New High Accuracy Thermal Mass Flow Meter for Process & Plant Air/Gas Flow Measurement

With its intelligent, no-moving-parts design, the ST50 Flow Meter series from Fluid Components International is now available with a high-precision +1 percent accuracy configuration for line sizes from 2 to 24 inches (51 to 610 mm) and is suitable for applications in air, compressed air, HVAC and process gases, including nitrogen.

The new high accuracy ST50 Flow Meter features FCI’s thermal dispersion mass flow sensing technology, which provides direct flow measurement for higher performance at a lower cost.  With the ST50, there is no need for the temperature sensors, flow computers or other devices required with orifice plates, Venturis, Vortex shedding and other meters.  The ST50’s  design also provides built-in temperature compensation for reliable measurement over a wide temperature range with almost no pressure-drop.

The versatile ST50 features a wide flow range, measuring air flow from 1 to 125 SFPS (0.3 to 38 NMPS), nitrogen from 1 to 150 SFPS (0.3 to 46 NMPS) and compressed air from 4 to 400 SFPS (1.2 to 122 NMPS).  Accuracy is +1 percent of reading, +0.5 percent of full scale, with repeatability of +0.5 percent of reading.   It operates at temperatures from 40°F to 100°F.

Designed for long-life in outdoor and field installation conditions, the ST50 series sensing element is constructed of stainless steel with Hastelloy-C tips, and its electronics are housed in an all-aluminum, epoxy-coated enclosure that is NEMA 4X (IP66) rated and FM/CSA approved for hazardous location installations.  It withstands operational pressures up to 500 psig. 

Enhanced M12 Connector Design Reduces Assembly Time

Binder-USA has announced a design enhancement for the M12 shielded connectors within the 713, 715 and 825 series. This revised version reduces the amount of loose parts and reduces the number of assembly steps from eight to six ensuring a quick and easy assembly.

These improvements are made possible by preassembling the insulation sleeve inside the metal housing and by securing the o-ring to the shielding ring.  These series are available with up to 12 contacts and will accept a cable with an outer diameter of up to 8 mm. The new design will be phased in as existing inventory is depleted. Part numbers will remain unchanged.

Bustronic Unveils New MicroTCA Cube-Format Backplane

Elma Bustronic Corp. has unveiled a new MicroTCA backplane in the Cube style format. The backplane features six AdvancedMC, one MicroTCA Carrier Hub, and one Power Module slot. 

The Bustronic backplane has a Star topology and fits in a 4U wide Cube-style MicroTCA portable enclosure.  The backplane also features a JSM (J-Tag Switch Module) slot, and connections at the bottom for a cooling unit and at the top for temperature sensors.  The 12-layer routing includes 12 ports, including Fat Pipe lanes and allocations for PCI-Express traffic.

The pinout of Connector 2 of the MCH is the first alternative pinout defined in the MicroTCA Spec. This pinout contains half a Fabric (Fabric B) and three clock networks. The Fabric on this connector is not used at all, instead the according Ports 2 and 3 of the AMCs are connected directly between the cards.

Bustronic also offers MicroTCA backplanes in both Star and Dual Star topologies and in Pico and Subrack formats. 

Aspectrics Unveils  EP-NIR Analyzer for Accurate Quality Assurance Measurements of BioFuels

Aspectrics, Inc. has extended the capabilities of its recently launched MultiComponent 2750 EP-NIR analyzer to perform reliable and accurate quality assurance measurements of biofuels. The EP-NIR analyzer is capable of monitoring methanol, water and total glycerin in biodiesel, measuring water content in ethanol, biodiesel blend determination and analyzing ethanol/gasoline blends.

Introduced in August 2005, the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) aims to double the use of ethanol and biodiesel by 2012. As a result, in the US alone nearly one hundred new ethanol plants are being constructed during 2007 and corn acreage is up 15 percent compared to 2006. It has become a major concern for manufacturers and buyers to ensure that the quality of the biofuels produced meet the recommended American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) specifications. ASTM certified analysis can cost up to $1,200 per sample while samples not passing the test require further plant processing and a second test meaning an additional cost.

The Aspectrics 2750 BioFuels Analyzer is a flexible platform able to provide pass/fail information on multiple biofuel contaminants before samples are sent out for ASTM certification. A single analyzer is capable of processing multiple biodiesel and ethanol samples at an impressive 100 scans/second rate generating ultra-fast, real-time results in just a few seconds.

Due to its compact design, the Aspectrics 2750 BioFuels analyzer is easy to integrate into the on-line process environment or package for field deployment in the harsh biofuel production facilities. The analyzer design has received Military certification for resistance to vibration. Additionally, the unit utilizes US military aircraft components that have a Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF) of ten years, delivering highly stable results over a long period resulting in lower cost of ownership.

Instrument Design & Technology Online Knowledge Center Launching September 1st
Instrument Design & Technology magazine is pleased to announce the Knowledge Center! Available September 1st at www.instrumentdesignandtechnology.com, the Knowledge Center will provide the most comprehensive resource of information on the instrument industry, including White Papers, Application Profiles, Market Reports, Web Seminars, Training Courses, Literature/Text, Feature Articles and Industry Resources. For more information on the Knowledge Center or to have information posted, please contact Shannon Given at shannong@infowebcom.com.

Purdue 'Milestone' a Step Toward Advanced Sensors and Communications

Jason McKinney, a former visiting assistant professor in Purdue's School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, works with equipment that produces pulsing laser light in the university's Ultrafast Optics and Optical Fiber Communications Laboratory. Researchers in the lab recently have shown how to finely control the spectral properties of ultrafast light pulses, a step toward creating advanced sensors, more powerful communications technologies and more precise laboratory instruments. McKinney is now an engineer at the Naval Research Laboratory. (Purdue Engineering Communications Office photo/Vincent Walter)

Engineers at Purdue University have shown how to finely control the spectral properties of ultrafast light pulses, a step toward creating advanced sensors, more powerful communications technologies and more precise laboratory instruments.

The laser pulses could be likened to strobes used in high-speed photography to freeze fast-moving objects such as bullets or flying insects. These laser pulses, however, are millions of times faster than such strobes, with flashes lasting a trillionth or quadrillionth of a second, a picosecond or femtosecond, respectively.

The properties of the pulses, when represented on a graph, take on specific shapes that characterize the changing light intensity from the beginning to end of each pulse. Precisely controlling this intensity, which is called "pulse shaping," will enable researchers to tune the laser pulses to suit specific applications, said Andrew Weiner, distinguished professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Purdue.

Researchers at other institutions have developed ultrafast lasers producing trains of pulses that are split into hundreds of thousands of segments, with each segment representing a different portion of the spectrum making up a pulse. The segments are called "comb lines" because they resemble teeth on a comb when represented on a graph, and the entire pulse train is called a "femtosecond frequency comb." The 2005 Nobel Prize in physics was awarded to researchers who precisely controlled the frequencies of these comb lines and demonstrated applications related to advanced optical clocks, which could improve communications, enhance navigation systems and enable new experiments to test physics theory, among other possible uses.

In the new research, the Purdue engineers precisely "shaped" 100 comb lines from such a frequency comb in a single pulse.

"There are still huge technological challenges ahead, but we really see 100 comb lines as a milestone, a significant step," Weiner said. The research is based at Purdue's Ultrafast Optics and Optical Fiber Communications Laboratory.

By precisely controlling this "fine frequency structure" of laser pulses, researchers hope to create advanced optical sensors that detect and measure hazardous materials or pollutants, ultra-sensitive spectroscopy for laboratory research, and optics-based communications systems that transmit greater volumes of information with better quality while increasing the bandwidth. However, fully realizing these goals will require controlling 100,000 to 1 million comb lines in each pulse, Weiner said.

The research is funded by the National Science Foundation and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA.

Yokogawa and Moore Industries Expand Global Preferred Vendor Agreement
to include HCS HART Concentrator System

Yokogawa Electric Corp. and Moore Industries-International, Inc. have expanded their Global Preferred Vendor Agreement to include Moore Industries’ HCS HART Concentrator System. The HCS allows users of Yokogawa’s HART-based transmitters and flowmeters to convert each device’s HART digital signal to a standard MODBUS RTU communication protocol.  

Adding the HCS expands the Global Preferred Vendor Agreement, which previously covered Moore Industries’ HIM HART Loop Monitor. Under the agreement, Yokogawa will sell application solutions that include its HART-based instruments and Moore Industries’ HART interface modules. Moore Industries will provide sales, marketing and application support to Yokogawa’s worldwide distribution channels.

The HART Concentrator System makes it possible for users to extract data from multiple Yokogawa HART devices. Up to 16 HART devices, such as any combination of Yokogawa’s ROTAMASS 3 series Coriolis Mass Flowmeter, EJX910A HART Multivariable Transmitter and digitalYEWFLO HART Multivariable Vortex Flowmeter, can be connected to a single HCS. This allows users, who may not have HART capability in their control systems, to acquire all digital process and diagnostic data from Yokogawa’s field instruments and send it via MODBUS to a control system.

Installed transparently across each transmitter’s 4 to 20 mA HART loop, the HCS extracts all of a smart transmitter’s HART data by reading the HART digital data that “rides” on the loop wires. For example, when used with Yokogawa’s ROTAMASS 3 Series Coriolis Mass Flowmeter, the HCS will extract mass flow, density, temperature, volume flow, concentration, net flow, and diagnostics and send it via MODBUS for direct input to a MODBUS-based control system.

Onsite Power 2007 - Offgrid, Standby and Back-up Power for Mission Critical Operations, will be held November 6-7 in Scottsdale, Ariz.
Presentations include:

• Guidelines for High Reliability Remote Power System Design, Solarcraft, Inc.
• Sustainable Fuel Cell Solutions to Provide Extended Run Times of Backup Power, IdaTech, LLC
• Advances in Lithium-Ion Batteries for UPS and Portable Solar System Applications, Southwest Electronic Energy Group
• Power Source Considerations for Remote EFM / SCADA Applications, PGI International
• CHG Emission Reductions Using VRB Energy Storage Systems, VRB Power Systems Inc.
• Ensuring Optimum Backup Power for Business Continuity, Triton Power
• Utilizing new Technology to Solve a Problem in the Telecommunications Market, Marathon Engine Systems
• Advancements in Generator Paralleling Technology and the Resulting Impact to System Reliability, Serviceability and Monitoring, Generac Power Systems
• Supercaps – Time to Challenge Battery Short-Term Bridging Power, Mission Critical Power Systems

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