In my last post I talked about UL Listed versus Recognized. This time we are going to take a look at the IP and NEMA ratings and what they mean. With this information you should be able to decide what minimum level of protection you need for your application.
Let’s start with the basics. What does IP and NEMA stand for? IP stands for ingress protection and NEMA stands for National Electrical Manufacturers Association. Both IP and NEMA are rating systems for equipment that might be exposed to liquids, rain, ice, corrosion and contaminates such as dust.
An IP number contains two numbers (i.e. IP65) in most instances which relate to the level of protection provided by an enclosure or housing. The first number relates to protection from solids as follows: Read more…
Thermal mass flow controllers and thermal mass flow meters are used to measure and control the flows of gases. The measuring terminology usually includes words like “standard” or “normal” flow. A standard cubic foot of gas is the same as an actual cubic foot of gas only if the measurements are taken at some standard set of conditions (STP); like 70 degrees F and one atmosphere ambient pressure. If the ambient conditions change, you may never know how much gas you have in a volumetric measuring chamber, but, if you use a device that measures standard cubic feet of gas, you will always know the flow.
Thermal mass flow controllers and meters use a sensor that measures standard units. If you are measuring 30 psi nitrogen at 100 degrees F, the device will indicate the amount of standard cubic feet per minute (SCFM) flowing or it could indicate in standard liters per minute (SLPM). Either way, you can change the actual temperature and the actual pressure and the measuring device will still indicate flow in standard units.
We are focusing on improving our order fulfillment process because we know it will result in faster lead times and more satisfied customers. I want to provide a “peek” into our lean manufacturing journey, share my personal experiences and include a photo or two of our rotameter assembly lines.
The improvement process starts by defining in great detail how we do things today. It is difficult to change a process without totally understanding what you are doing today. Once this first step is completed a cross functional team reviews each step of the process and as a group looks for areas of improvement. I have participated in these group sessions and they are very powerful due to the free exchange of ideas. Each suggestion is noted, debated and usually implemented. Possible ideas can be as simple as organizing the workspace which reduces operator movement and “travel time” to adding new test equipment or assembly fixtures.
Brooks Instrument knows a lot about agency approvals. If you need a mass flow controller, mass flow meter, or pressure controller for a hose down or hazardous area requirement you came to the right place! We not only have the approvals, but we can also help you understand which approval is right for your application. For example, what’s the difference between UL ‘Listed’ and UL ‘Recognized’ and which one is right for my application?
Well the UL Listed products carry the following mark.
83% of all instruments used in the chemical process industries (CPI) are being talked to using analog communications. By analog communications, we mean 4-20 milliAmp mainly. But we see 3-15 psi air and 0-5 volt control systems also. Why wouldn’t you use some of those 1’s and 0’s?
Actually, we have no idea just what percent of devices are being operated in the analog mode. 83% just seems like a good guess; although some at Brooks Instrument suggest it is much higher.
When you survey the field devices in your plant, you will find 5 major classes of instruments; flow, temperature, level, pressure, and analyzers (DO, pH, Cl2, etc…).
I’m asked this question pretty regularly. Rod guides are used to correct for a side effect of the way a variable area flow meter works. We know that a variable area flow meter’s measurement tube is narrowest at the bottom, and gradually increases in diameter as it reaches the top of the tube. When flow passes through the measurement tube, the float stops at an “equilibrium” point that shows the user the flow rate through the meter.
Flow-savvy readers out there know there’s a bit more to variable area meter operation than that, but I’ll leave those details for future posts. As the diameter of the measurement tube increases, there is a point when the diameter of the tube becomes too large in relation to the diameter of the float. At that point the float will no longer just move up and down, but can also move side to side. A rod guide holds the float in the center of the measurement tube to prevent side to side movement. As an added bonus, the rod guide introduces a small amount of friction against the float’s vertical movement. This extra friction stabilizes the float and makes the flow meter easier to read.
Do you find yourself trying to guess the actual flow rate because of a bouncing float? Can you hear the float banging around inside one (or several) of your flow meters? Specifying a variable area flow meter with a rod guide is an easy way to overcome these problems.
I was able to hook up with a great customer of ours during the Interphex trade show in New York this past April. David Mills, who is the senior director of MES and automation at Xcellerex, was nice enough to allow us to shove a camera in his face while he shared his thoughts about the relationship he has with Brooks.
Although he didn’t mention them on camera, big kudos goes out to Tom McLaughlin at PEMCO and the rest of the PEMCO team. PEMCO is our local sales expert and are the ones responsible for making sure Dave and Xcellerex continue to be a happy customer.
Xcellerex currently purchases the 5800S Series mass flow controller from us for their disposable bio-reactors and have been very pleased … as Dave states in the video. They are currently checking out our 4800 Series mass flow meter / mass flow controller right now for some other projects. My insider informant tells me that the testing is going very well. Maybe I can get Dave to get in front of the camera again next year to say some nice things about the 4800 (hint hint Dave).
As a vendor exhibiting at Intersolar you get to see the show from a little different perspective than the average show visitor. Through your interaction with numerous customers visiting your booth you start to get a sense of the mood of the attendees and the opportunities that exist in the solar industries.
My first observation is that I was glad Brooks Instrument participated in the Intersolar portion of the combined Semicon/Intersolar show. From a facilities perspective, the two venues for the shows almost reflected the state of the two industries. Intersolar is located in Moscone West, a new exhibit hall which features large windows that let in the sun and generates a positive atmosphere on the show floor. The solar industry is the future and these facilities reflect that optimism.
Did you ever look at a large expensive building covered in glass? That glass is usually coated with some exotic materials to reflect heat in either direction. Some glass manufacturers are even shipping self cleaning glass. If you look hard, some of those large glass panels have stripes on them. Builders and architects hate that; so do I.
The stripes are usually caused by variations in the thickness of the coating material causing light to reflect non-uniform angles. A glass coating company I recently visited was coating sample pieces and was struggling with that same problem. This glass company was vaporizing a super secret liquid precursor for coating glass. In this process the vapor traveled through a very hot slot (as wide as the glass) over hot moving glass where a surface reaction takes place causing it to bond with the glass.
Recently, 15 Brooks team members began a “kaizen” in our Pressure Gauge manufacturing cell. Kaizen, for those of you who may not know, translates into “good change” or “change for the better.” In practice, it refers to efforts of a multi-functional team working in a short-term, concentrated “blitz” fashion to realize continuous process improvement. Basically, you examine the current state of the cell operation, begin to build a vision of an improved “future state,” and then drive to get to the future state quickly (for example, improvements/results expected by the end of the week).
The main focus of the Kaizen is to identify and eliminate waste. Waste in manufacturing includes excess motion, waiting, overproduction etc. As you can imagine, lead times can be greatly improved by finding and eliminating waste during this process. Reducing lead times allows us to improve quality and delivery— two things where all customers should be happy to see improvements. Of course, we ultimately expect this process to help us grow sales and earnings for the product line.
The Brooks Instrument Blog provides insights on flow meter and flow controller technology and their applications to help solve process challenges and improve process yields and product quality. www.BrooksInstrument.com
In my last post I talked about UL Listed versus Recognized. This time we are going to take a look at the IP and NEMA ratings and what they mean. With this information you should be able to decide what minimum level of protection you need for your application.
83% of all instruments used in the chemical process industries (CPI) are being talked to using analog communications. By analog communications, we mean 4-20 milliAmp mainly. But we see 3-15 psi air and 0-5 volt control systems also. Why wouldn’t you use some of those 1’s and 0’s?
Did you ever look at a large expensive building covered in glass? That glass is usually coated with some exotic materials to reflect heat in either direction. Some glass manufacturers are even shipping 