The range of products available from Nokeval include:

• Loop Powered LED Displays
• Loop Powered Signal Converters with LED Displays
• Field and Panel Mount Modular Displays
• 8 – Channel Displays
• Head Mounted RTD Transmitters
• 16 – Channel Universal Input Multiplexers
• Strain Gauge Transmitter

In addition to these products, Nokeval produce a range of wireless transmitters which are currently undergoing A-Tick approval and will be released as soon as this has been completed.

For information on the Nokeval range please contact us.

Product Images and Datasheets

Features of the connector include:

• Tested to 750 plugging cycles.
• Can be re-terminated up to five times without any loss of functionality.
• Full metal connector passed through shielding from cable.
• Snag-less constructions means plastic lugs don’t get broken off.
• Able to be used in Profinet networks.
• 50 microns of gold plating on the contacts, standard domestic/commercial connectors come with <10 microns.  This in conjunction with larger flatter pins means that the connector is much more durable and resistant to vibration.

Demonstration

Datasheet

Hadar Lighting have announced that their innovative LED HDL106 floodlights for Zone 1 Hazardous Areas have received third party certification through SIRA for both ATEX and IEC Ex applications.

Hadar Lighting’s Engineering Director, Barry Thompson, commented, “It is a wonderful start to the year for us as we’ve been showing the units to customers, several of whom had them on trial, for over 6 months now whilst we awaited for the necessary exhaustive certification tests to be completed.

“The benefits of LED technology are now well known and established in that they produce purer light, use far less energy, weigh less and last far longer than traditional sodium or halogen equivalents. For Zone 1 Hazardous Area applications, however, there were very few products on the market that could deliver these benefits within the very strict requirements of a Zone 1 certified fitting.”
“In addition, Zones 1 and 2 applications, by their very nature, tend to be in places difficult to service – derrick lights on oil rigs, or floodlights in petro-chemical plants, for example – which might also involve downtime whilst lighting is renewed. Traditional lighting options, which take a while to warm up, have a limited lifespan ranging from 22,000 hours for high pressure sodium down to as little as 3,000 hours for halogens with many companies exchanging bulbs en masse at half life stage during regular maintenance operations. The HDL106, which requires no warm up, has a lifespan of at least 10 years without any maintenance in line with industry’s preferred ‘fit and forget’ requirements.”

Power consumption of the new floodlights is approximately 40% of traditional equivalent, with adjustable beam dispersal patterns of between 5 degrees and 120 degrees meaning the light goes where it’s designed to go rather than being wasted.

Hadar Lighting Divisional Director, Bob Scott, continued, “Due to the LED technology, the lights are initially more expensive than traditional counterparts, but very quickly pay for themselves through low maintenance and power requirements. They really have very few adverse features – they are easy to fit, cheap to run, very rugged, give off a fantastic white light, are instantly on or off with no warm up period and last, but not least, they are environmentally friendly to dispose as they don’t contain mercury or other hazardous materials. We see the new technology as the way forward with the HDL106 becoming our flagship product – we’re currently dealing with enquiries from all over the world, particularly from the Oil, Gas & Petrochemical sectors.”

Further details of the Hadar Lighting range is available from sales@pacificex.com.au

We are also pleased to announce that Scott Bryant has been promoted to the position of Product Manager – Signal & Data. Scott was previously in a product technical support role and has proven to be a valuable resource for our customers with his knowledge of industrial ethernet, signal conditioning and field devices.

Scott can be contacted on +61 8 9414 7999 or sbryant@pacificautomation.com.au

Client Requirements

The two ammonia vessels at Yara Sluiskil operate at high temperatures. The vessels are internally insulated to prevent the shell from overheating. Constant monitoring of the skin temperature (approximately 110 to 150°C) is required to detect the location of any cracks in the internal insulation, allowing any hotspots to be identified and managed from an early stage. Monitoring was previously achieved by using an electrical resistivity system. This system became outdated and was no longer supported by the original supplier. The temperature of the vessel can rise up to 350°C when a hotspot occurs. These hotspots create great stress on the vessel and repairs are needed to be completed during a turn-around.

Application

Two ammonia vessels were installed with monitoring cables in 2008 and 2009. The initial installation on Vessel 1 was conducted during a scheduled maintenance shutdown. The Sensornet team worked around the clock along with other service companies to ensure the installation was completed within schedule. The sensing cable on Vessel 2 was installed at the manufacturer’s facility in The Netherlands before the vessel was relocated to the Yara site. Final connection and commissioning was then conducted in a matter of days. Both projects utilized the Halo DTS complete with the integrated multiplexer for bidirectional testing. These were deployed in local control rooms and communicated with the site SCADA system via OPC tags.

The existing electrical resistivity monitoring solution became outdated and was not supported anymore by the original supplier. Temperature readings were presented as percentile figures based on maximum and minimum values which was not ideal. Temperature readings were also taken with infra red thermometers. Although these provided valuable data they could not be deployed on a permanent basis and would not provide a fully distributed temperature profile of the vessel

The Sensornet Solution

Substantial Benefits

The Sensornet vessel monitoring solution provides a complete temperature profile of the reactor vessel with near real-time refresh rates. Monitoring the entire vessel online enables the process to be managed to ensure that the vessel performs within its operational tolerances. This results in longer runs times between cleaning and maintenance periods. Moreover the operator can be safe in the knowledge that the vessel is operating safely.

Measurable Performance

The Sensornet range of DTS offers the most advanced performance available today. Measurement times of down to 10 seconds and temperature changes of better than 0.01°C can be detected by the sensing cable. For each of these vessels a total of 1km of sensing cable was deployed directly onto the skin. This gives a total of 1000 measurement points and provides the client with comprehensive thermal modelling of the reactor vessel.

Reactor Vessel 1 Prior to Fibre Installation

Yara Sluiskil Ammonia Plant, The Netherlands

More Information

Sensornet Home Page
Sensornet Distributed Temperature Sensing Page
Sensornet Halo DTS Page

The Kraus & Naimer G-Line switches have a self cleaning, wiping action contact system.  Features include high DC switching capacity with independent snap action, high short circuit withstand capability, high vibration and impact resistance and high heat resistance to EN12101-3 for emergency fire pumps.

The versatile range of Kraus & Naimer G-Line switches can also be used as a switch disconnector on Photovoltaic (PV) Solar Systems. Applications include off grid renewable energy systems, grid tied renewable energy systems, multiple source selection switches, inverter and load isolators.

Features

• Self Cleaning Contact System
• Compact Design
• High Switching Capacity
• Capable of Withstanding Short Circuits
• Vibration & Impact Resistant

Product Images & Datasheet

Download G20 Series Datasheet

Our swimmer Warwick Greville started at 6.30am and had an excellent 3.8km swim around the Busselton jetty. Next off was Darren Wright on the 180km bike leg which he finished strongly in searing heat. It was 35deg C when Darren tagged with Steve Armstrong for the 42km run.

This was one hot event for team Pacmen, but we’ll be back in 2010 for sure.

Thanks to our family, friends and colleagues for your great support.

Before a Cool Swim	Darren on the Bike Leg
Warwick Crossing the Line After His Swim	Steve on the Marathon
After a Hot Finish	A Quiet Beer… At Last

The Smart Reader system can accommodate up to 32 antennas which are hooked up on a bus system.  The reader itself is available with a number of industrial communications protocols for connection to existing PLC, DCS or SCADA systems.

For more information on this product, please visit the Passive RFID page.

The anniversary was marked earlier this year with a celebration dinner on the banks of the Swan River and was attended by members of staff as well as suppliers.

The 40th year of operations will also be the first complete year spent in the company’s new Jandakot office.  Having moved in late October 2008, the new facilities have allowed for expansion of warehouse space as well as having spare offices for the addition of new staff.

Pacific Automation would like to thank all of their suppliers and customers for all of their support over the past 40 years and are looking forward to working closely together into the future.

You can read more about Pacific Automation’s story on the History Page or scroll through the images of the new building below.

(Click to Enlarge)

Scope Of Project

Telfor Gold Mine had a number of Landcruisers “squashed” by boggers in their underground mining  operations.  At over $80,000 per vehicle, these were proving to be expensive accidents.

What was required was an inexpensive, reliable collision alert system so warn drivers of the presence of other vehicles in the immediate vicinity.  The system had to operate in the harsh, environments experienced in underground mining operations.

Pacific Automation’s Solution

There were three factors that needed to be considered in the assessment of this problem.  Firstly, due to the amount of blind spots and corners in the mine, any system would need to be able to see around them.  Mirrors had previously been used but were always promptly broken by a bogger skidding against the wall.  The second issue was identifying the best method of identifying the driver of a potential collision.  And thirdly, any system would have to be retrofittable to any vehicle on site without the need for any special tool or programming.

In the end it was decided that a Long Range Active RFID product would be most suitable for the job.  Each vehicle was fitted with a RFID tag on the external body and a customised RFID reader in the cabin.  A 443MHz system was used as it provided up to 20m of range, was able to “bounce” off the walls of the mine to see around corners and was license free, meaning the mine did not have to apply for any radio frequency licensing.  The reader was fitted into a stand alone IP67 enclosure with a siren and flashing LED indicator attached to alert the operator to the presence of another vehicle.  This system comes as a simple kit which can be  installed or relocated quickly with basic tools, the only connection that is required is for power.

Another issue that had to be considered was the reader on each vehicle picking up its own tag and providing false alarms.  To avoid this problem, RFID Inc added a function to the reader to allow it to ignore a specific tag.  This setting can be easily altered in the field to allow for replacement tags to be fitted quickly.  Each reader is also fitted with a Self Test button which the operator can depress at the start of their shift to ensure the integrity of the systems prior to starting the vehicle.

The tags used in this system are fitted with battery life indicators which illuminate when the tag needs replacing.  The typical life span of up to five years means that maintenance is kept to a minimum.  The attenuation of the reader can also be set with the use of a Master Range Programming Tag (MRPT).  This allows the reader to be set to only alarm when a tag is sensed within a certain distance.  This is a useful feature as the distance to be measured will change based on the size of the vehicle being used as well as the position of the reader.

These systems have been sold to mine sites both in Australia and internationally and have successfully reduced the rate of accidents.

Products Used

RFID Active
Power Conditioner

More Information

RFID Inc Website