Product category:
Exhibitions: Maintec + Easyfairs Solids 2008
News Release from: SPECIAL REPORT by the Editor | Subject: MAINTEC
Edited by the Processingtalk Editorial
Team on 27 March 2007
MAINTEC Exhibition 2007 Report
MAINTEC 2007 was an impressive event, with major presence from IR instrument suppliers, wireless machine monitoring equipment and service providers, as well as steam system experts
MAINTEC in March 2007 introduced a lot of new suppliers to Processingtalk, who promised to supply further relevant press releases Look out for them in the sections covering condition monitoring under Instrumentation, and also asset management and steam boiler control in the Process Control Systems category
This article was originally published on Processingtalk on 3 Aug 2004 at 8.00am (UK)
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This report on the many companies seen at MAINTEC was presented over three separate weeks in the newsletter.
First stops in my visit to MAINTEC were on the stands of two of the many infra-red imaging camera suppliers present.
These two certainly had something to shout about.
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Read-out Forum at IRCHEM in Cork
Andrew Bond, Editor of the Industrial Automation Insider, recently chaired the Read-out Forum at IRCHEM in Cork: his summary of the event is entitled: "Vendors circle the wagons as users turn nasty"
Fieldbus and its benefits
The conclusions of the ARC study are worth reviewing: "The value proposition of fieldbus has changed from the initial perceptions of the marketplace...."
'Industrial Marketing on the Internet' Seminar
Earlier this year Pro-Talk held two seminars helping explain to industrial companies how to develop their internet presence, aimed at marketing managers from industrial and scientific manufacturers
Tony Holliday at Hawk IR was very enthusiastic about their latest Ex|CAM, an IR imaging camera approved for operation in a hazardous area, like a petrochemical plant: see http://www.processingtalk.com/news/hat/hat111.html.
This unit is the world's first ATEX approved IR camera, using a mixture of nitrogen inert gas pressurisation, plus an intrinsically safe battery compartment.
Ex|CAM has its own docking station where both the gas and the battery are recharged, after up to 3 hours use, and the 100 off 160x120 pixel images can be downloaded.
Infratec had their latest IR camera on display - the large LCD gave a brilliant immediate visual image both in IR and visible light: coupled with the Jena glass optics the 1.2Megapixel image deserves downloading and detailed viewing on a PC.
With this amount of detail maybe "remote" imaging is possible from outside the hazardous areas of many plants: http://www.processingtalk.com/news/ifr/ifr104.html.
Then at the other extreme of the IR price range, on the micro-Epsilon stand, was their low cost laser targeted point temperature sensor: it did just that - sense and display temperature, see http://www.processingtalk.com/news/mie/mie108.html.
My declared objective in this visit was to find some innovative wireless based condition monitoring sensors at MAINTEC.
The classic approach was presented by ifm Electronic, where their vibration measurement sensors are offered linked to a standard wifi interface box: http://www.processingtalk.com/news/ifm/ifm103.html.
What I was really seeking was actually totally described by Trevor Holroyd in his Workshop presentation on the Holroyd Instruments acoustic emission based sensors.
Using Bluetooth direct from the battery powered sensor module, which is fixed to the machine using a powerful magnet, the acoustic emission signal can be monitored directly on an engineer's laptop, with no hassles of plant interconnections, wires and sockets.
The Holroyd pedigree in AE dates back to Stresswave and Rolls Royce in the 1970s: they are one of the major producers of AE sensors, and introduced their Machine Health Checker in 1993: further background is on http://www.processingtalk.com/news/hod/hod100.html.
Processingtalk will bring further reports on the Holroyd AE and wireless developments as they are available.
A similar noise monitoring system is used in the Armstrong wireless steam trap monitoring system, which can detect leakage past steam traps of any type, as reported earlier on http://www.processingtalk.com/news/arr/arr101.html.
Highlighted on Processingtalk early in February, and picked out as one of the most unlikely places to find the initial process application of truly wireless sensors (because steam traps do not present the best sort of environment for the typical micro based electronics I am used to).
TC Fluid Control, the UK agents, had these SteamEye units on display, and available for European use.
TC was one of several suppliers offering steam system surveys and maintenance expertise: http://www.processingtalk.com/news/tcf/tcf100.html.
ARI Armaturen this week also announced a bottom blowdown valve http://www.processingtalk.com/news/ari/ari109.html, which enables automation of boiler blowdown direct from the base of the boiler, to remove spent chemicals in any sludge collected there.
A different option along the wireless monitoring route was offered by t-mac Technologies.
Collecting the sensor data from around your plant, t-mac use GPRS comms direct from their electronic unit, to transmit information to their monitoring centre, where the data is analysed and presented on a web page dedicated to a specific plant.
This can then be accessed by works management, consultants, operators, where alarms can be referred back to plant operators for further action: http://www.processingtalk.com/news/tma/tma100.html.
Already used widely outside the process industry, for asset and building monitoring, there are several new developments coming that will be of interest to process engineers.
MAINTEC REPORT PART 2:.
One of the interesting aspects to an Exhibition like MAINTEC is the opportunity to find a little more of the background to some suppliers.
AV Technology is a consultancy supplying ?pre-emptive services and strategies? for industry, specialising in Condition Monitoring, Structural Monitoring, Noise and Vibration and Visual Inspection.
Not easy to present on an Exhibition stand, but recommendations from existing customers provide their normal introductions to new clients, so an opportunity for the AVT engineers to meet their client?s colleagues from new site locations was the main objective.
AVT celebrated 30 years operations last year, and now have around 40 staff, with many years of expertise in each of their specialisms.
Having worked for Shell since 1985, notably at Stanlow, the company was acquired by Shell Services in 2001, to assist their industrial clients with improving productivity and manufacturing efficiency.
Inevitably a business focus change at Shell Group three years later led to the privatisation of AVT once more under the current management.
Offices in Stockport, Aberdeen, Grangemouth, Neath, and shortly in Southern Ireland support UK and Ireland operations, but with major clients like Shell, Rio Tinto Zinc, John Deere and Princess Yachts, many specialists are world travelers.
Expanding from their original base in the oil industry, AVT have found a significant demand for condition monitoring and asset maintenance services in the Food and Drink industry, and recent application stories have resulted from work for well known names like Cadbury (http://www.processingtalk.com/news/avt/avt000.html), Unilever (http://www.processingtalk.com/news/avt/avt119.html), Diageo and Dairy Crest.
AVT use their experts and expertise to work with the existing company maintenance staff, providing as much input as needed.
For Cadbury at Chirk, AVT has taken total responsibility for asset maintenance at the plant, and uses a number of maintenance techniques to meet the Cadbury requirements.
AVT have permanent staff deployed at the Chirk site, who work closely with the local engineering management: http://www.processingtalk.com/news/avt/avt118.html.
Schaeffler have provided several news stories from their MAINTEC display, one featuring their FAG ProCheck, a new online vibration monitoring system: http://www.processingtalk.com/news/ina/ina143.html, for use on critical rotating plant or machinery, including electric motors, drives, bearing arrangements, gearboxes, pumps, generators, ventilators, fans and excavators.
Other releases cover large bearing repair and renovation as a time and cost effective alternative to replacement.
Yet still none of the promised application stories relating to steam boilers and systems have arrived: I seem to have had difficulty raising enough pressure to trigger the suppliers! The last MAINTEC report will be next week, but the interesting development reported from the organiser?s office, mailed out after the show, is that easyFairs, the leading international organiser of time and cost-effective trade shows, will join Conference Communications in organising future editions of MAINTEC, some of which are likely to take place in Europe: for example there will be 'easyFairs Maintenance' in Brussels and 'Euromaintenance 2008', together with other shows in Antwerp, Holland, Germany, Sweden and Switzerland: see http://www.processingtalk.com/news/msn/msn102.html.
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