In his upfront Comment in this May 2024 edition of Electricity + Control, Editorial Technical Director Professor Ian Jandrell emphasises the value of planned maintenance – at the level of the individual plant and systems as much as at the scale of municipal and national services infrastructure.
Plant maintenance, test + measurement is one of the features in focus in this issue and we see how technology increasingly, and across all industry sectors, is directed towards supporting system efficiencies and, at the same time, minimising the risk of unplanned downtime by enabling remote monitoring and predictive maintenance.
The data centre sector continues to grow and established data centres continue to expand to handle the ever-increasing volumes of data transmitted across now almost all industrial, commercial and other sectors of the economy and society. Data centres run critical applications and require equipment and infrastructure that operate at 100% uptime. By their nature, data centres’ operations change continuously, but the requirements for dependability and operational efficiency remain constant. In our feature on Control systems + automation, Kovilan Chinnathambi of Schneider Electric notes electrical control panels as key components of data centres and sets out the advantages of using preconfigured, high quality, type-tested panels to streamline setup and ensure safe and reliable operations in these critical installations.
In Drives, motors + switchgear we visit SEW-EURODRIVE’s new production facility south of Johannesburg where it has brought together all its assembly lines – for industrial gear units, motors, drives and related equipment – in one spacious, modern, centralised facility. Leigh Darroll spoke to Werner Engelbrecht and Robert Fletcher on site to understand the systems that underlie the streamlined efficiency of operations here – and that provide for the high level of quality control and traceability which ensure all SEW-EURODRIVE’s mechatronic equipment assembled locally meets the company’s global standards.
In Sensors + switches we present a range of instruments that illustrate how different monitoring and measurement principles are put to work: in level sensors that serve to detect leakages and monitor point levels in oils or aqueous media, pressure transducers for OEM applications, water meters to monitor water flow and support smart water management, or customised devices to serve specific needs. All support production efficiencies and contribute to reducing the risk of unplanned downtime and unexpected maintenance costs.
In Plant maintenance, test + measurement, we see monitoring and maintenance at work in different industry sectors. Dennis Williams of Associated Energy Services highlights steam as a critical element in dairy processing facilities and emphasises the importance of consistent maintenance to ensure optimum performance and reliability in boilers and steam systems and, in turn, to support efficient production.
Falk Werner of Doble Engineering Company reports on the development of new instruments that make the testing of insulation on HV equipment simpler and faster, to stay ahead of potential asset failure and prevent unplanned outages.
And Ian Loudon of Omniflex offers some guidance on the use of wireless telemetry to monitor remote water reservoirs in water supply networks.
Of particular interest too, is the work being done by the CSIR to support the development of local industries. In our regular column Engineering the future, we report on just some of the R&D projects in which the CSIR is involved – assisting new start-ups and long-established SOEs to progress concepts into viable industrial ventures.