Happy New Year from Power Specialties

With 2017 coming to a close, all of us at Power Specialties wanted to reach out and send our best wishes to our customers, our vendors, and our friends! We hope that 2018 holds success and good fortune for all of you.

Moisture Measurement in Sugar Production

Moisture detection in sugar production.

The sugar industry processes sugar cane and sugar beets to manufacture edible sugar. To achieve high quality sugar, improve efficiency and keep production cost in check, moisture detectors are employed to deliver accurate moisture analysis during several stages of the process.

Typical processes are as follows;

Washing/Preparation/Extraction

Sugar cane:

• Milling with water, extracting raw juice -> purification

Sugar beet: 

• Diffusing with hot water, extracting raw juice -> purification. 

Purification / Refining

• Crystallized sugar after purification is called "raw sugar". Raw sugar is then dried and may be further refined before bagging for shipment. 

CHINO's IM Series online system can measure moisture to maintain product consistency as well as energy efficiency at the following parts of the sugar manufacturing process.

Moisture measurement of "Bagasse" (fiber residue of the canes).

• 10% - 40% (Accuracy: +/- 0.5%) 
• Bagasse is mainly used as a biofuel, renewable resource in the pulp, paper products and building materials.

Moisture measurement of "used cossettes" (sliced beets used for diffusion).

• 30% - 70% (Accuracy: +/- 0.5%)
• Used cossettes are dried and sold as animal feed

Moisture control of raw sugar and during refinery

• IM Series is equipped w/ 4-20mA analog output which can be easily incorporated with existing process control systems.

For more information, visit Power Specialties at https://www.powerspecialties.com or call (816) 353-6550.

Schutte & Koerting Steam Jet Vacuum Systems

Steam Jet Ejectors are used in the chemical, petrochemical, pulp and paper, food, power, steel and allied industries in connection with such operations as filtration, distillation and evaporation, absorption, mixing, vacuum packaging, freeze drying, flash cooling, deaerating, dehydrating and degassing to name just a few. They will handle both condensable and non-condensable gases and vapors as well as mixtures of the two. Small amounts of solids or liquids will not adversely affect performance.

The principal feature of the Barometric Condenser is that injection water may be discharged through a tail pipe by gravity, without requiring a pump. The Barometric Condenser is employed in a variety of industries as an economical means of removing air, exhaust steam, and other vapors from vacuum equipment.

The video below provides and overview of the extensive capabilities Schutte & Koerting has in the engineering, design, and fabrication of steam jet vacuum systems.

Contact Power Specialties for Schutte & Koerting inquiries by calling (816) 353-6550 or visit https://www.powerspecialties.com.

Gas and Flame Detection: Custom Battery Backup Solution

Scott toxic & flammable
gas detection transmitter.

A leading food and beverage company needed a battery back-up system for their extensive gas detection system in the event of power loss.

The Scott Safety integration team implemented a UPS battery back-up system to supply reserve power to over 300 gas detectors in the system for up to 24 hours in the event of a power loss, ensuring a safe environment. 

The implemented Scott solution consisted of seven identical battery back-up systems. Each back-up system would support the corresponding controllers and transmitters associated with that system, building or process. Upon primary power loss, the custom battery backup was required to maintain full load of the assigned controllers and transmitters in a full alarm situation for 24 hours. The custom battery back-up system required a modular design so that the enclosures could be a standard manufactured product but assembled on-site. The UPS also provided system diagnostics that were tied into a PLC that was also provided to monitor the controllers’ fault alarms.

For more information on this solution, or any gas detection requirement, visit Power Specialities at https://www.powerspecialties.com or call (816) 353-6550.

Combustion & Fired Heater Optimization: An Analytical Approach to Improving Safe & Efficient Operations

Combustion sources such as furnaces and red heaters play a critical role in the process industry. Unfortunately, combustion requires large amounts of fuel (gas, fuel oil). As a result, combustion efficiency directly influences the performance and operational costs of production facilities. However, efficiency is not the only concern. Compliance and safety are major challenges as well.

Download this eBook to read more on combustion and fired heater optimization and deploy an analytical approach to improving safe & efficient operations.

Alternatively, you view the embedded version below.

If you have questions, please call Power Specialties at (816) 353-6550 or fill out this online form.

Combustion & Fired Heater Optimization from Power Specialties, Inc.

Mounting Advice for the BLH Nobel KIS and KIM Load Cells

High-accuracy KIS and KIM load cells have several features that distinguish them from other load cells. They are easy to install and extremely accurate, even when subjected to dynamic process forces and severe environmental conditions. Due to their double cantilever design, they have a floating load point and are not affected by side forces up to 100%, making them excellent choices for applications subject to thermal expansion, vibrations and side force disturbances.

You can find mounting advice on the KIS and KIM load cells on the downloadable PDF on this page.

BLH Nobel KIS Load Cell Mounting Advice from Power Specialties, Inc.

Understanding Differential Flow Elements

Differential Pressure Loop Diagram
(courtesy of Yokogawa)

The differential flow meter is the most common device for measuring fluid flow through pipes. Flow rates and pressure differential of fluids, such as gases vapors and liquids, are explored using the orifice plate flow meter in the video below.

The differential flow meter, whether Venturi tube, flow nozzle, or orifice plate style, is an in line instrument that is installed between two pipe flanges.

The orifice plate flow meter is comprised the circular metal disc with a specific hole diameter that reduces the fluid flow in the pipe. Pressure taps are added on each side at the orifice plate to measure the pressure differential.

According to the Laws of Conservation of Energy, the fluid entering the pipe must equal the mass leaving the pipe during the same period of time. The velocity of the fluid leaving the orifice is greater than the velocity of the fluid entering the orifice. Applying Bernoulli's principle, the increased fluid velocity results in a decrease in pressure.

As the fluid flow rate increases through the pipe, back pressure on the incoming side increases due to the restriction of flow created by the orifice plate.

The pressure of the fluid at the downstream side at the orifice plate is less than the incoming side due to the accelerated flow.

With a known differential pressure and velocity of the fluid, the volume metric flow rate can be determined. The flow rate “Q”, of a fluid through an orifice plate increases in proportion to the square root the pressure difference on each side multiplied by the K factor. For example if the differential pressure increases by 14 PSI with the K factor of one, the flow rate is increased by 3.74.