Everywhere you look, green has become a primary focus of attention. From primetime television ads to presidential debates to main selling points for consumer products, reducing environmental impact and energy consumption are rapidly becoming top priorities for consumers, companies, and governments worldwide. While this focus may seem sudden, there are numerous reasons for its rapid acceleration, including global concerns about climate change, the seemingly non-ending escalation of oil and energy prices, and increased government legislation and mandates. Take note o Engineers and scientists around the world are racing to address the issues facing society. o Companies are not only trying to make products more efficient - they are also looking at the processes they use to make the product. o Green engineering is the use of measurement and control to design, develop and improve products, technologies and processes to benefit the environment. About the author Joel Shapiro, the industrial measurement and control group manager at National Instruments, leads the company’s green engineering initiatives. He holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science from the University of Tennessee. Enquiries: email mark.phillips@ni.com. “The earth has a fever. We all need to take care of it now and science and engineering must lead the way.” Al Gore.

Energyefficient desalination of seawater
""Energy people working together""
We're being polluted
Solar World Congress examines future of renewable energy resources

Modern aircraft are among the most complex systems yet made by man. In this sense complexity is a function of the number of sub-systems and the number of disciplines involved. In addition the sub-systems in a modern aircraft are often inter-connected or inter-related. All components are subject to failure which can cause sub-systems to fail. If enough sub-systems fail or if a crucial sub-system fails, the whole system can fail. Failure at 35 000 feet altitude is usually catastrophic. In electronics it is possible to estimate the probability of failure of components and hence sub-systems and thus try to mitigate. This article demonstrates the use of MIL HDBK 217 as a means of estimating the probability of failure of components in electronic systems. The principles described in this article, apply equally to any industrial plant. During tough economic times, maintenance becomes crucial to extended plant life and cannot be compromised. Take note • An industrial plant is complex, just like an aircraft – and things can go wrong. • How can this item fail? What will the effect of such a failure be? How likely is this failure to occur? • The probability of a catastrophic failure of a passenger aircraft must be less than the chance of winning the South African lottery! About the author Rob Thomson, Pr Eng, FSAIEE, has been in practice as an electronics engineersince 1967. He obtained his BSc Elec Eng from Pretoria, his MSc Elec Eng from Cape Town and his MBA from Unisa. He is a FIEE, FSAIEE and a Senior MIEEE and is a CEng in the UK. Rob worked for Telcom, Plessey UK, the CSIR where he ended up a Programme Manager Weapons at Defence Research, GEC and is currently with Denel Personnel Services. Rob is a Captain in the South African Navy (Reserve).

Small arrestors - big protection
Economic with reduced standby power
New design saves space
Local earthing and short circuiting devices
Surge protection for four signal wires
Safety light curtains and grids
ZVS switching technology
Non-contact voltage detector kit

This article focuses on how building owners can improve their buildings’ energy efficiency through improved and more intelligent building operation. This can be achieved by making building energy use visible in an understandable manner to all building occupants. Building occupants should become part of the solution and not remain part of the problem.

Building owners can also benefit from the new energy efficiency tax incentives that government plans to introduce. This article addresses what will qualify as energy efficiency improvements, how the savings will be measured and verified and what building owners need to do to benefit from the tax incentives.

Take note
• If ‘green’ buildings are not utilised or operated according to their ‘green’ design, they could be less efficient than ‘non green’ buildings.
• To operate a building efficiently people must become part of the solution and not remain part of the problem.
• Most savings are achieved when people and technologies work together.
• The introduction of the energy efficiency tax incentives is an important step towards increasing the awareness and understanding of the importance of saving energy.

About the author
LJ Grobler is professor in Mechanical Engineering at the School for Mechanical Engineering at the North West University. He is a director of the company Energy Cybernetics Pty Ltd. He was the first non-American to become President of the Association of Energy Engineers (AEE) based in Atlanta, USA (2007/8). He is President of the Southern African Association for Energy Efficiency (SAEE). He is certified as an Energy Manager (CEM) and a Measurement and Verification Professional (CMVP) by the Association of Energy Engineers (AEE) based in the USA. Tel: 018 299 1328 or email lj.grobler@nwu.ac.za.

Vacuumtechnology for contactors
Power beside the sea
Beat UV damage
NCIG minimises carbon footprint with ABB's energy efficient conveyor drive system worth $12 M

Making a difference
And the winner is...
Enerfy efficiency awareness road show

The amount of data made available by industrial systems and the number of industrial systems employed on a plant has grown exponentially over the last few years. The challenge of implementing, configuring, managing and maintaining the data produced by these systems has grown with it. In fact, the base function of any single system in isolation is fast becoming eclipsed by how the data it produces can be filtered, transported and used in the context of the plant as a whole. Take note • A Plant Information System is the collection of data flows and data storage that exist on a particular plant. • A Plant Information System will change and grow and therefore must be maintained. • Ongoing maintenance requires investment and is critical to the success of your operation. About the authors David Bean M.Sc Eng (Elec) Pr. Eng and Michael Bean B.Sc Eng (Elec) are a father and son passionate about making a difference, building on experience and extracting real value from innovative ideas and technology, and empowering people to enjoy pushing the boundaries still further. Enquiries: David Bean. Tel. 011 548 9960 or email daveb@idxonline.com. Michael Bean. Tel. 011 548 9960 or email michaelb@idxonline.com.

Do away with excess pressure in industrial processes
Successful shutdown
Power to secure your plant
Another analyser breakthrough
A new spin on industrial filtration
Electric chain hoist

By Q McCutcheon, Schneider Electric Most organisations are looking at or have a balanced scorecard approach to their business. Balanced scorecard is a concept for measuring whether the smaller-scale operational activities of a company are aligned with its larger scale objectives in terms of vision and strategy. This article will be considered specifically in relation to the process perspective where the focus is largely related to efficiency and effectiveness. Take note • Most organisations strive for a balanced scorecard approach to their business. • This implies the need to integrate the business and automation units within the organisation. • ISA-95 is a standard developed to ensure integration between enterprises and control activities. • Business to manufacturing markup language is an XML schema implementation of the ISA-95 standard. About the author Quintin McCutcheon joined Citect (now Schneider Electric) in June 2001 as a CitectSCADA support engineer, CitectSCADA trainer and network technician. In 2003 he enrolled in a Bachelors degree in Computing and Information Systems while continuing with support and small projects at Citect, graduating with Honours in 2006. Later in 2006 Quintin attended the Ampla MES training in Brisbane and went back in 2007 as the lead Solution Consultant for Enterprise MES Solutions. Quintin currently acts as the Solution Consultant for both SCADA and MES for Schneider Electric South Africa’s Industry Business Unit.

Quality industry management
Interfacing industrial PC software
Production efficiency
Communiation at its best
Flat panel industrial monitor
WIreless - and beyond
Enhanced design for increased flexibility
New UPS system for data centres
New camera captures SF6

The power electronics market is in constant change and always on the lookout for new technologies to achieve better cost and performance. To enable applications with enhanced performance, current measurement is one of the key functions for global improvement in precision and efficiency without increasing the total cost with an easy adaptation to the topology of the total equipment. This article describes how the performance of closed loop current transducers has been refined.

Take note
• Current measurement transducers have been refined over the years.
• Hall effect technology is non contact and senses the flux from the current being measured.
• Hall effect transducers are ideally suited to use in drives and inverters.

About the authors
Dominick Schläfli and Stéphane Rollier; engineers of LEM SA, Geneva Switzerland. LEM SA, Switzerland is represented in South Africa by Denver Technical Products (Pty) Ltd. Enquiries: Mervyn Stocks. Tel. 011 626 2023 or 083 601 8438/39. Email denvertech@pixie.co.za. Visit www.denvertech.co.za.

Laser sensors are superior to conventional LED optical sensors with regard to sensing distance and accuracy, as they are better able to detect objects with small dimensions as well as difficult surfaces which strongly absorb light. As a result they are often the first choice for many applications.

Take note
• Laser sensors are better able to detect small objects with difficult surfaces.
• Laser allows better focusing and is more exact than ordinary LED-light sources.
• Laser sensors are available for use in a variety of applications.


About the author
Christian Kleinjans is a product specialist for sensors, laser markers and vision systems at Panasonic Electric Works Europe AG in Holzkirchen, Germany. Panasonic is represented locally by Vepac Electronics. Enquiries: Edwin Brown. Tel. 011 453 1910. Email: edwin@vepac.co.za.

Compact pressure and vacuum switch
Photoelectric sensors
High measuring range, optimum accuracy
Sensor makes life easier
No fuss connection system for inductive sensors
Forked sensor for optimum recognition
Convenient parameter setting
Clear object detection
Precise instrumentation for tough cases
Mini, long range and retro