T&M and Monitoring

Accurate sensing and regular monitoring are a necessity for maintaining safety, but for industries such as construction, transportation and mining, these highly precise and sensitive components must be able to withstand some of the world’s most challenging environments. Sensors need to be housed in industrial-grade enclosures to ensure reliability and continuous operation in extreme conditions. Andy Bird, Managing Director at GTT Wireless here discusses some of the key requirements for protecting remote condition monitoring technology to ensure continuous operation.

A copper and fibre cable certifier that delivers faster test times has been unveiled by IDEAL Networks. The LanTEK IV technology enables engineers and technicians to conduct and save a Cat6A test within seven seconds, assisted by the intuitive user interface and easy to use high resolution touchscreen.

More measurement solutions are available from Conrad Business Supplies with the addition of the high performance UMG 512-PRO power quality analyser and the UMG 96-PA energy measurement device from Janitza. Both devices are designed for industrial, data centre, infrastructure, utilities and facility management applications.

A running test of the prototype EX ROVR, a plant inspection robot with explosion protection features to limit the danger of the robot itself igniting an explosion or fire from electric sparks or heat, even in areas with flammable gas, is being carried about by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI).

A flexible data acquisition board with high channel density and an open FPGA architecture which makes it ideal for large-scale physics installations and Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) product integration has been released by Teledyne SP Devices.

Wireless monitoring hardware has been announced for NI’s InsightCM, a solution for online condition monitoring with full access to data and customisation with the InsightCM Software Development Kit. The new wireless devices automate the otherwise manual process of route-based data collection.

One of the UK’s largest producers of malted barley, Muntons has protected vital parts of their production process against unscheduled down-time by using the Smart Condition Monitoring (SCM) system from Mitsubishi Electric. Used to make beer, spirits and a range of popular foodstuffs, malted barley is produced in large batches where environmental conditions are critical to a consistent product. 

The test and measurement portfolio at Farnell has been extended with the addition of instruments from the GW Instek range. The products which include programmable power supplies, electrical safety testers, signal sources and power analysers offer customers excellent quality at affordable cost.

UK based developer and manufacturer of gas analysers, Signal Group, has launched the new ‘SOLAR’ range of fixed hydrocarbon monitors. The SOLAR instruments employ flame ionisation detectors (FIDs) and are supplied in a standard 19” rack, with heated and non-heated options.

A new app has been introduced by Mitsubishi Electric for iOS tablets and smartphones that provides convenient commissioning, maintenance, troubleshooting, parameterisation and monitoring support to company’s FR-F800E and FR-A800E inverters. Available from the Apple App Store, the Inverter StartApp addresses modern requirements to glean more information from manufacturing processes, with easier accessibility, and to be able to act on that information in a timely and convenient manner.