successfully marry the physical and virtual worlds. With more than 300,000 devices already connected via our Sinalytics platform architecture, we are able to put to work our experience and know-how to pioneer digital services that create value.” Sinalytics is Siemens secure analytics platform architecture which can integrate field service data, global fleet performance data, as well as data from other sources (e.g. weather, fuel prices). Its cyber security- by-design approach allows confidential data to be collected, transmitted and analyzed in a secure way. Use cases for this technology already exist. In South America, Profertil, an Argentine petrochemical company, operates a large fertilizer plant in Bahia Blanca. It conducts a major overhaul of its manufacturing and related components at the facility every three years, shutting down the entire plant to conduct repairs and maintenance. By applying data-driven analytics and using Siemens condition-based monitoring, Profertil and Siemens are working together to align the required major servicing of the gas turbines to match this three-year interval. This alignment means increased uptime of the assets, which can then translate into increased productivity for Profertil. In the wind industry, Siemens uses this technology too closely monitor more than 10,000 wind turbines. At the Siemens Remote Diagnostic Centre in Brande, Denmark, vibration diagnostics and 24/7 alarms notification means that technicians are able to remotely address 85 percent of alarms without the need to visit the turbines. www.siemens.com

Modular fuel gas booster

MAN Diesel & Turbo has developed a modular fuel gas booster with an integrally-geared design following the API 617 and its maintenance-free design requirements. Such machines include requirements for safe operations and high availability. They range from single-stage up to six-stage design and include Tandem dry gas seal technology. According to market and specific project requirements, these compressors are delivered with black-box systems including controls for the compressors itself, as well as the cooling system. The performance control of the compressor can be done by adjustable Inlet Guide Vanes (IGV), Variable Frequency Drive (VFD) or by Suction Pressure Regulation Valve (SPRV). These fuel gas boosting systems are automatically controlled by Programmable Logic Controller (PLC), meaning an intensified communication with the superior Distributed Control System (DCS) of the power plant itself. www.mandiesel.com

Hazardous duty brakes

MagnaShear hazardous duty brakes from Force Control Industries employ oil shear technology to provide longer service life. This meets Class I and Class II Div 2 specifications. With spring set torque ratings from 3 to 900 foot-pounds available, these motor brakes can be sized to the correct torque independent of the motor frame size or horsepower. They also feature quick mount features for quick to drive motors in NEMA frame sizes 56 to 405. They are enclosed from outside contaminants with seal integrity for harsh and washdown environments. Oil shear technology transmits torque between lubricated surfaces, eliminating wear on friction surfaces. A fluid recirculation system dissipates heat. www.forcecontrol.com