Congratulations to Mark Aylott, Director of Car Spares Limited in Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire, who’s pictured here receiving his new iPad from David Almond (the more sensible looking one on the right) as the winner of our recent prize draw for respondents to our recent survey.
Many thanks to all our customers who kindly responded; we’ve taken all your comments on board and, even though we seem to be doing a pretty wonderful job, we promise not to rest on our laurels!

Watch out for a new survey soon and you too could win a prize!

As this blog is car spares related we thought you’d enjoy these pictures of the Italian police force’s new pride and joy.  But, if only they could find someone who could drive it!!!

~ East Sussex based switch distributor launches fully programmable digital pressure transducer ~

Switch distributor Pressure Vacuum Level (PVL) has launched Transducer Direct’s TD1000 digital pressure transducer in the UK. The new transducer is fully digital and entirely programmable, which saves the end user both time and money. Furthermore, thanks to the fact that the TD1000 can be programmed in-house, PVL can offer next day delivery to the majority of UK locations.

The TD1000 is the first digital and fully programmable pressure transducer of its kind

Most transducers need to be programmed in the factory environment after they roll of the production line. This means that the end user has to wait longer to receive the product and runs the risk of buying devices that aren’t set up to exactly the right specification as the result of human error; either their own or the manufacturers.

In contrast, the TD1000 is programmed by PVL according to the customer’s specifications before leaving the company’s Sussex offices, eliminating many of the possible communication errors that could otherwise occur.

The TD1000 is an IP69K rated pressure transducer, ideal for harsh duty, automation, food and beverage and earth moving applications.

“The food and beverage industry is one of the harshest environments for automation components such as sensors,” explained David Almond, head of sales and marketing at PVL. “High pressure and high temperature water and chemicals can penetrate or corrode almost any sensor housing, causing premature failures. Our IP69K-rated sensors and harsh duty quick connection cables all meet the stringent demands of the IP69K test standards and have been tested to ensure proper chemical compatibility during their use in these harsh environments.”

A further benefit is the TD1000’s advanced bridging technology, which will inform the user if one of the two built in bridges is damaged. This dual redundancy provides end user savings by reducing expenditure on maintenance and limiting downtime.

The digital technology built into the patented TD1000 ensures that the measured electrical signal and the corresponding output reading have greater noise tolerance, better accuracy and improved reliability. The TD1000 pressure transducer boasts an incredible 0.0025% accuracy, the highest in its class.

Most pressure transducers are analogue devices and, as a result, are not able to take accurate measurements without conditioning. In contrast, the TD1000 eliminates the need for amplifying and filtering low-level signals, and ensures that the measurement is both recorded and transmitted digitally.

The new transducer can handle widely varying temperatures, making it ideal for applications such as petrochemicals processing or cryogenics. The device is also pressure water rated, which makes it ideal for mobile hydraulics, waste disposal machinery and any other equipment that deploys high water pressure cleaning.

The TD1000 can have a temperature or pressure set point signal built-in as an option, which means it can also work as an alarm and a set-point indicator if required.

PVL’s new pressure transducer is composed of stainless steel in a one piece design. This reduces the potential for leak points, which are common in typical multi-piece weld-on transducers.

“The process equipment and instrumentation sector should not be left behind as technology moves from analogue to digital,” explained Almond. “You wouldn’t settle for an analogue TV, radio or telephone so why use old technology in industry?”

A video of the TD1000 in action can be viewed here.

How to make sure you stick to your New Year’s resolutions – an engineer’s guide

New Year’s resolutions have been a tradition since the times of the ancient Babylonians. Pretty much as we do today, they promised their gods at the start of each year that they would return borrowed objects and pay their debts. (On that note, those of us in the PVL office would like to ask David Almond, our intrepid head of sales and marketing, ‘Where’s our stapler?’)

However, according to this report Blue Monday was the day when most of us allowed our resolutions to lapse. Nevertheless, if you decided to lose weight, quit smoking or learn a new language, there may still be hope for you.

Here are a few engineering focussed resolutions you will be able to keep without too much effort:

1. Lose wait (you read it correctly and yes, it is a terrible pun!)
Here at PVL we make sure we trim down waiting times for pressure transducers. PVL’s new exclusive range of pressure transducers from Cincinnati’s Transducers Direct, the unique TD1000 series, can be delivered overnight. They can be digitally configured and we can programme the transducers for you in house, massively reducing delivery times! That’s what I call loosing wait!

2. Quit smoking
Give up the smoke and make sure your plant is completely safe with the ATEX and IECEx certifications on our flameproof electric pressure switches!

The range includes high pressure switches, the low pressure FC series switches, vacuum pressure switches and electric pressure switches. Manufactured in India by Orion Instruments, the switches range in pressure from 1.5mbar to 200bar, and compliment PVL’s existing range of Elettrotec ATEX pressure switches.

3. Learn a new language
For the more academically oriented amongst us, learning a new language is top of our New Year’s resolutions lists. But German, French, Spanish or Italian are difficult to grasp and let’s face it; everybody speaks English anyway, don’t they?

But if you’d like to make a start by learning the translations for flow switch, level switch, flow indicator, and level indicator (and let’s face it who doesn’t!) you could do worse than visit www.kelco.eu. PVL are the pan-European distributor for Kelco’s innovative range of all plastic switches so we’ve helpfully provided translated pages.

You’ll also be able to learn the German for corrosion-proof, the French for no wetted metal parts, the Spanish for ideal for sea water, or the Italian for ideal for acids and alkalis which are obviously really useful for many day-to-day situations!

So, if you want your resolutions to last longer than the cold turkey, contact us. Trimming down the waiting times, ditching the smoke or learning the language of switches, has never been so easy! Give PVL a call on 01892 664499 and we’ll help make sure your engineering resolutions reach fruition.

Those of you who grew up in the UK will no doubt have happy memories of the children’s news and current affairs programme Newsround. It’s just celebrated its 40th anniversary and its original presenter John Craven accepted a special British Academy award, which recognised its contribution to children’s television, on behalf of the show recently.

So we thought that in tribute to Newsround, you might like to hear about PVL’s own adventures on film. Video is a great way to communicate detailed and complex ideas in a succinct and simple way, so we set up a YouTube channel just over a year ago and it’s already proving really successful.

Our reporter David Almond has this story on the subject of pressure switches, in particular our famous PMN pressure switch which has sold over a million units since we began offering it in 1982.

In other news on PVL’s YouTube channel, there’s a video introducing the flow switch technologies we provide and the applications they are suited to. The first product we cover is the Honsberg MR1K, which is ideal for measuring liquids and gases. Then, right at the other end of the spectrum we look at some of our Kelco switches from Australia, which are perfect for wastewater applications.

Fresh fears about the complexity of switches have been quelled today in this video where Almond explains to the viewer how to lower the flow set point of a paddle flow switch. If you watch the video, you will probably be feeling curious about what the red button does – just e-mail David and he’ll tell you!

And finally, if you were a fan of Newsround, we thought you might like to take a peek at this archive footage of the great John Craven in his heyday. This is the broadcast in which Newsround covered the launch of Channel Four, which was the UK’s fourth national TV channel. It even includes an obligatory story about a Panda, something which became such a staple on the show that it’s now a standing joke. Apart from anything else there’s a whole host of brilliant eighties jumpers on show!

And remember, while you are browsing videos over on YouTube, don’t forget to subscribe to PVL’s channel and send us a friend request. You’ll need a YouTube account to do this but if you have a Google account of any kind, setting one up only takes a few seconds.

That’s all for today, we’ll see you again at the same time on Switch Channel soon.

PVL recently attended the Sensing in Water 2011 conference, hosted by SWIG (the Sensors for Interest in Water Group) in Nottingham. This was the first two-day event the not-for-profit organisation had arranged and our representatives, Jamie Clowes and David Almond, took advantage of the show in decidedly different ways!

While David SWIGged his way around the bars, focussing his efforts on enjoying himself and talking about Tottenham (Don’t you mean networking – Ed), Jamie was left to do all the graft and fulfil PVL’s objectives in attending the show.

The event promoted the exchange of ideas between leading organisations within the water systems industry and encouraged discussion on their practical applications and the challenges currently facing the sector. It also allowed industry professionals to keep up to date with technological, sensor and legislative developments which may impact their business.

So, while Jamie shared the advantages of PVL’s switches and other technology for measuring and controlling processes in water applications, David could be found telling this bad joke in the bars:
“A mathematician, a physicist, and an engineer were all given a red rubber ball and told to find the volume. The mathematician carefully measured the diameter and evaluated a triple integral. The physicist filled a beaker with water, put the ball in the water, and measured the total displacement. The engineer looked up the model and serial numbers in his red-rubber-ball table.”

We are confident David is not going to leave us to pursue a career as a stand up comedian in the near future.

However, in his day job, he does present a cogent, if not comic, argument for importance of switches in water engineering systems. Such technologies play a fundamental role in reducing running costs by enabling processes within the system to be measured and controlled precisely. With our specialist knowledge of products and switch applications, the PVL team is able to offer the best solutions to the problems faced both in waste water treatment and water systems in general.

We found the conference extremely valuable and, by the end, had two contented merry men. If you want to find out more about our switches for water systems and join our band of merry men, give the engineering team a ring on 01892 664499 or visit the web site; www.pvl.co.uk.

Steve Moorey, PVL’s intrepid managing director, has just embarked on a gruelling two month working trip to Australia, during which he will spend a day meeting Kelco, one of PVL’s key manufacturing partners. The rest of the two months is going to be an arduous mix of restaurants, culture and beaches…

But arranging the trip wasn’t an entirely smooth process. Steve was initially booked to fly with Quantas, before the Australian airline attempted to resolve its industrial dispute by grounding all of its planes. Steve’s wife, Jill, immediately booked an alternative ticket with Singapore Airlines, only to be told that their Quantas flight was going to be winging its way down under after all! Let’s just hope the airline meal was worth all the frustration.

Steve deserves a rest; after all, he founded PVL over 25 years ago and has been hard at work ever since. And he’ll be used to the heat in Oz, having spent much of his early career in Africa, maintaining hydraulic applications and vehicle systems.

In all seriousness Kelco, our Australian partner, manufactures a range of innovative products that solve a host of problems. From flow switches for pool and pump applications to visual flow indicators for monitoring pipe systems and liquid level in tanks and vessels, there is something in the Kelco catalogue for almost any flow or level application.
One range that really stands out is the Australian manufacturer’s series of corrosion resistant flow, float and level switches. Made of thermoplastic, brass or stainless steel, the switches find a home in all sorts of process applications. Thanks to intelligent design, none of the switches’ metallic parts come into contact with the process liquid and the electronics are completely isolated. This means they are ideal for use with corrosive liquids or in environments where the fluid itself needs to be protected.
Steve and Jill will also be visiting Kelco Products Ltd in New Zealand where the MD supplies many Kelco products into the pumping and fish farming industries. It’s a tough job but somebody’s got to do it!

In Steve’s absence, the rest of the PVL team will be delighted to help you find the right switch for you application and provide whatever background information you need on everything from ATEX compliant pressure and vacuum switches to ZE plastic filters. Just pick up the phone and dial 01892 664499 or visit www.pvl.co.uk.

~ Copies of Elettrotec’s PMN pressure switch have already been sold across the UK ~ 

PVL, the UK distributor of Elettrotec's pressure switches is warning British industry that copies of the Italian manufacturer's landmark PMN design are being sold on the UK market

PVL, the UK distributor of Elettrotec Srl’s pressure switches, is warning British industry that copies of the Italian manufacturer’s landmark PMN design are being sold on the UK market. As a result, PVL is advising manufacturers to look for both the ‘made in Italy’ symbol and the Elettrotec trademark when buying a pressure switch that purports to be manufactured by Elettrotec. 

Greymarket suppliers are selling inferior copies of the PMN switch, which was originally designed by the late Pietro Cremaschi of Elettrotec in Milan. Since its foundation in 1977, Elettrotec has sold over 1,600,000 PMN pressure switches; specified by quality-conscious engineers and distributed to the UK market by PVL – Pressure Vacuum Level Limited.

Elettrotec’s total quality manufacturing system is based on UNI EN ISO 9001:2000. Thanks to its high quality control, innovative engineering and advanced manufacturing capabilities the company’s switches have stood the test of time since they left Cremaschi’s drawing board in the late seventies.

As a result, the Elettrotec trademark is now regarded as an industry standard for performance, accuracy and reliability in a wide range of sectors such as automation, hydraulics and pneumatics, food processing and packaging systems, the chemical and pharmaceutical industries, medical equipment, sewage and water treatment, automotive manufacturing, fire prevention, heat exchangers and HVAC.

The tiny PMN switch boasts a choice of diaphragm or piston seals, and zinc-plated-steel, stainless steel, or brass bodies. Despite its small size, the switch packs quite a punch with 0.1 to 300 bar adjustment ranges and the ability to handle over pressures of up to 600 bar. The PMN pressure switch comes with a 1/4″ BSP standard thread as well as N/O (Normally Open) or N/C (Normally Closed) contacts.

David Almond, head of sales and marketing at PVL warns customers, “Not all switches are made equal. In many industry sectors reliability is crucial, so an inferior copy just won’t do. We advise buying teams to be very careful when choosing switches for their applications,” explains Almond.

As a business, PVL is very keen to ensure that we never drive a wedge between ourselves and our customers. In fact if we ever find ourselves in the rough, we work hard to putt ourselves back in the position of trusted advisor, which is par for the course under normal circumstances.
Okay, we appreciate that we might have overdone the golfing puns a little bit, but we wanted to drive home the message (sorry…) that we have just sponsored the longest drive at East Hearts Golf Club. We are also going to be arranging our own golf day in 2012 and will be participating in the Fluid Power Association’s golfing events next year as well.
But it’s not all play, play, play here at PVL. The reason we are involving ourselves in the Fluid Power Association is our long standing collaboration with hydraulic and fluid power industries.
Perhaps the best place to tee off, if you want to find out more about the kind of work we do in these sectors, would be the pressure switches for hydraulics page on our Web site. Here you will find switches for a host of fluid power applications. In fact, you will find pressure switches for everything from bed pans to Trident nuclear submarines!
Flow switches are also common in the fluid power industry so, as you head into the back nine, it might be worth spending a few minutes on our flow switches for fluid power page. There are plenty of switches here ideal for mobile hydraulic and fluid power applications on the site, so it’s the perfect place to pause before filling up on a little fluid power of your own at the eighteenth hole.
If you want to take part in our 2012 golf day, either as a participant or a sponsor, give David Almond a call on 01892 664499. Equally, if you want advice on any fluid power, hydraulic or pneumatics applications, visit the web site (www.pvl.co.uk) or call the same number. We promise not to make any more awful golfing jokes if you do!

Sparks have been flying at PVL recently! For starters, our product manager Jamie has just got back from an explosive honeymoon in Thailand. On top of that, Jacob, our former apprentice, has had a hot promotion to trainee sales engineer. And, if that wasn’t enough, we’ve had a big marketing push on ATEX rated switches, like our new Orion range, which are suitable for use in explosive atmospheres.

Jamie and his wife, Alex, spent a fortnight in Bangkok visiting the temples, riding elephants, viewing the famous Golden Buddha and getting around on the local Tut-Tut taxis. Jamie said that, although it was rainy season, there was still plenty of time for relaxing in the blazing heat by the beach.

Promotion is a burning issue

Meanwhile, Jacob, our 18 year old mechanical whizz-kid, is getting excited about his new job. “I’m not sure what David is going to throw at me now!” he told this writer. “Most of my work is down in the warehouse at present, dealing with the goods in and out and pre-setting the switches before we send them out.”

Jacob’s hobbies include bike and car maintenance as well as angling. Given that he diagnosed what was wrong with Switch Channel’s own misfiring coupé while we were chatting this morning, we think he must be pretty hot on the subject. I must say, I was fishing for an answer though! All that, on top of being an expert in everything switch related, we don’t know how he finds the time!

In the heat of the… Autumn?

It seems appropriate that I’m writing this in the middle of an unseasonable heat wave here in the UK, because PVL’s latest newsletter was entirely focussed on our ATEX products.

As the UK gets hotter and hotter I’m reminded of the countless applications in which flame proof switches are needed. These include the oil and gas, chemical and petrochemical, offshore, pharmaceutical and mining sectors. They can also be found across industries wherever there is an explosive atmosphere; for example in sewerage treatment plants, grain handling and storage areas, on metal surface grinding applications and in aluminium processing. The switches reduce the risk of ignition in applications such as machine tools, lubrication systems and compressors used in hazardous, corrosive or flammable atmospheres.

You can find out about our range of ATEX certified pressure and vacuum switches by taking a look at the catalogue here. But don’t forget, we pride ourselves on being able to offer consultancy and advice here at PVL. So if you want to get in touch and ask about ATEX or any other switch related issue, congratulate Jamie or wish Jacob the best of luck on his promotion, give us a call on +44 (0)1892 664499.

PVL was well represented at this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed a the beginning of July – not only was PVL’s Consulting Engineer, Shaun Martin, a well-known rally driver, in charge of the Rally Paddock for the festival, but dozens of PVL’s motorsport customers were present. Logically, therefore, quite a few of the products that PVL sells to motorsport customers like Prodrive and Bentley were also making rapid progress through the rally stage and up the hill during the course of the Festival’s three days.

Shaun also rejoices in the title of Chairman of the International Rally Drivers’ Club, and in that capacity was hosting up to 150 VIP guests in the club’s hospitality tent, rushing off at intervals to the Rally Paddock to mastermind the scheduling of which drivers set off through the Rally Stage first.

Design engineers throughout motorsport in Britain and Europe know that phoning +44 (0)1892 664499 puts them in touch with the engineering team at PVL (including Shaun, with a wealth of rally experience) and their skilled and experienced advice. Most of them are as accustomed to going to www.pvl.co.uk to check what’s available as they are to reading their copy of Motor Sport.

Back at PVL headquarters in Crowborough, at the other end of Sussex, engineering team advisors Dave Egleton and Jamie Clowes, and PVL Managing Director Steve Moorey were just a shade busy answering 01892 664499 to deal with customers’ queries and help with their specifications to be enjoying themselves at Goodwood, although Steve’s Jaguar left the car park a little more briskly than usual the day before the Festival of Speed began. He claims that his wife had reminded him to collect some shopping on the way home, but it was more likely that some parts for the classic Velocette Venom bikes that he is restoring in a friend’s garage workshop had arrived. He is always looking for Velocette Venom spares or for complete examples for restoration.

Steve’s relationship with classic bikes goes back even further than his experience with heavy trucks, and there is not much that he doesn’t know about the great British motorcycle industry – or about the hydraulics and pneumatics of trucks. So if either area of expertise is giving you problems, a call to PVL on 01892 664499 could help you sort things out.