Ashtead Technology

A portable analyser designed for monitoring emissions from ships is now available for sale or rent from Ashtead Technology. The Testo 350 MARITIME is a portable analyser certified for the measurement of marine diesel engine exhaust gas emissions according to MARPOL Annexe VI and NOx Technical Code 2008. It also complies with the directive on marine equipment and has the MED mark of conformity 0098/2018.

Ashtead Technology has added the Olympus FlexoFORM pipe elbow scanner to its rental fleet of Non Destructive Testing equipment. “This is part of a major investment in our NDT fleet,” said NDT Market Manager Steve Drake. “The FlexoFORM is an extremely important addition because it complements our other pipe inspection equipment and provides a solution for many particularly challenging applications.

  With an increasing customer demand, and additionally the increased awareness of the threats posed by both indoor and outdoor pollution, Ashtead Technology has added the ‘AreaRAE Steel’ to its fleet of air quality monitors.

After moving to new premises with custom built service facilities, Ashtead Technology has extended its RAE / Honeywell servicing capabilities to help customers ensure the accuracy and reliability of their gas detection activities. RAE Systems products are used in more than 120 countries by many of the world's leading corporations and government agencies. 

In most places of employment there can be a potential threat to health and safety from airborne particulates and aerosols. It is important to note, however, that dust hazards are not necessarily visible to the human eye and that the finest particles can represent the greatest threat because of their ability to travel deepest into the lungs. Effective monitoring is therefore key to the implementation of an effective risk management strategy.

The ‘cup half empty’ applies to staff responsible for asset integrity; they should be intuitively sceptical and constantly expect the worst to happen because asset failure can have extremely serious safety, environmental and financial effects. In addition, these people need to possess a highly methodical, risk-based approach to asset management, with almost obsessive attention to detail.

  A contract to inspect 35,000 pipe, reactor and vessel locations at an oil refinery near Antwerp has been awarded to KTN Belgium. The work involved the assessment of wall thickness, flaws and corrosion during a three week shutdown at the plant.

After an emergency call last week from Lavender International, an Olympus Nortec 600 Eddy Current Flaw Detector from Ashtead Technology was rushed to Sheffield to support a Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) training course that was due to take place the following week. The equipment arrived just in time, and the two week course – Level 2 Eddy Current Testing of Welds - was able to proceed for the 13 registered trainees.

The equipment rental pool from Ashtead Technology has expanded following a significant investment in the latest Pulsed Eddy Current (PEC) technology to deliver faster, more accurate asset integrity inspections. A leader in marine technology, non-destructive testing and subsea services, Ashtead will now supply the Eddyfi Lyft, an inspection tool for identifying Corrosion Under Insulation (CUI), a major asset integrity issue for the oil and gas, and petrochemical sectors.

The inspection of austenitic stainless steel welds presents a higher level of difficulty in comparison with other welds because of the large grain structure, which for ultrasonic testing can cause beam skewing, splitting and attenuation. So, when James Fisher NDT (JF NDT) was awarded a contract to develop and implement an inspection procedure for austenitic stainless steel welds, the company contacted Neil Harrap, NDT Market Manager for Ashtead Technology, to discuss potential instrumentation configuration. As a result, an OmniScan MX2 was hired for a period of 6 months with a set of specialist probes.

As part of a continual process to find ways to improve its instrument hire services, Ashtead Technology recently conducted a customer survey which highlighted the need for an improved system for instrument returns. In response, Ashtead has implemented a new collection system that the company claims is simple and hassle-free.

As Tooling Coordinator for Monarch Aircraft Engineering, Barry Lee ensures that his company’s engineers are provided with the best available technologies for their aircraft test and inspection work. “We maintain a stock of the instruments that we use most frequently and this is regularly supplemented by rented equipment from Ashtead Technology during periods of high demand and when we need to evaluate a new technology,” he says.

Ashtead Technology has selected a range of Proceq non-destructive testing instruments for inclusion in its rental fleet. The well-established Schmidt Hammer and Equotip 2 Hardness Tester have been popular products at Ashtead Technology for many years, but the addition of three further Proceq instruments means that customers now have access to a comprehensive selection of the latest technologies for the assessment of concrete and metal in the field.

The Ashtead Technology stand at AQE 2013, the Air Quality and Emissions Show, will feature a comprehensive range of the latest air monitoring instruments, providing visitors with an opportunity to learn about new technologies and to try out some of the latest equipment.

Ashtead Technology has added the latest Olympus models to its fleet. As a consequence, Marketing Manager Stewart Curtis believes that Ashtead Technology now has the largest stock of rental videoprobes and borescopes anywhere in Europe. The Ashtead fleet now includes over 20 videoprobes with probe lengths varying from 3m to 9.6m and with probe diameters ranging from 4mm to 6.1mm. The latest additions include the IPLEX UltraLite videoscope and the IPLEX LX videoscope.

Instrumentation specialist Ashtead Technology will be giving away a Nintendo Wii every day at both Sustainabilitylive! and the Safety & Health Expo during May 2012. However, in order to win the Wii, visitors will have to return to the company’s stand within 60 seconds of being texted and tweeted.

A visit to the Ashtead Technology stand at Sustainabilitylive! (Birmingham NEC, 22-24th May, 2012) will be a primary objective for anyone involved with environmental testing and monitoring. This is because many of the sector’s latest technologies will be on display and visitors will be actively encouraged to try out new instruments for a wide range of applications including gas detection, noise, dust and vibration monitoring, water testing, thermography and remote visual inspection.

As an authorised distributor for the RAE portable gas monitors, Ashtead Technology has invested heavily in a new service and calibration facility that has been expanded to cope with a growing demand from customers.

Portable mercury monitors hired from instrumentation specialist Ashtead Technology have enabled the rapid assessment of working conditions for safety specialists undertaking vital maintenance checks on oil rigs in the North Sea.

In recent years an enormous range of infrared cameras have come on to the market, but Alan Hasson from instrumentation specialist Ashtead Technology believes that this is a two-edged sword. Whilst technological developments have resulted in extremely sensitive cameras with enormous capability, choosing a camera can be a complicated process and too often the choice is simply dictated by price and budget, he says.