New Products & Services

SPX Flow CombiTherm Plus[/caption]

Centrifugal pump

SPX Flow’s CombiTherm Plus pump provides safe and reliable transfer of hot fluids without the need for additional, external cooling systems. It is available in two configurations suitable for the pumping of hot oil or hot water. The pump keeps fluid temperatures uniform to ensure processes are predictable while its design protects seal faces and bearings from the heat of the fluid. Optimized cooling fans and large fins keep the temperature around the shaft sealing below 220°F even at high process temperatures up to 660°F. The heavy duty centrifugal pump is centerline mounted which allows thermal expansion without affecting shaft alignment. The combination of low temperature and alignment protects seals and bearings. The pumps are designed to handle high pressure throughout their flow range with hot oil pumps operating up to 360 psi and hot water pumps up to 450 psi.

www.spxflow.com.

New Voith gear

Voith Turbo unveiled VoreconNX, the next generation of its variable speed planetary gear. It is said to offer speed control with reliability and low life cycle costs for the oil & gas sector. The NX series operates in a low power range up to 10 MW. The Vorecon can be used in upstream, mid-stream and downstream applications. Depending on the speed required, power is fed back to the driveline by way of the planetary gear on the driven side. Adjustable pump blades in the torque converter provide stepless and wear-free control. A helical gear on the output side adapts the output speed to the compressor. It also has an integrated control and lubrication oil system.

www.voith.com

Solving electrostatic discharge

Today’s environmentally-friendly hydraulic fluids and lubrication oils are produced with additive packages that contain no toxins or carcinogens, are free of heavy metals, and are ashless (produce no residue as a result of combustion). However, they solve one problem, but create others. A lack of metal content results in low electrical conductivity which can lead to electrostatic discharge (ESD) within the system. ESD may result in arcing in the reservoir, damage to costly hydraulic components (valves, filters, cooler fans, electronics) or the formation of oil-aging deposits.

Take the case of a gas turbine lubrication system at a power plant. Plant personnel observed a crackling noise emanating from the lube oil filter housing, which was most evident during startup or cold start conditions. It would then fade away as the temperature increased. An inspection revealed burn marks on the surface of the filter housing. Discoloration and erosion of the housing surface caused by extreme ESD arcing was evident. Hydac Stat-Free filter elements were introduced. This led to no further audible evidence of ESD discharge, as well as no residual voltage in the oil flow directly downstream of the filter elements.

HYDAC’s Stat-Free filter element series combats ESD with a design that includes conductive components and with media combinations that minimize the charge generation of the filter and the oil. This technology has been designed and tested for gas and steam turbine applications.

www.hydac.com

Explosion proof junction box

United Electric Controls (UE) has announced the availability of a 316 stainless steel explosion proof junction box. The box is available assembled with the company’s stainless steel product lines such as the compact, dual seal certified, explosion proof 12 Series pressure and temperature switches, as well as the hermetically sealed TX200 pressure transmitters. It is also available for separate purchase as a junction box kit.

The new junction box holds numerous worldwide certifications, including cCSAus, ATEX, IECEx and PESO. It also has IP 66 certification, representing resistance to dust and inclement weather. The explosion proof stainless steel junction box is available for ordering as junction box option M432, which has ½” NPT threads or as option M433, which has M20 threads. Either option can be skid- or wall-mounted.

www.ueonline.com

Oil contamination

The High Purity NW Thermo-Vac with ESP is designed to address oil contamination issues commonly found in CCPPs. This compact oil purification machine removes free, emulsified and dissolved water, dissolved gases, varnish and particulate from lubricating oils, hydraulic fluids, and seal oils. These systems are configured on a portable base for in-plant use or packaged in an enclosed trailer for mobile applications. Typical flow rates are 5 and 10 GPM. Larger flow rates are available.

www.highpuritynorthwest.com

Disc coupling

Kop-Flex’s new High Performance Disc Coupling 2.0 is a lighter, second-generation design aligned to the torque requirements of turbomachinery equipment. These couplings are said to be up to 30% lighter than previous generations. Engineering optimization of the disc pack, hardware and components is said to have achieved reduction in weight and stress concentrations in the assembly, while conforming to API 671 requirements. In addition, the range of 22 sizes is available.

Two reduced-moment styles are available: the standard RZS and the full featured RMS, which includes interlocking flanges for additional safety in the event of torque overload. The minimum nominal bore capacity for both RMS and RZS models is 1.6″ (~40mm) to 8.5″ (~ 210mm), with maximum continuous torque ratings of 12,000 lb-in to 1,880,000 lb-in (1.36 – 212 kNm) for both designs. Maximum speeds for both models range from 7,900 rpm for the largest coupling to 34,300 rpm for the smallest.

www.regalpts.com

Digitized steam

GE Power has unveiled the Digital Power Plant for Steam, a suite of technologies that reduces greenhouse gas emissions by improving the performance and efficiency of coal-fired steam plants. By monitoring and analyzing data from more than 10,000 sensor inputs across the plant, the software is said to reduce CO2 emissions by 3%, maintain fuel quality, and reduce fuel consumption by 67,000 tons of coal per year with the same MW of output based on a 1,000 MW power plant. Operating on the GE Predix platform, the software suite includes: asset performance management to monitor equipment health; operations optimization for plant and fleet-wide; boiler optimization, a coal analyser for tuning combustion and exhaust management processes, a digital twin of the physical steam plant that is continuously monitored to identify gaps between actual and ideal performance relative to key performance indicators such as output or emissions; smart start; and business optimization (aggregates information such as fuel and power price, demand, and plant capacity to enable energy traders to make better buying and selling decisions).

A2A Group, for example, has installed GE digitization software at its Chivasso power plant in Northern Italy to make it more competitive in the ancillary service market. GE upgraded one Ansaldo steam turbine and two 9FA gas turbines with its Dry Low NOx 2.6 + combustion system, as well as providing a new boiler system through its legacy Alstom business.

www.gepower.com

Simulation software

CD-adapco, has released STAR-CCM+ 11.04, its engineering simulation solution. This release is aimed at empowering engineers across industries to make design decisions quickly through new modeling capabilities, improved simulation workflows and reductions in design timelines. New features include: expanded multiphase simulation capabilities for centrifugal pumps and wet gas compressors; increased accuracy for marine and oil & gas; and the introduction of 3D Finite Element Electromagnetics.

www.cd-adapco.com

Leak detection

The Spectroline OPK-441 Industrial Leak Detection Kit pinpoints the exact source of leaks in hydraulic equipment, compressors, engines, gearboxes and fuel systems. It features a violet light LED flashlight that quickly reveals leaks in small to medium-sized oil-based fluid systems. Also included is an 8 oz. (237 ml) twin-neck bottle of fluorescent oil dye, which is compatible with all synthetic and petroleum-based fluids. When a circulated into a leaking system and scanned with the flashlight, the dye glows a bright yellow/green at all leak sources to reveal their location. Rounding out the kit is an 8 oz spray bottle of dye cleaner, dye treatment tags and fluorescence-enhancing glasses.

www.Spectroline.com

Turbomachinery control

With FlexSILon TMC, HIMA offers a new approach to turbomachinery control. It includes operation, control and overspeed protection in a single safety system. It comes with standardized function blocks for operation (start-up, operation, manual functions), control (speed control, steam distribution, anti-surge) and protection, (bearing, temperature, pressure), and the ability to implement overspeed protection. This is an alternative to dedicated components from different manufacturers, which call for increased engineering and wiring effort, require more space in the control cabinet and necessitate the retention of a large inventory of spare parts. HIMax and HIMatrix safety systems, as well as the SILworX configuration, programming and diagnostics tool are the core of FlexSILon TMC. This core is supplemented with solutions for local visualization of on-site operation and sequence-of-event recording.

www.hima.com

Fighting corrosion

Cortec just had its water-based coating pass over 1,000 hours of salt spray testing.  At only 1 mil dry film thickness (DFT), the Nano VpCI coatings chemistry of Cortec EcoShield 386 inhibits corrosion. It uses a mixture of nano-sized non-toxic organic inhibitors which provide protection superior to traditional corrosion inhibiting coatings. It is fast drying, non-flammable, can be tinted and a cold weather version is available.

www.cortecvci.com

Emerson variable speed drives

Control Techniques, an Emerson business, has extended its range of high power modular drives. Both its Unidrive M and Powerdrive F300 variable speed drive ranges are available in the larger frame size 11, providing a flexible method of building compact high-power solutions. Deployed in parallel, Unidrive M can control asynchronous and permanent magnet motors in systems up to 2.8 MW (4,200 hp).

www.EmersonIndustrialAutomation.com

Turboden’s ORC system[/caption]

ORC cogeneration system

Turboden and Bono Sistemi have launched a Steam & Power (ST&P) Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) system, which allows the production of electricity and medium-pressure steam with high overall energy efficiency. It is aimed at cogeneration applications involving manufacturing processes.

www.turboden.it

Flowmeter

Universal Flow Monitors now offers a HART protocol option on its variable area vane and piston style flowmeters designed for power generation, petrochemical and petroleum refining. They are especially suitable for monitoring pump seal water. These meters provide rate, total, two adjustable set points, device address and status. HART is a digital communication signal superimposed on top of the 4–20 mA standard analog signal which provides additional digital information to the controller.

www.flowmeters.com

Varnish resistance

Petro-Canada Lubricants launched Turboflo Low Varnish (LV), a turbine fluid that resists varnish and sludge build-up. By minimizing harmful accumulation, it is said to optimize equipment performance and reliability, while also preventing downtime for removal. GTs have a common turbine and hydraulic reservoir, operate at extremely high temperatures with intermittent starts and stops, which can accelerate oxidation. This is the leading cause of varnish formation and deposition, and thermal degradation of the turbine fluid. Turboflo LV helps improve fluid and equipment performance. After six years of field testing in two GE Frame 7 FA units with peaking service, the Turboflo LV prototype fluid is said to remain in excellent condition and resisting excessive degradation with little or no varnish deposition.

www.petro-canada.ca

GE software

GE Digital announced new GE HMI/SCADA software that offers monitoring and visualization capabilities, as well as work process management, analytics, and mobility. It allows operators to spend less time navigating, find data faster, improve alarm resolution, identify relevant screens for an alarm, increase usability, and achieve a faster build/deployment.

www.ge.com/digital

Nelson Fastener Systems

Nelson Fastener Systems (NFS) has been formed, creating a rebranded business unit that consists of six manufacturing entities: Nelson Stud Welding; Ferry Cap & Set Screw; Specialty Bar Products; EBC Industries; Automatic SMP; and Spiegelberg Manufacturing. They were formerly part of Doncasters Fastener Systems. NFS targets critical engineered fastening applications in the power generation, oil & gas, military, aerospace, transportation, marine and construction markets.

www.NelsonFastenerSystems.com