Saving Wildlife with Grimwood Heating and Invensys Controls - Grimwood and Invensys have combined their product and engineering capabilities to provide the North West Branch of Sydney wildlife with temperature controlled incubator boxes. The boxes are used by Sydney Wildlife volunteers in the care and rehabilitation of injured and orphaned native wildlife. Volunteer Barbara Potts said “These boxes are absolutely brilliant, they are easy to set to the required temperature, and without them many of the animals in our care would not have survived to be released back into the wild.” These incubator boxes are temperature controlled using Eliwell electronic thermostats and heated with Elstein infrared emitters. With distributors in every state, Grimwood products are easily accessible for everyone requiring a quality solution to their application.

Conducting Electricity with Plastics - RESEARCHERS at the University of Queensland and New South Wales have developed a way to produce plastics which conduct electricity. Plastics normally conduct electricity very poorly, and are commonly used as insulation. However, they also carry desirable mechanical properties such as flexibility and low cost of production. As such, there is considerable interest in making plastics conductive. This is achieved by changing the chemical structure of the molecules which make up the plastic, or filling the plastic with a natural conductor such as metal powder. The new method from the Australian researchers, called ion beam metal mixing, coats a sheet of plastic with a very thin layer of tin - from www.electronicsnews.com.au

Mass-Manufacture of Nanoscale Sensors, on the Wings of Cicadas - RMIT University researchers have found a way to fabricate batches of nanoscale sensors on the tips of optical fibres, with insect wings playing a role in this research. This breakthrough is a critical step toward the mass manufacture of nanoscale sensors - from www.electronicsnews.com.au

Process Software and Engineering Services Provider PAS has Announced its Partnership with NovaTech, a provider of process automation, electric power measurement, and substation automation. NovaTech will offer PAS’ automation and operations effectiveness solutions to increase the safety, productivity, and reliability of their client’s facilities.

Subsea Water Quality Measurement Devices Joint Industry Projects - Seabed processing will play a very important role in maximising oil recoveries for offshore oil and gas fields.  Subsea separation and produced water re-injection or discharge, together with subsea raw sea water injection forms crucial parts of the seabed processing strategy.  However the lack of subsea water quality measurement devices has prevented a wide take-up of such seabed processing systems.  This is because without such a device, the only way to find out water quality (for discharge or re-injection subsea) is by manually taking a sample and then bringing the sample to surface using a remotely operating vehicle (ROV).  This is an extremely expensive and time-consuming operation and more importantly it does not serve well with production operations. Following a recent Measurement for Innovators project on the subject, NEL is embarking upon a research project to accelerate the development of subsea water quality measurement devices. The project aims to:
- Establish requirements, develop operating envelopes and review potential technologies for water quality measurements related to subsea raw sea water injection
- Recommend testing and a way forward for developing subsea raw sea water injection water quality measurement devices
- Conduct a further review on potential technologies that can be used for water quality measurements related subsea separation and produced water re-injection and or discharge
- Provide assistance to selected technology providers in further developing their subsea water quality measurement devices
- Carry out performance evaluation tests under laboratory, offshore surface environment
- Conduct additional environment tests and provide recommendations for subsea field trials
Please click here to express an interest in joining this project.

What will Solar Powered Tables Wirelessly Recharge?...Your Tools! - An interesting introduction to the very first renewable solution to re-charge wire-less all of your portable accessories, Panasonic's brand-new solar-powered wi-fi charging table. Due to be launched in late 2011 or early 2012, the new table will use solar powered energy gained by the solar cells on the face of the table to power the accessories placed on the table! This can be the potential future of a renewable pv technology that is Qi enabled. What exactly is Qi you ask? Qi has been invented by the wire-less power association as a normal specs to be employed by the makers of recharging gadgets, like our brand new table, and the products which they will charge, such as your brand new smart phone that is touchscreen display enabled, sees books and has a foldout full-sized pc style keyboard. This very new Qi technology has only been common since the beginning of this current year, but many people are wanting instant integration and a score of gadget launches. Using Qi with older wire-less devices is almost guaranteed, and we will positively be hearing and seeing more about Panasonic's brand new solar-powered wifi charging table and several other Qi facilitated battery chargers sooner.

Could the Power of Touch Create Everlasting Batteries?- Researchers at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia have published some data about the ability of “piezoelectric” thin films to convert mechanical pressure into electric impulse. Translation: touching or putting pressure on these materials could create a charge.

ISA Releases ISA Automation Week 2011 Advance Program - The International Society of Automation (ISA) has announced the release of the Advance Program for ISA Automation Week: Technology and Solutions Event. This annual, international conference will take place 17-20 October 2011 at the Arthur R. Outlaw Convention Center in Mobile, Alabama, USA. The Advance Program provides the technical conference overview, as well as:

The International Society of Automation (ISA) has debuted its social media site, ISA Interchange - This new educational, news-and-blog site provides automation professionals with an opportunity for finding relevant, high-quality technical knowledge; engaging with each other for information sharing and problem solving; and strengthening professional networks.

Irrigation Telemetry System Saves Time, Fuel, Labor and Money - Supports Irrigation and Water Management Applications - Farmers and Water Districts will save time, fuel, labor and money with the new RemoteCONNECT™ RC45 Telemetry System from McCrometer, which is a wireless data collection system designed to provide information via the Internet from installed flow meters, pumps and other agricultural water management sensors operating remotely in the field.

  ICEbooks – Useful Books, Software and New Releases related to Instrumentation and Control

Need Some Technical “know-how”? ICEweb has a page which details a selection of excellent Instrumentation, Automation, Control, Electrical, Electronic and Information Technology books from IDC Technologies. These can be purchased from ICEweb . Also detailed are other links to more useful references.

What’s in your pocket? Why not fill your pocket with an IDC pocket guide. Their six Engineering Pocket Guides are bursting with over 500 pages of valuable information.  The six titles include: Instrumentation, Electrical Engineering, Data Communications, Formulae and Conversions, Electronic Engineering and Industrial Automation. Whether you are interested in just the one title or if you need the whole set send an email to books@idc-online.com .

The Alarm Management Handbook - PAS, recently published the second edition of The Alarm Management Handbook by Eddie Habibi, PAS Founder and CEO, and Bill Hollifield, PAS Alarm Management Principal Consultant. It is the most comprehensive best-practices book available for designing and maintaining an effective alarm management system. Ineffective alarm systems continue to haunt the processing and power industries worldwide, contributing to plant upsets and shutdowns. Alarm management improvement has been identified by many industrial companies as a critical business and safety improvement imperative in recent years. In response to this market need, PAS published the first edition of The Alarm Management Handbook in 2006. With the release of the new ANSI/ISA-18.2-2009 Management of Alarm Systems for the Process Industries, PAS has updated the book to incorporate the ideas presented in it. This new standard sets forth the work processes for designing, implementing, operating, and maintaining a modern alarm system in a life-cycle format. The 2nd edition includes a summary of the standard’s scope, regulatory impact, requirements, recommendations, and other details. It also includes much additional practical information on benchmarking alarm system performance, developing a comprehensive alarm philosophy, solving nuisance alarm problems, performing alarm rationalization, implementing advanced alarm handling techniques, and improving the operator HMI for optimum situation awareness and incident mitigation.

The print version of The Alarm Management Handbook, 2nd Edition is $89.95 USD and is available from PAS at http://www.pas.com/Technical-Books/Alarm-Management-Handbook.aspx. The e-version of the book is available through the Apple iBookstore and Amazon.com.

ISA publishes Instrumentation and Control Systems Documentation, Second Edition - The International Society of Automation (ISA) have announced the publication of Instrumentation and Control Systems Documentation, Second Edition, by Fred A. Meier and Clifford A. Meier. This second edition incorporates improvements suggested by readers and those that reflect subsequent changes in industry practice. 

The Handbook of Laboratory Measurements and Instrumentation presents experimental and laboratory activities with an approach as close as possible to reality, even offering remote access to experiments, providing to the reader an excellent tool for learning laboratory techniques and methodologies. Book includes dozens videos, animations and simulations following each of chapters. It makes the title very valued and different from existing books on measurements and instrumentation.

The National Physical Laboritory has launched the Learning Zone - Whether you are completely new to measurement, or need to learn specific measurement methods and skills, the NPL Learning Zone can help. NPL produces educational and informative resources to aid anyone wishing to learn more about the science of metrology or develop new measurement skills and techniques.

ICEbus - Information on any of the 26 different bus systems in use in the area of Instrumentation and Control.

New ETHERNET Remote I/O Communication Gateway Enables Faster Data Transfer Using Modbus TCP - Pepperl+Fuchs have introduced ETHERNET Remote I/O - a new Ethernet communication gateway and backplane for the company’s established LB/FB remote I/O system.  The gateway and backplane enable the remote I/O system to speak a new communication protocol, building a virtual bridge between traditional field instruments and Modbus TCP-based Ethernet with data transfer rates up to 100 Mb/s.  

FDT Technology Recognized as ANSI/ISA Standards – The International Society of Automation (ISA) and FDT Group have jointly announced that the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) formally approved Field Device Tools (FDT) Technology standards—as previously adopted internationally as IEC 62453 and approved in the United States by the ISA103 Field Device Tools Interface (FDT) committee. These US standards will now be designated as ANSI/ISA standards.

The Fieldbus Foundation has Announced;
- New FOUNDATION Technology Blog - The Fieldbus Foundation has established a new blog addressing a wide range of issues affecting the world of Foundation technology. Located at http://foundationfieldbus.blogspot.com, the blog will cover topics of interest to fieldbus equipment suppliers, end users, engineering firms, system integrators, and others.|
-  New enhancements to its open, non-proprietary Foundation fieldbus physical layer technology. The latest updates to the H1 (31.25 kbit/s) physical layer specifications will improve the robustness of fieldbus control systems by optimizing device interoperability and integration. End users will benefit from easier installation, faster commissioning and seamless startups.
- The release of the all-new Foundation fieldbus Flow Transducer Block Final Specification (FF-908 FS 1.0), which includes a standardized flow transducer block with a high-performance totalizer function. This specification will enable greater consistency in fieldbus device setup, configuration and maintenance, and make it easier for end users to utilize instruments from a wide range of automation equipment suppliers.
- The latest progress on its Wireless and Remote I/O (WIO) technology, including a suite of solutions to assist automation suppliers in developing WIO devices. WIO will enable the utilization of an open, interoperable fieldbus automation infrastructure incorporating both Foundation fieldbus High Speed Ethernet (HSE) and industrial wireless applications.
- It will conduct a series of free, half-day Foundation technology sales force training seminars for industrial automation salespeople, system integrators and manufacturer representatives during 2011. These events will be held in conjunction with the foundation’s end user seminar program across North America.
- It has registered the first two Foundation fieldbus hosts incorporating new, mandatory host profile “61b.” Fieldbus hosts supplied by Emerson Process Management (DeltaV Digital Automation System, with AMS Suite: Intelligent Device Manager) and GE Energy (GE ControlST) passed tests verifying their support for NAMUR NE107 field diagnostics, which is now required as part of the second phase of host testing and registration.

Emerson Process Management have announced the Rosemount 2051 pressure transmitter is available with PROFIBUS PA profile V3.02. PROFIBUS PA is the latest addition to the Rosemount 2051 pressure transmitter, which now includes a Local Operator Interface (LOI) option that features simple addressing and configuration at the transmitter. PROFIBUS PA with LOI are available on the complete line of Rosemount 2051 products, including 2051CF flowmeters, and 2051L level transmitters.

Get Connected to the Benefits of HART 7 - Suzanne Gill - Charles Larson was quoted in the HARTline Newsletter in In this story discussing the benefits of HART 7 it is highlighted that the introduction of HART 7 has “improved the ability of additional data and diagnostic information from devices” along with increasing “the awareness of users to the wealth of information in HART devices that can be used in plant efficiency.”

Specifying FDT Technology – Putting Your Assets to Work - This paper provides engineers that specify automation or asset management systems with an overview of FDT Technology and suggests text to use as a part of the request for proposal or ordering specifications to ensure that appropriate FDT products are purchased. It answers many of the most common questions including, What is FDT Technology?, What is a DTM?, What is a Frame Application?, How does FDT integrate into my automation or asset management system?, and How do I include FDT Technology in my project? The White Paper is available at no cost and can be downloaded after registering at www.fdtgroup.org/specwp.

The FDT Group have announced;
- The Immediate Public Availability of their New FDT 2.0 Specification - The new FDT 2.0 standard maintains backward compatibility to the installed base, offers significant speed and performance enhancements, improves support and deployment in distributed applications, supports a full client / server environment, enhances security, ensures FDI compatibility, and provides a rich set of new features and capabilities for the benefit of the end users.
- A Joint Project to provide Off-the-Shelf Interoperability between the FDT 2.0 standard and the OPC Unified Architecture (UA) standard. The project envisions a standard plug-in for the new FDT 2.0 standard that will provide the necessary connectivity to enable data to be communicated throughout the enterprise using the OPC UA standard. Work is underway to make this capability available by the end of this year when the new FDT 2.0 standard is fully available.

ICEed - Educational links associated with Instrumentation, Control and Fire & Gas

E-learning * Training * Consulting Abhisam Software is a leader in technical training. Innovative e-learning courses help technical professionals like you to stay on top of the learning curve. Their e-learning courses, technical training workshops and onsite training activities span areas in Instrumentation, Automation & Control Systems, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology and  Process Plant Safety. These e-learning courses and traditional training courses increase the skill levels of employees in companies and other organizations. Their Instrumentation training courses, meet all your Instrumentation training needs, whether for Instrument technician training, industrial instrumentation training or control systems engineer training. Current training courses include Hazardous Area Instrumentation, an ebook on Hazardous Area Classification, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), Gas Monitors, Safety Instrumented Systems , HAZOP and an ebook on Variable Frequency Drives. Abhisam's upcoming courses on Plant and Process Safety includes VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds). Other courses and ebooks in the pipeline which will be launched soon are courses and ebooks on Fieldbus Technology, Level Instrumentation and Electrical Schematics. See the complete range of courses here. Abhisam now also offer a certification for each course, if the learner takes an online test and scores the passing grade. There is no additional charge for this. It is an excellent idea if somebody wants to have a "proof" of having taken training and acquired a new competency. All the current courses have free download demos of the first module. Did you know that Abhisam also conduct workshops and on site training courses worldwide? They recently held a one day intensive training workshop on Hazardous Area Instrumentation in Andheri, Mumbai in association with the ISA Maharashtra section. This workshop had leading experts from industry and government organizations, who helped participants from leading industries & companies like Siemens, Reliance, SNC Lavalin, Tata Power, Essar and others learn all about this sometimes difficult to understand subject.

Free USA Training Schedule for PROFIBUS and PROFINET in 2011 - Eighteen free training classes are scheduled for 2011. There are two different curricula: PROFIBUS and PROFINET

Call for Papers - If you have an upcoming conference and are calling for papers please contact us.

Are you an Electrical Professional from the Mining, Manufacturing or Utilities Industry? IDC are looking for a number of presenters to submit an abstract and present their papers at the upcoming Electrical Arc Flash Technical Forum which has been created to help drive our industry towards the completion of the Australian standards for arc flash safety. This event follows on from the sell out success of 2010 Arc Flash Event in Melbourne which attracted over 150 attendees. Arc flash is arguably one of the most topical issues being discussed in the electrical engineering community in Australia today (especially in the mining, utilities and manufacturing areas). Download the full call for papers.

South East Asia Flow Measurement Conference 2012 - Abstract Submission Deadline: 15 August 2011. The 2012 Conference will have a flexible structure which will encompass both theoretical and real world experience, providing delegates the opportunity to schedule attendance around work demands.

E-Learning 

IDC have a range of E-Learning courses Covering  Data Communications,   Electrical Engineering, Electronics Engineering,  Instrumentation, Mechanical Engineering and Project Management . 

Training and Workshop Schedules

IDC have a huge range of workshops and training courses in Australia and USA.

ICEfolks - News about Promotions and Changes for people in the Instrumentation and Control Engineering World.

PI North America, the home of PROFINET and PROFIBUS in the USA and Canada, has announced that Bernie Anger, General Manager Control and Communication Systems for GE Intelligent Platforms, has been elected to its Board of Directors. Read more here.

Scott Moffat has been appointed general manger of Pilz’s Australian and New Zealand subsidiaries, replacing outgoing general manager Frank Schrever. Moffat is a senior executive with over 20 years experience and extensive knowledge in the automation, energy, mineral processing and petrochemical industries and possesses a unique blend of engineering background and corporate finance coupled with strong business acumen and customer focus.

Thomas Kuiper has become a director of AMS and has taken on the position of Project Manager as of 1 July. He has been with AMS for more than nine years fulfilling several positions, and with his background of electronic engineering, accountancy and sales, AMS feels it will be a great fit for his new position. Announcing the appointment, General Manager at AMS Dirk Kuiper said: “Thomas’s expertise in his various positions will enable him to immediately contribute to the continuous growth of the company and allow the business to fulfil its market potential in Australia. In his new function he will be liaising with the branches and customers on major projects. 

ICEJobs – Vacancies and Wanted  

Put Your Engineering Career Today on the High Road - Thanks to Steve Mackay  of IDC Technologies here are some excellent suggestions to boost your engineering career today:

• Make sure you have a business and life plan which is strategic in nature and long term. Nothing particularly detailed - just short and to the point. Where do you want to be personally and professionally in a year's time? A plan certainly doesn't have to be solely about money. If it is, it is unlikely to be very successful. But it has to be aligned with your interests and what you are capable of. And take into account what you are currently doing. If you are in a hut somewhere in the middle of the Great Sandy Desert working as a consultant for a pittance on a mine; you may need to rethink your situation. Or working in some remote location doing very basic work but earning good money but which is actually degrading your engineering skills you may also need to wonder where you will be in a few years time. Write your plan down and refer to it on a daily basis.
• Keep your skills sharp and current. This doesn't mean that you have to suddenly go on a deluge of training courses or a Master degree. Informal learning can be even more powerful than a training class - where you learn from a highly experienced mentor or trusted colleague. Keep an eye on what is required in terms of skills. This is a constantly shifting and changing environment. Currently certain engineering professionals are in ferocious demand; others not so
• Deliver real results to your organisation and ensure (modestly) that they are aware of this. Working long hours is not really the only way of demonstrating real results. This is about completing projects successfully to a budget. Against all sorts of obstacles. Persistence and innovative thinking are keys here. And a touch of lateral thinking for those enormously thorny problems.
• Communicate well in terms of writing and talking to your peers, clients and suppliers. Email is not a particularly effective way of communicating (although highly convenient)
• Review your progress and consider feedback from others. This can help you sharpen your act. Not always pleasant to hear negative comments. But that is life. Watch out for your subordinates giving you glowing comments on every occasion. They may be “yes (wo)men”
• Give credit where it is due. Acknowledge the success of others and enthusiastically celebrate others successes. They will respect and support you with your successes
• Be passionate, enthusiastic and have a positive attitude. Especially when the chips are down. Avoid the blame game. Apart from identifying ways of improving things. Avoid anger and negativity wherever possible. Conflict is generally a dead end and is best to be avoided with a win-win solution

ICElinks - Electronic Instrumentation Newsletters and links of Potential Interest to our readers.

A really great website for the latest news is the Read-Out Instrumentation Signpost.

• Fieldbus Facts Newsletter and Fieldbus Facts Newsletter Archive
• Fieldbus Reports
• Information Control Monthly Newsletter
• Machine & Motion Control Monthly Newsletter
• Process and Advanced Control Monthly Newsletter
• Process Instrumentation and Sensors Monthly Newsletter

Are you into Hydraulics? Brendon Casey's Inside Hydraulics Newsletter contains loads of technical tips and money saving techniques.

Automation World offers some electronic newsletters of interest including;

• Automation Skills - Tips and tricks to improve your business, IT and control system skills.
• Functional Safety News
• Industrial Ethernet - How to apply Ethernet networking in manufacturing.
• OPConnect - The Newsletter of the OPC Foundation.
• Packaging Automation Review
• Process Automation - Getting Value from Process Automation
• PROFINET News - The Ethernet Source for Industrial Automation and Integration.
• Motion Control - The Latest in Motion Technologies and Applications.
• Safety Automation Review - Solutions for the Safety Professional.
• Totally Integrated Automation - Your Source for Automation News.
• Wireless World Review - The present and future of wireless innovation.

The Flow Control Network has a excellent newsletter for flow "buffs".

Jim Pinto's Website has lots of great content pertaining to Automation..

ICEmerge — Mergers, Acquisitions and News from the Instrumentation Control Engineering Community.

Emerson Process Management has acquired Net Safety Monitoring, Inc., a global leader in the design, development and manufacture of fixed toxic and combustible gas detectors, flame detectors, safety systems, and other safety and security products.  The acquisition expands Emerson’s capabilities to provide comprehensive process controls and safety monitoring for the toughest industrial environments. 

National Instruments have announced its acquisition of Phase Matrix, Inc. (PMI). The acquisition brings key RF talent, technologies and manufacturing capabilities to NI and will significantly increase the capability of NI products in high-frequency RF and microwave applications,

ICEnew — Great new Technical Links posted on ICEweb.

Just click on the title header to go to ICEweb's super pages on each of the following subjects.

Analysers

ICEwebs Analyser pages cover many types of analysers plus their associated sample systems.

A Technical article on General Humidity - Humidity Definitions, Details on Relative or Absolute Humidity, Practical Requirements of Humidy Measurement, State of the Technology and functional principles - from Vereta 

Analyser Sample Systems

Thanks to our new sponsor  Haldatec ICEweb's Analyser Sample Systems  page has been extensively upgraded with the addition of a swag of 38 new technical papers - so if you need more information on this subject just go to this page for fantastic technical information.! 

Papers include;
- Principles of Odorization - A discussion of odorant, odorizers, and odorization.
- Practical Considerations of Gas Sampling, Gas Sampling Systems and Standards - The need to be able to take a representative sample of a hydrocarbon product is necessary to ensure proper accounting for transactions and efficient product processing. 
- Spot and Composite Sampling for BTU Analysis - Determination and Natural Gas Physical Properties 
- Eliminating Guesswork – Predicting Gas Temperatures for Analysers - Industry now has available prediction techniques for calculating the temperature of pipeline gas that is being presented to on-line analysers. Thus the risk has been taken out of having a liquid laden sample or a non representative sample, that can damage analysers or not make the analysis meaningful. 
- Instrument Filters - These filters are used extensively for removing contaminates that include dust, aerosols and water from the gas before it is used for such duties as gas supply to pneumatic instruments, valve actuators, and analysers.
- Pressure Regulators for Analyser Applications - Pressure regulators are self contained devices that are often defined by their application. Hence similar regulators are described as Instrument or Analyser or High/Low Pressure. 
- Self Contained Pressure Regulator - Sizing - This technical paper gives a technical introduction on self contained pressure regulators, capacity sizing, turndown and relief sizing.
- Typical Crude Oil Sampling System - This technical diagram shows a typical crude oil sampling system. 
- Analyzer Liquid Shutoff and Eliminator Membrane Filter - The Liquid Eliminator is designed to protect analyzers from damage and contamination by removing liquids and particulates in gas samples. The gas sample enters the housing and flows through the membrane, effectively eliminating any free liquids from entering the analyzer columns.
- Flow Conditioner - This flow conditioner is designed to protect analytical instruments from liquids. 

To access these, the rest of the huge papers and much more for free just go to our Analyser Sample Systems  page.

Burner Management Systems

ICEweb's Burner Management System page has around 70 fantastic technical links , many which are new, to assist you if you work in this area.

Thanks to our sponsor Invensys Triconex ICEweb's Burner Management page has been extensively upgraded with the addition of 8 technical papers and  - new sections, so if you need more information on BMS just go to this page for fantastic technical information.! 

• New Items include:
  - A new section on Burner Management System Standards.
  - A new section on Burner Management Systems Definitions, Abbreviations and Acronyms.
  - SIL Application in Burner Management Systems - A Case Study -Thermal Burner
  - Burner Management – A Straightforward Approach for Typical Systems
  - Selecting Safety System Designs 
  - Flame Safety 
  - Safety Controls and Burner Management Systems (BMS) on Direct-Fired Multiple Burner Heaters 
  - Microprocessor Based Burner Management Systems (BMS)

Cables

Loads of links to cable information can be found on this page.

Choke Valves  

ICEweb's Choke Valve page has links to some fantastic technical information. This includes Choke Valve General Information, Choke Valve Design Specification, Choke Valve Maintenance and Inspection, Common Choke Valve Problems and Solutions , Choke  Papers and Applications, Subsea Choke Valves, Choke Control Systems and some great links to technical papers.

Control Valves

A Control Valve Repository which has heaps of great, useful technical information. Fantastic links covering Diagnostic Tools for Control Valves, Valve Sizing, Control Valve Handbooks, Self Operated Regulators, Control Valve Noise Calculation and Prediction, , Positioners, Selection and Application, Maintenance and a mass of other really useful Links  to Articles on Control Valves. 

Control Systems

Covering vast array of technical subjects on Control Systems such as Advanced Process Control, Alarm Management, Batch Control, Cascade Control, Compressor Surge Control, Control Room Design, Control Forums, Fuzzy Logic, Decentralised Control,  Pneumatic Controllers,  Process Sequence Control Documentation Standards, Programmable Automation Controllers, Loop Tuning and much more.

Human Factors - Planning and Designing a Control Room - The emergence of new technologies, new ergonomic standards, and increased public awareness of workplace health issues have combined to inspire a dramatic shift in console design. Today’s control workstations are smaller, more functional, and more aesthetically appealing than earlier generations. The ergonomic approach to designing consoles into the layout of a control room should contribute to achieving the performance objectives established for the space in question, while ensuring that every aspect of interaction between human, machine, and the environment - from raised flooring to acoustical concerns, from indirect lighting to the overall well-being, health, and safety of each operator - is taken into account - from Winstead.

Corrosion  

Need to know about a corrosion issue? You are likely to find an answer in these pages.

Condition Monitoring  

We are looking for more technical papers in this area.

Data Loggers 

There are numerous Data Logger technical papers and articles to our thanks to our valued sponsor HINCO.

Dynamic Process Simulators and Training Systems  

Plenty of information on this subject.

Electrical  

Many pages with Numerous Technical Links and White Papers on various Electrical Subjects.

COMING SOON! - The Quick Guide to Reading Electrical Schematics - If you've been hunting for a quick and easy guide book that shows how to read electrical schematics, you've come to the right place! This ebook is due for release anytime soon and is eagerly awaited by many. Interested? You can pre-order your copy by sending an email to sales@abhisam.com 

Free Guide Available to Evaluate Water-Damaged Electrical Equipment - This guide provides advice on the safe handling of electrical equipment that has been exposed to water and outlines items that require complete replacement or that can be reconditioned by a trained professional. Equipment covered in the document includes electrical distribution equipment, motor circuits, power equipment, transformers, wire, cable and flexible cords, wiring devices, GFCIs and surge protectors, lighting fixtures and ballasts, motors, and electronic products

Electrical and Instrumentation Enclosures  

Thanks to our sponsor Weidmuller you can find information on Cabinet design, construction, NEMA and IP ratings, Maintenance, EMC and lots more! This page has been completely reworked and the following links added.

Instrumentation, Control, Electrical, Fire & Gas and SIS Design Engineering

ESD Valves - Shutdown and Blowdown 

This comprehensive page includes  technical and design information on  Emergency Shutdown Valves, Shutdown Valves, Blowdown Valves, Actuators, Fire Safe Actuators, ESD Valve Fire Shelter and Partial Stroke Testing.

Process ESD Systems - This power point presentation is a large 9.48 Mb download but contains some really useful information on ESD systems and ESD Valves - from ICEweb sponsor Emerson Process Management and Centralian Controls.

Flow

These pages cover; Coriolis, Metering,  Multiphase, Orifice Plates, Ultrasonic, Thermal, V-Cone, Vortex and more!

Diesel Fuel Flow Measurement – Avoiding Common Pitfalls - As the price of fuel increases and environmental regulations tighten, it is more important than ever to measure the amount of fuel used by diesel engines and standby power generation systems. However, accurate monitoring of diesel fuel consumption presents a significant challenge for end users in various industries. The following white paper addresses a number of common pitfalls to help ensure the best flow measurement solution for diesel fuel applications - from Flow Technology.

V-Cone Steam-Injection Flow Meter Supports Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) - Upstream oil/gas engineers will find McCrometer’s precision V-Cone® Steam-Injection Flow Meter supports enhanced oil recovery (EOR) technologies that produce heavy oil from demanding environments, such as shallow oil sands deposits and other challenging formations. Featuring unique differential pressure (dP) technology, McCrometer’s self-conditioning V-Cone Flow Meter provides superior flow measurement accuracy and repeatability over a broad flow range regardless of fluid dynamics. Accuracy is ±0.5 percent with repeatability of ±0.1 percent over a wide turndown. With virtually no maintenance or recalibration requirements, the V-Cone also operates over a long life with a low cost of ownership.

Emerson have introduced its globally certified, mass-based measurement system for marine bunkering -  Their Micro Motion® Certified Marine Bunker Measurement Solution is the first traceable, transparent, mass-based measurement system with third-party certification for heavy fuel oil (HFO) bunkering.  Installed on a vessel, barge, or at a terminal, the Certified Marine Bunker Measurement Solution monitors the bunker delivery, reports final totals, and provides a ticket that can be used for custody transfer.   This globally-certified bunker custody transfer system meets international standards and provides highly accurate, transparent bunker fuel deliveries that will minimize the number of disputes between barge operators and ship operators, while enabling operators to very accurately monitor fuel and improve operational efficiencies.

McCrometer, the flow measurements specialists, have appointed AMS as their distributor for the industrial product range. McCrometer and AMS Instrumentation & Calibration have entered into an exclusive agreement for AMS to become McCrometer’s Australian distributor to supply their range of products to the oil and gas and industrial market place.

Fire and Gas

Technical Papers covering many aspects of Fire and Gas Engineering. Thanks to Honeywell Analytics this page has been extensively re-modelled with many new links added.

Honeywell Analytics Gas Book - This updated handbook is intended to offer a simple guide to anyone considering the use of gas detection equipment. It provides an explanation of both the principles involved and the instrumentation needed for satisfactory protection of personnel, plant and environment. The aim has been to answer as many as possible of the most commonly asked questions about the selection and use of industrial gas detection equipment.

Honeywell Analytics have announced the launch of the H450EN Carbon Monoxide alarm -  a device designed to provide additional peace of mind with clearly visible status indications that ensure a fault is never mistaken for an alarm.

Hazardous Areas Instrumentation and Electrical Equipment

A huge technical library of Technical Information covering a wide range of Electrical Equipment in Hazardous Areas.

Quality Systems for Ex Equipment - New IEC Standard to be used as basis for IECEx certification - This International Standard specifies requirements for a quality system that can be used by an organization for the production of equipment and protective systems for explosive atmospheres. This standard is written in the form of using ISO 9001 for the base requirements and format, and then adding additional specific requirements to relevant clauses for explosive atmospheres. It also contains a detailed informative annex with information relevant to particular types of protection and specific products.

Australian and New Zealand Ex Standard Updates
Amended Standard - AS/NZS 60079.17:2009/Amdt 1:2011 - Explosive atmospheres - Electrical installations inspection and maintenance has been amended.
Updated Standard AS/NZS 60079.18:2011 Supersedes AS/NZS 60079.18:2005 - AS/NZS 60079.18:2011 - Explosive Atmospheres - Equipment Protection by Encapsulation ‘m - This Standard was prepared by the Joint Standards Australia/Standards New Zealand Committee EL- 014, Equipment for Explosive Atmospheres, to supersede AS/NZS 60079.18:2005, Electrical apparatus for explosive gas atmospheres, Part 18: Construction, test and marking of type of protective encapsulation ‘m’ electrical apparatus. The objective of this Standard is to establish the specific requirements for design, construction and testing of electrical equipment protected by encapsulation for use in flammable gas and vapour atmospheres and explosive dust atmospheres. See a preview here.
Updated Standard AS/NZS 60079.25:2011 supersedes AS/NZS 60079.25:2004 - AS/NZS 60079.25:2011 Explosive Atmospheres - Intrinsically safe electrical systems - Adopts IEC 60079-25:2010 to establish the specific requirements for construction and assessment of intrinsically safe systems, type of protection ‘i’, for use where Group I, II and III apparatus is required.The objective of this Standard is to establish the specific requirements for construction and assessment of intrinsically safe systems, type of protection ‘i’, for use where Group I, II and III apparatus is required. It modifies but should be read in conjunction with, AS/NZS 60079.0 and AS/NZS 60079.11, in particular. See a preview here.
New Standard - AS/NZS 60079.29.4:2011- Explosive Atmospheres - Gas Detectors - Performance requirements of open path detectors for flammable gases.The objective of this Standard is to establish the specific requirements for design, construction and performance testing of electrical equipment for open path detection of flammable gases and vapours. It is complementary to AS/NZS 60079.29.1, which applies to the other detection techniques available for this purpose. It is intended to be read in conjunction with AS/NZS 60079.0 for its electrical protection. See a preview here.

The Australian National Committee of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), in conjunction with Standards Australia, is hosting the 75th IEC General Meeting in the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre from 24 – 28 October 2011. "The IEC General Meeting is the world’s pre-eminent gathering of electro-technical experts and represents an excellent opportunity to showcase Australian innovation and technical expertise," said Colin Blair, Chief Executive, Standards Australia. Read more here.

High Integrity Pressure Protection Systems - (HIPPS)  

A swag of information on this interesting subject.

Hydraulics

Need some Technical Information on Hydraulics?  Look at ICEweb's page. 

Instrumentation Valves, Tubing  and Fittings  

ICEweb has very comprehensive pages on this subject. 

HOKE have announced Type Approval Certification for Det Norske Veritas (DNV) Standards for Certification 2.9 No. 5-792.20 for 316 SS and 6Mo GYROLOK product. They have also announced that they have certified GYROLOK® 316 Stainless Steel fittings from ¼" to 1" to the ASTM F 1387-99 (2005) performance standards for mechanically attached fittings. This certification establishes performance characteristics for fittings which directly attach to pipe or tube by deforming the pipe, tube or fitting which creates a seal and therefore a restrained joint. Historically ASTM F-1387 certification was a requirement for all naval surface ships. In recent years it’s become a requirement for fittings used in petrochem applications and other key markets.

Laser Instrumentation  

Technical Information on Laser Level and Other Laser Instrumentation Applications.

Thanks to our sponsor Zedflo Australia ICEweb's Laser Instrumentation page has been extensively upgraded.

Level

Technical Information covering a wide range of level subjects including General Theory, Capacitance, Displacer, Float/Magnetic, Radar, Ultrasonic, Boiler Level and more!  

Please support our Level Page sponsor Austral-Powerflo Solutions, see all their Magnetrol Level solutions on the page.

New Technologies

This section of ICEweb is dedicated to new and emerging technologies.

Pressure  

Covers General Theory,  Technical Papers,  Transmitters, Regulators, Safety Tips, Blockage Tool and more Pressure Related Technologies.

Emerson have launched a New Wireless Tool to Measure Pressure Behind Well Casing and Improve Offshore Safety - The new instrument measures online and in real-time previously inaccessible pressure and temperature information behind the casing in subsea production wells, providing operators with an important new tool for well integrity monitoring.

Pressure Relief Valves

This must be just about the world's most comprehensive Pressure Relief Valve resource covering Technical Papers, Technical  Manuals, Engineering Handbook, Calculations, Sizing, Selection and Relief Design.

Rupture Discs

Specifications, Standards, Technical Papers and Articles.

Security  

This comprehensive page has numerous technical papers on Process Control Security issues

#1 ICS and SCADA Security Myth: Protection by Air Gap - A blog from Eric Byres - In his blog article, Fix the Problem, Stop Bailing out Vendors, Dale Peterson made a brief comment about “fantasy of the air gap”. It was an important comment, but one I think got lost in the other messages Dale offered. So today, I am going to focus on the topic of air gaps. The existence of an “air gap” between control system networks and the rest of the world has been one of the most enduring fairy tales in the field of SCADA / ICS security. The idea is that in a properly designed system, there is a physical gap between the control network and the business network. Since digital information cannot cross such a gap, bad things like hackers and worms can never get into critical control systems. From this, a corollary flows: “Companies that get worms in their systems (like the unfortunate Brazilian Power Company of last week), obviously have not created the proper air gap and deserved to be infected.”

Final Version of Industrial Control Systems Security Guide Published - The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has issued the final version of its Guide to Industrial Control Systems (ICS) Security (SP 800-82), intended to help pipeline operators, power producers, manufacturers, air traffic control centers and other managers of critical infrastructures to secure their systems while addressing their unique performance, reliability, and safety requirements.

Severe Service Control Valves  

A swag of technical papers can be found here.

Solenoid Valves  

This is a comprehensive Technical Reference on Solenoids 

Surge and Lightning Protection  

It will never happen to me? Don't you believe it...Globally, some 2000 on-going thunderstorms cause about 100 lightning strikes to earth each second!! This page provides a comprehensive range of links to help resolve the potential effects.

Test and Calibration

Technical Papers and Articles on  how to test and calibrate along with typical equipment. Thanks to our sponsor Zedflo Australia ICEweb's Test and Calibration Instruments page has been extensively upgraded.

Terminals -  Electrical and Instrumentation Wiring  

Need to know how to wire and terminate your control consoles, marshalling cabinets and junction boxes?   Thanks to our sponsor Weidmüller ICEweb's Electrical and Instrumentation Terminals page has some great information 

Temperature

Covering a whole range of temperature measuring techniques along with General Theory, Conversions, Selection and Application this page must be your first choice when looking for quality technical information.

Following are a number of technical articles on the new Thermowell Design Standard ASME PTC 19.3 TW-2010, the correct design of thermowells is very important especially in respect of stress failures - this standard addresses this.

New Standard for Thermowell Design - ASME PTC 19.3 TW - 2010 - The long awaited PTC 19.3 TW-2010 is a completely new standard that establishes the practical design considerations for thermowell installations in power and process piping. This code is an expanded version of the thermowell section contained in the PTC 19.3-1974, and incorporates the latest theory in the areas of natural frequency, Strouhal frequency, in-line resonance and stress evaluation. ASME responded to changing industry demands for a more comprehensive set of thermowell evaluations. Key enhancements over the 1974 edition include:

• Expanded coverage for thermowell geometry;

• Natural frequency correction factors for mounting compliance, added fluid mass, and sensor mass;

• Consideration for partial shielding from flow;

• Intrinsic thermowell damping;

• Steady state and dynamic stress evaluations;

• Improved allowable fatigue limit definition

PTC 19.3 has been the standard used by piping designers since it’s release and has been highly successful in the industry. The new, expanded PTC 19.3 TW edition—developed by end users and manufacturers—builds on decades of industry and research data to make it the new worldwide authority for thermowell design safety. Intended for piping designers, instrument engineers, instrument designers and plant I/C engineers/designers, plant engineers, plant safety engineers, process engineers, thermowell manufacturers, instrument manufacturers, anyone who assembles thermowell bids or design specifications, and regulatory agencies.

Thermowell Calculations - Dirk Bauschke, David Wiklund. Andrew Dierker  and Alex Cecchini - Thermowells are essentially a circular cylinder installed like a cantilever into the process piping. They allow a temperature sensor to be located within a process flow while providing a process seal and protecting the sensor from the process fluid. As a process fluid passes around the thermowell, low pressure vortices are created on the downstream side in both laminar and turbulent flow. The combination of stresses, generated by the static in-line drag forces from fluid flow and the dynamic transverse lift forces caused by the alternating vortex shedding, create the potential for fatigue-induced mechanical failures of the thermowell. Until recently ASME PTC 19.3-1974 has been the standard by which most thermowells are designed.  For the most part, though, ASME PTC 19.3-1974 was used successfully in both steam and non-steam applications. Several key factors caused ASME to re-form the committee in 1999 to completely rewrite the standard; advances in the knowledge of thermowell behavior, a number of catastrophic failures (Monju among them) and the increased use of Finite Element Analysis for stress modeling. When combined, these factors caused many in the industry to move away from the rudimentary methods and simplified tables laid out in ASME PTC 19.3-1974 in favor of more advanced methods for predicting the thermowell natural frequency and calculating the forced frequency. Rather than simply update the existing version of ASME PTC 19.3-1974, the committee decided to release a new standard due to the significant changes associated with the effort. The thermowell calculation portion of ASME PTC 19.3-1974 was 4 pages. By comparison, the new standard, known as ASME PTC 19.3TW-2010 (“TW” for thermowell), is over 40 pages due to the explanations of theory and the sheer complexity of the process. By February 2010, ASME PTC 19.3TW-2010 was approved through all applicable committees and it was finally released in July 2010.

Thermowell Design Standard ASME PTC 19.3 TW-2010 - An explanatory video 

Typical  Thermowell Calculations Report per ASME PTC 19.3TW-2010

Velocity Collars: No Longer Best Engineering Practice - A velocity collar is a metal ring machined into the shank of a thermowell and installed tightly in to the standoff of a pipe.  Due to the nature of thermowell vibration behavior, installation practices, and ASME’s position, Emerson does not recommend velocity collars as a best practice for means of reducing vibration-related failure. Emerson also feels that other installation methods that attempt to reduce unsupported length in a similar fashion to velocity collars, such as DIN Weld-in style thermowells, are not a best practice.

Valves

ICEwebs Valveweb page has been completely reworked to help you get to your required information quickly and efficiently.

Composite Valves - Thanks to our sponsor Austral-Powerflo Solutions ICEweb's Composite Valve page has been completely reworked and the following links have been added;

Specialist Power Plant Valves - Thanks to our sponsor Austral-Powerflo Solutions ICEweb's Specialist Power Plant Valve page has been completely reworked and the following links have been added;

Variable Speed Drives

Check out ICEweb's Variable Speed Drives Page. We are looking for more technical papers on these and other Electrical subjects. 

ICEsafety

Information and News on Safety Instrumented Systems , Burner Management Systems, Manufacturing & Safety Automation,  and Health & Safety.

Thanks to our sponsor Invensys Triconex ICEweb's Safety Instrumented Systems page has been extensively upgraded with the addition of 31 technical papers - so if you need more information on SIS just go to this page as a first "port of call"! 

• Papers include:
  - A Field-Proven Triple Modular Redundant (TMR) Digital System for Turbine Control and Safety Application in Nuclear Power Plants 
  - Qualified Safety Parameter Display System (QSPDS) in Nuclear Power Plants 
  - Safety Considerations Guide 
  - Basic Fundamentals Of Safety Instrumented Systems.
  - Consistent Consequence Severity Estimation 
  - The Interrelationship of Risk Criteria and Conditional Modifiers 
  - Three Important Factors in Evaluating your SIL Certified Device 
  - A Brief Discussion over Safety Costs in New Enterprises 
  - Accurate Modelling of Shared Components in High Reliability Applications 
  - Field Failure Data – the Good, the Bad and the Ugly 
  - Functional Safety in the Life Science Industries 
  - Position Paper on IEC61508 2010 
  - Setting the Standard - How Process Plants can benefit through Proper and Careful Adoption of the IEC 61511 Safety Standard 
  - You Asked: Alarm Management 
  - Saved by the Bell: Using Alarm Management to make Your Plant Safer
  - Alarm Management and ISA 18 - A Journey, not a Destination 
  - Get a life(cycle)! Connecting Alarm Management and Safety Instrumented Systems 
  - Achieving ALARP with Safety Instrumented Systems 
  - Alarm Rationalisation 
  - Hazards Equal Trips or Alarms or Both 
  - EC 61508 - Is it Pain or Gain? 
  - IEC 61511 - An aid to Control of Major Hazards Regulations (COMAH) and Safety Case Regulations 
  - Live Changeout of SIS
  - Software tools for SIS Lifecycle support
   - An introduction to Functional Safety and IEC 61508 
  - Reliability with Respect to Safety Instrumented Systems
  - A Map to the Latest Safety Standards 
  - Webcast: Functional Safety - What It Is, Why It's Important, and How to Comply 
  - Note New Edition- PDS Method Handbook 2010 Edition - Reliability Prediction Method for Safety Instrumented Systems 
  - Personnel Functional Safety Certification - Not All Programs Are Created Equal 
  - ANSI/ISA-TR96.05.01, Partial Stroke Testing of Automated Block Valves 

Coming Soon - E-learning Course on VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) - This e-learning course will cover VOCs in detail, with worked examples, interactive animated simulations, real plant photos and examples/case studies. If you've been hunting for an easy to understand training course on VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds), you've come to the right place, but just a wee bit early. That's great, because you are now eligible for an "early bird unbelievable discount offer"! Claim it by sending an email to sales@abhisam.com  For those of you who do not know what VOCs are look here.

Can Process Control Prevent Oil Well Blowouts? - Oil Drilling Accident in the Gulf of Mexico: What caused it? Could We Have Prevented the Blowout with Properly Designed Process Control Systems? From the excellent www.controlglobal.com 

Invensys Operations Management have announced that it will be the exclusive provider of a unique process safety decision-support solution from ACM Facility Safety, a division of ACM Automation Inc. Under the terms of a new partnership agreement, Invensys will now offer ACM Facility Safety’s process safety decision-support software, Machu Picchu, to the global process industry.

Condition and Operation of your Facility’s TEMPSC - Recent inspections conducted by NOPSA and information provided to NOPSA have raised concerns regarding the general condition of some Totally Enclosed Motor Propelled Survival Craft (TEMPSC) currently in use in the offshore regime. Inspection findings have resulted in nine enforcement actions on facility operators in the past four months. The enforcement actions focused primarily on the lack of effective routine maintenance and inspections being conducted on facility TEMPSC. TEMPSC were identified with damaged or broken safety harnesses, unsecured and loose items, and illegible safety and operating instructions. A shortfall in the competencies of personnel assigned to essential lifeboat duties was also noted.

Tube Compression Fitting Failure - A recent near miss incident has identified that compression fittings associated with high pressure tubing lines have the potential to fail by working loose under certain conditions. Potential failure will not be evident without adequate post-assembly inspection and may not become apparent for a number of years due to a range of factors including operating conditions and the material of the tube and fittings. Even during regular pressure testing, it is not uncommon for these ‘compromised’ fittings to pass the initial and subsequent tests prior to the main failure event.

E-learning Course on HAZOP (Hazard and Operability Study) -A HAZOP study is a well known hazard analysis tool used for process safety management and HSE risk assessment of plants and facilities. However, there are very few training courses out there that teach the HAZOP study technique thoroughly well, in a structured manner. Ditto for books-many of them are outdated and not as relevant as they once were. Hence Abhisam Software created this e-learning course, so that you need not refer to boring, outdated and irrelevant books to learn HAZOP. What you need is a practical, "why-we-do-it and how-to-do-it" training course and this is it! This e-learning course covers HAZOP in detail, that will make you a pro in hazard and risk analysis, HSE risk assessment and related areas of process safety management. It has plenty of graphics and interactive animations that make learning so much more easier and fun! You can even download a free trial here! - Thanks to our sponsor Abhisam Software

Manufacturing and Automation Safety

See ICEweb's comprehensive page which covers a huge volume of super information on this subject!  

ICEtools

Software and Tools that will help with engineering design. Really excellent free tools to help you in your job and at home can be found on ICEweb’s “Tools” page.

General Instrument and Control Engineering Tips

Travel Tools - The following travel tools are from timeanddate.com
International Dialing Codes - If you need to make a phone call to someone in another country and you are not quite sure how to dial the number, then this service should hopefully help you.
Distance Calculator - This distance calculator can find distance between any two cities or locations available in The World Clock. The distance is calculated in kilometers, miles and nautical miles, and the initial compass bearing/heading from the origin to the destination. It will also display local time in each of the locations.
Travel Time Calculator - Ever wonder what time it will be in New York when you arrive in Hong Kong? Or how much longer your trip will be with a stop-over in London? This service calculates the total traveling time for a round trip or a multi-city trip (up to 8 cities) between cities or locations available in our World Clock, as well as display the local time for the selected cities, time zone information, and a map showing the path of the journey.

Find out what any Acronym, Abbreviation, or Initialism stands for. With more than 1,000,000 human-edited definitions, Acronym Finder is the world's largest and most comprehensive dictionary of acronyms, abbreviations, and initialisms. Combined with the Acronym Attic, Acronym Finder contains more than 5 million acronyms and abbreviations.

Pipe Flow Rate Calculation Calculate Pipe Pressure Drop - This excellent Pipe flow calculation web site offers fluid flow calculators for pressure drop calculation, pipe diameter calculation, control valves sizing, air flow calculation, Venturi tube and orifice flow, Reynolds number calculation, pressure drop in natural gas line, lpg pipe sizing calculator, Prandtl probe, thermal energy calculator and more... - from Pipeflow Calculations.

Humidity Calculator for Conversion of Humidity Measurements - The humidity calculator from E+E Elektronik is used for the rapid conversion of humidity measurements. Uniquely, the humidity calculator also includes measurement uncertainties in the calculation. This is helpful for obtaining realistic and reliable overall uncertainties based on the specification of the measuring device. 

Instrumentation Technology - Techweb

A Gateway to a huge amount of Instrumentation Technology Information.

ICEwireless

News and technical links to Industrial Instrumentation Wireless items of interest

The following Wireless Links are thanks to our sponsor Abhisam Software  http://www.abhisam.com/index.htm

RFID Case Study ebook -This excellent 61 page technical reference has details on 25 different RFID applications from around the world. The password to the document is "abhisam". . http://www.iceweb.com.au/Newtech/RFID/RFIDCaseStudyBook.pdf

Sponsor Abisham Software have provided the world's first FREE RFID e-learning course which is a no obligation , no strings attached, absolutely free RFID course, that can be downloaded to your own PC and you can view it without any restrictions at all! Plus it's a REAL e-learning course, NOT somebody's stale Power-Point presentation! It has plenty of flash based animations, graphics and text, with a self-assessment test. The visuals help you learn key concepts QUICKLY and EASILY.

Switching to Wireless - Now you can detect level without incurring the cost and complexity of laying cables, says Jonas Berge - A level switch can be used in applications with liquids and slurries, including coating and aerated liquids. Sensing is virtually unaffected by flow, turbulence, bubbles, foam, vibration, solid particles, build-up, or fluid properties. Applications include high and low level detection in liquid tanks as a backup to a continuous level transmitter, activating a pump based on level, and starting or stopping a mixer based on level around the blades. Now, new developments in wireless communications are enabling an easy and cost-effective solution for level monitoring without laying cable or associated risk of damaging the existing installation, and enable configuration and troubleshooting from a central location - from Emerson Process Management.

Straight to the Heart - The wireless war is not over yet, according to Yokogawa, which believes ISA 100.11a is not only a technologically superior standard to WirelessHart but also caters more widely to the requirements of end users.

Reliability of Wireless Communication - The general perception that wireless communication is easily disconnected seems to be attributed to our daily experience with mobile phones and wireless LANs. The rapid progress of mobile phone technology meant that the latest digital wireless communication technology could be used to solve the very tough challenge of ensuring that high-speed data transmission rates and reliability are maintained while users are walking or moving at high speed in cars and trains. However, the facts that a user moves at a certain speed and that the location of use is not fixed impose difficult conditions on wireless communication for which the radio wave environment changes dynamically, resulting in the instability typical of wireless communication. Meanwhile, in many industrial measurement applications, the measurement location is considered and then fixed at the point of installation, and even if the user moves, the movement speed is very moderate and the movement range is also limited, and the required data transfer rate is also relatively low, so the environment is such that reliability can be easily maintained for wireless communication. In other words, it is possible to set conditions to ensure sufficient stability for wireless communication beforehand. By introducing the latest digital wireless technology in such a relatively privileged environment, reliability comparable with wired communication can be ensured.

Modbus Organization Joins the Wireless Cooperation Team - Modbus has joined with Fieldbus Foundation, PROFIBUS Nutzerorganisation e.V., and the HART Communication Foundation, to work cooperatively on the development of wireless gateway specifications based on WirelessHART and the emerging ISA SP 100.11a standard.

ICEtime - Seminars, Tradeshows, Conferences and Events of interest to our readership.

If you would like to have your event listed in ICEtime, please send a note or press release to ICEnews.

Take a look at ISA's comprehensive calendar of Automation events

2011

ExperTune  2011 User Conference, to be held May 10-12 in 

May

7 - 9  Automation Technology Egypt 2011 - Cairo Int'l Conferences Centre, Nasr City, Cairo, Egypt

10 - 12 ExperTune  2011 User Conference - Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA

10 -12 Electric Power Conference - Donald E Stephens Convention Center, Rosemont, IL, USA

10 -12 Principles and Practice of Flow Measurement Training Course - East Kilbride, UK

18 - 19 Produced Water Workshop - Aberdeen UK

June

14 - 17 IMTeC 2011 - Micro-Analysis and Online Analysis - Lyon, France

21 - 23  2011 Ultrasonic Meter User’s Workshop - Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA

September

13 - 15  ChemInnovations 2011- Houston, Texas, USA

14 -15 Sensors + Systems for Control and Instrumentation - Five, Farnborough, UK

19 - 20 Advances in Process Control - York, UK

19 - 22 The 2011 American School of Gas Measurement Technology - Houston, Texas, USA

October

17 -20  ISA Automation Week 2011 - Mobile, AL, USA

24 - 28 75th IEC General Meeting - Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre - Melbourne, Australia

25 -27 Honeywell 23rd Users Conference - "Where Technology Shapes Solutions" - Baveno, Laggo Maggiore, Italy

November

8 - 10 Brazil Automation ISA 2010 (15^th International Congress and Exhibition of Instrumentation, Systems, and Automation) - São Paulo, Brazil

29 - Dec 1 AVEVA World North America User Conference - Westin New Orleans Canal Place Hotel in New Orleans, LA, USA

ICEsponsor¾ Newsletter Sponsor Recognition

The following companies have kindly contributed to the creation and sharing of this information by offsetting the costs associated with its production and distribution. 

Abhisam Software is a young knowledge based company which has been set up to provide training to technical professionals by e-learning. The innovative e-learning courses help professionals to stay on top of the learning curve. What better way to get training, other than by enrolling in an e-learning course? E-learning frees you from attending classrooms, or cramping your work or leisure schedule in any way. It enables you to learn & get training anywhere & at anytime. Get trained anywhere & at anytime by making use of ON DEMAND LEARNING! Learn anytime, anywhere by taking advantage of our e-learning courses. These e-learning courses are available in a variety of ways including as online learning courses, SCORM & AICC compliant courses which can be hosted on your Learning Management System (LMS) or as stand alone courses on CD ROMs. Abhisam Software  have also started an m-learning course on RFID, which can be downloaded to your mobile phone. They have e-learning courses on the following subjects: E-learning course on Gas Monitors E-learning course on RFID E-learning course on Hazardous Area Instrumentation M-learning course on RFID. The Quick Guide to AC Variable Frequency Drives For further details please contact via their website Abhisam http://www.abhisam.com/
Well recognised by such brand names as Circle Seal Controls, Hoke Gyrolok fittings and Go Regulators, CIRCOR International Inc is a leading supplier of valves, related products and services to a wide range of users who require precise, efficient and safe fluid control systems.  For over 125 years they have been providing a complete array of fluid control products and technologies to a highly fragmented industry.  For more information go to http://www.circortechnologies.com/
The Honeywell Analytics group of companies provides gas detection solutions in industries where potentially hazardous chemicals and gases exist.  A full range of fixed gas, portable gas and flame detection equipment is available for the measurement of flammable gases, toxic gases and oxygen concentrations.  The company provides design, development and manufacture of electrochemical, catalytic and infrared sensors, along with Chemcassette technology, placing the company at the forefront of innovation. The company offers solutions to increasingly difficult gas detection and monitoring applications. They also offer project management for specialized fire and gas systems, a global network of service centres and 24-hour on-line technical support. For more information go to http://www.iceweb.com.au/Suppliers/honeywell_analytics.html
The Grimwood range of flanged immersion heaters can now be manufactured to provide hazardous area protection for users in the Asia Pacific region. Depending on the location and operating environment, units can be made in either carbon steel or stainless steel. The benefits of using locally designed and manufactured product fully complying with hazardous area requirements are shorter supply chains and lead times and quicker, clearer communication. http://www.grimwoodheating.com.au/flangeheaters.htm
Prochem is Australia’s leading supplier of quality stainless steel piping and mechanical instrumentation products. They are agents for a huge range of instrumentation products including Hoke Gyrolok, Hoke Instrumentation Valves, Circor Tech Products, Go Regulators, Circle seal, Atkomatic Solenoid Valves, Classic Filters, Manual Sample Systems, King Instrument Company , Hoke Pipe Fittings , Anderson Greenwood Instrument Valves , Anderson Greenwood Primary Isolation Valves , Pacson Valves and ATC Actuators, BSM Valves, O'Brien Tracepak and O'Brien Analytical, BuTech , Stainless Steel Tube, Saddles and Leak Check , Teflon Lined Braided Hoses. http://www.prochem.com.au
Industrial Automation Networks	Industrial Automation Networks Inc. provides field level network services that help our global clients seamlessly connect their field devices and controllers. Digital communications is becoming more prevalent in the industrial environment but unfortunately the skills necessary to implement the technology have not kept pace with either its introduction or scale of acceptance. Industrial Automation Networks has been created to fill the gap in knowledge and expertise in this area for all phases of a project life cycle. Industrial Automation Networks Inc. intent is to "Make Industrial Networks Easy" by making them reliable and of high value to you the End User. http://www.industrialautomationnetworks.com
AVEVA Instrumentation; instrument and systems engineering, design, documentation and management for the entire plant lifecycle. AVEVA Instrumentation provides a comprehensive, powerful and intuitive suite of software tools which support the entire lifecycle of a plant’s instrumentation and control systems. Engineers and plant designers will find their work easier and more productive, thanks to its extensive catalogue- and rules-based functions and unique features such as graphical ‘drag and drop’ design. Plant operators will appreciate a dedicated, affordable solution which makes handover and commissioning more efficient and which goes on to save time and cost throughout the continuing processes of maintenance, modification and upgrade. Customer evaluations have consistently reported substantial gains in productivity compared with rival products. To see why, visit www.aveva.com/instrumentation for product information. To see AVEVA Instrumentation in action, visit  www.aveva.com/events for details of AVEVA roadshows and events near you, or contact your nearest AVEVA sales office to arrange a demonstration on your premises.

Whilst every effort is made to ensure technical accuracy of the information supplied by iceweb.com.au, ICEnews, Keyfleet Pty Ltd and its employees accept no liability for any loss or damage caused by error or omission from the data supplied. Users should make and rely on their own independent inquiries. By accessing the site, and reading this newsletter users accept this condition. Should you note any error/omission or an article offends please do not ignore it, contact the editors and we will review, rectify and remove as necessary.  

© ICEnews 2011.  Reproduction for personal use is permitted.