There are many power quality analysers available today. One of the reasons for this relates to the need to better understand harmonic penetration within the system as well as a need for the general assessment of power quality. You have probably heard the term ‘harmonics’ before, but do not understand what it means or where it comes from. Numerous technical articles have been written on this subject; however, these articles do not always address our basic problems in an understandable way. In this article, we review the capabilities of the power quality analyser K6310 as an example, but review the basics of power quality.

Take note
• The K6310 measures instantaneous power, integrated power, demand, flicker, waves and vectors, as well as harmonics and power quality.
• Clamp adaptors for the K6310 are optional accessories.
• The K6310 storage card is removable and upgradable to 1GB.


About the author
Werner Grobbelaar currently holds the position of sales manager for the Johannesburg area with Major Tech. He has 17 years experience in the industry.
Werner can be contacted on 011 822 1441/082 441 1985 or Werner@major-tech.com.

Modern manufacturing processes run on energy, and unstable global energy supplies and increasing environmental concerns are causing many manufacturers to re-evaluate their energy use. Every opportunity to be more efficient must be sought—but to do that we need information.

About the author
Dennis Stewart, Centric Design’s founder, is an electrical engineer with over 25 years experience in electrical systems.
Centric Design is a Citect Integration Partner specialising in monitoring and control of site utilities. Based in Boise, Idaho (USA), Centric Design provides Citect system solutions to support clients’ efforts to understand and control their energy use.
Citect can locally be contacted on 011 699 6600.

Take note
• Energy is now a critical resource.
• Energy usage in all aspects of gas process must be carefully managed.
• Managing energy usage requires monitoring energy usage.
• Modern SCADA systems provide an excellent platform for effective energy management.

The title may be a little misleading. An optimum does not exist in this absolute form. However, designs maximising energy yield and/or minimising amortisation time certainly do exist. This article considers the salient aspects.

Take note
• Using solar to generate power makes sense in SA.
• Globally, industries are turning to PV technology to reduce or eliminate reliance on grid energy.
• Ensuring optimal system performance starts at the design phase.
• Correct sizing of the inverter is important.


About the author
Joachim Laschinski currently holds a senior technical position within SMA Technology AG in Niestetal, Germany.
SMA Technology is locally represented by Solar Con and can be contacted via 011 444 7403 or dieter@solarcon.co.za.

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Plants can improve their efficiency and reduce costs by performing calibration history trend analysis. By doing it, a plant is able to define which instruments can be calibrated less frequently and which should be calibrated more frequently. Calibration history trend analysis is only possible with calibration software that provides this functionality.

Take note
• Plants can improve their efficiencies and reduce costs by using calibration ‘history trend analysis’.
• Sensors that are found to be highly stable need not be re-calibrated as often as sensors that tend to drift.
• The function enables users to plan the optimal calibration intervals for their instruments.

About the author
Villy Lindfelt is the marketing director of Beamex Oy Ab in Finland. The article was sourced from an independent writer for Beamex.
Beamex is locally represented by Qtek Instrumentation and Calibration and can be contacted through Jacques Shaw on 011 391 4598.

When assembling today’s control cabinets and systems, the marking of equipment, terminals, and conductors is an increasingly complex process. If each component and conductor can be identified quickly and without confusion, start-up, operation, and maintenance become that much easier.

About the author
Georg Grunenberg has his Dipl.Ing. and currently holds the position of marking systems product marketing in the Industrial Connection Division at Phoenix Contact in Blomberg. Phoenix Contact can locally be contacted at 011 801 8200.

Take note
• Marking of equipment, terminals and conductors is critical for proper system management and maintenance. • Proper labeling is part of a quality system. • Labelling is increasingly elaborate. • Modern marking systems encompass software, hardware and material.

We previously reviewed the purpose of an IS system [1, 2], but the long-term continued safety of an intrinsically safe system depends on adequate inspection and maintenance. The relevant IEC standard is IEC 60079-17, which deals comprehensively with all methods of protection. Generally a documented inspection procedure becomes a part of the required risk analysis.

Take note
• Efficient and safe system operation in intrinsically safe installations depends on proper inspection and maintenance.
• Keeping documentation in order forms an important part of the risk analysis of a system.
• Not only should the operating system conform to rigorous maintenance inspection procedures, but so too the equipment, testing apparatus and installation methods.

About the author
Chris Towle graduated with honours in Mechanical Engineering from Kings College, Durham and gained his early industrial experience with George Kent Ltd. He has been involved in the design of intrinsically safe instrumentation and in British Standards Committees on IS apparatus, systems and codes of practice. A founder member of Measurement Technology, he was the MTL Group Technology Director for many years, and is internationally recognized for his expertise in the field of ‘explosion protection’. Chris currently acts as consultant to MTL. MTL Instruments is locally represented by Extech Safety Systems and can be contacted through Gary Friend 011 791 6000 or garyf@tempcon.co.za.

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Wireless networking is becoming increasingly popular in industrial applications. While challenges remain, some aspects of the technology are mature enough for use in these applications. This article briefly overviews current network topologies and capabilities, and then considers some typical applications.

Take note
• Wireless industrial networking solutions are viable in many industries.
• Data collection, logging and monitoring are possible.
• Predictive and proactive maintenance, as well as production quality improvements, are ensured.

About the author
Errol can be contacted on 011 201 3200.

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With the speed and complexity associated with manufacturing processing environments today, more and more processes are incorporating sophisticated instrumentation to ensure that manufacturing processes run at designed efficiencies. The selection and replacement of such equipment is presenting challenges to personnel in the workplace. One of the aspects that we need to appreciate relates to the choice of materials used in sensors.

About the author
Gerry Bryant is the managing director of Countapulse Controls. Countapulse supplies sensing, measurement, counting, switching, monitoring and positioning instrumentation. The company offers a complete technical advisory service for the most effective use of its products in automotive and other branches of engineering.

Gerry can be contacted on (011) 615 7557.

Take note
• Some sensors have to be manufactured from materials with specific characteristics due to their application requirements.
• Chemical stability of the materials used must be verified for every application – especially if the sensor is to be exposed to corrosive or acidic media.
• Where possible sensors should always be of the same material as the piping to eliminate operational problems.

Today, market trends call for a high degree of system reliability, and it is these very trends that are the driving force behind developments in the field of soldered bipolar modules. These modules now have a fully new design construction with fewer solder layers, corner gate thyristors and feature upgraded spring pressure contact technology, thus improving reliability and reducing thermal resistance. The result is 10% more output current.

About the author
Melanie Gill currently holds the position of product manager at Semikron Elektronik. For more information contact Karen Schutte at Semikron on 012 345 6060.

Take note
• New developments in soldered bipolar modules have resulted in 10% more output current. • By keeping the module sizes the same, whilst adding numerous features, the customer has the benefit of not having to make any design changes in their installation. • Reduced thermal resistance has resulted in enhanced reliability. • The type of contact allows for easy assembly without additional soldering making it useful for a variety of current ranges.

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