TLV To Assess Steam Traps At Animal-Feed Sites

TLV has won a contract to provide regular steam-trap surveys of all 13 BOCM Pauls animal-feed processing sites throughout the UK, using its latest Trapman TM5 testing equipment. BOCM Pauls has 13 sites in the UK producing animal feed for all types of livestock, including dairy and beef cattle, sheep, pigs and poultry. The sites located on the west side of the country, where rich dairy grass is more common, are predominantly dedicated to ruminant feed, while those on the east side are dedicated to pig and poultry feed.

The majority of the steam generated by the plants is used for direct steam injection, which sterilises the meal to eliminate salmonella and conditions it with moisture to help begin the cooking process before it is extruded and pelletised. Steam is also used to maintain the required temperature in storage tanks, which pre-heat liquids that are added to the meal during the cooking process. As the BOCM sites are regulated by the Environment Agency, their Environmental Steering Group successfully gained accreditation under the ISO 14001 Environmental Standard, which provides a framework for the development of an environmental management system and a supporting audit programme.

As part of the system, each site needed to monitor energy usage in order to improve efficiency and to reduce energy usage. Environmental Steering Group member Graham Reith, BOCM Pauls' Carmarthen site manager, said: 'While electricity is used to run the processing machines, with each mill typically using 1.5mW, the meal is sterilised and preconditioned using steam. 'The moisture in steam also acts as a lubricant while the meal is extruded through the pellet die, helping to reduce the energy needed to run the extruders,' he added.

Reith was aware that some of the steam traps on his site were passing, but without sophisticated equipment it was not possible to identify which ones were faulty. With steam playing such a vital role in processing, he decided to ask TLV to carry out a steam survey at the site. The survey was conducted using TLV's latest Trapman TM5 testing equipment, which is verified by the Lloyds Registry. Trapman not only determines whether a trap is working correctly but also quantifies the steam losses in traps that are leaking.

As a result of the survey, TLV was able to put costs against the volume of steam lost through faulty or leaking traps. The figures showed that there was potential for significant energy loss and led Reith to highlight the problem at the next steering-group meeting. Committee members realised that figures from the Carmarthen site could be replicated at the other 12 sites, so Reith's suggestion that the company undertake a survey of all sites was accepted and he was given responsibility for managing the initiative and reporting back to the Environmental Steering Group.

While it was difficult to quantify results at all sites, a combination of the figures produced by TLV and substantiation from site managers and engineers confirms that BOCM is making considerable savings. Actual savings vary depending on the meal produced at the sites, as ruminant meal is typically conditioned at around 60C whereas the temperatures for pig and poultry meal will vary between 80C and 90C. Aside providing information on the condition and performance of steam traps, the TLV Trapman survey also identified all the steam traps at all 13 sites, allocated each a specific number and tagged them.

By attaching coloured discs indicating whether a trap was leaking (red disc) or not working (blue disc), the survey has made it easier for the maintenance team to find faulty traps that are noted in the survey reports as needing attention. The total number of traps tested across all BOCM sites was 552, of which 89 (16 per cent) were found to be leaking. The TLV survey estimates the financial cost of the leaks at GBP95,000 and the environmental cost at 435 tonnes of CO2. According to Reith, the TLV survey has prompted a programme to address leaks across all sites.

He added that managers at the sites that had experienced a higher percentage of failed traps had already reported reductions in steam wastage and energy costs. 'The financial and environmental costs have certainly encouraged the committee to continue surveying the 552 traps at six-month intervals,' said Reith. 'From a bio-security viewpoint, steam is an effective way to produce pellets and for BOCM Pauls it is now proving to be an efficient way to reduce energy consumption, which is very good news,' added Mike Povey, general manager of TLV.

Hydrafeed Announces Complete Bar Feed Range

Hydrafeed has been working on expanding its range of conventional bar feeding products and its automated range of component handling products. The barfeed manufacturer now offers a complete range of short magazine bar feeds as well as full-length magazine type coupled with additional automation products for any CNC turning centre. The Multiservo short magazine bar feed is now able to complement the fastest of machine tools to minimise feeding cycles, with features that can remove the bar feed cycle time in some instances.

New methods now enable bars to be loaded, measured and prepared while the machine is working on an already loaded bar, thereby reducing dead time on the lathe to virtually zero. The benefits of this application are most apparent when the Multiservo is fitted to highly productive sliding head or twin-spindle fixed-head machines. The range has been expanded with the Autofeed long-magazine bar-feed set, which will be available with up to 65mm bar capacity by the end of the year.

A new quick-change guide channel means that bar changeovers can now be achieved within the allotted down time parameters of most lean manufacturing facilities. A short magazine bar feed was introduced earlier in 2009 and this has been developed from previous models to include extra features. Hydrafeed customers can now get a constant display of the length of the bar remaining plus linear rails throughout the bar feed on the MV65 model. This policy has been adopted across the complete range of products with research and development remaining an important part of Hydrafeed's business.

The manufacturer is also able to provide special bespoke systems with the most recent of these projects being a support system allowing a propeller shaft manufacturer in the south of England to support duplex material up to 7m long and 150mm in diameter. The project is said to have allowed the Hydrafeed customer to offer improved lead times on products and cut costs.

The company is currently working on a project to feed special shaped extrusion and assisting a medical manufacturer with improving the general automation of its CNC turning centres. The Rota-Rack is one of the latest additions to the Hydrafeed stable. The stand-alone product is designed to safely collect finished components as they come off CNC equipment, providing true lights-out production.

It has been specifically designed to manage large volumes of components where traditional methods of conveying do not adequately protect the parts. Available since March, the Rota-Rack is being used with one customer now using six systems that are all coupled with the Multifeed short-magazine bar feed. This allows the customer to free up staff for other shop-floor tasks while the machines run unmanned.

Deco Unveils Potcon Range Of Feedthroughs

Douglas Electrical Components (Deco) has introduced its Potcon line of hermetic feedthroughs, which incorporate standard connectors and/or wire harnesses in a single, fully-sealed housing. The Potcon product family features circuits that can be disconnected at the pressure bulkhead or the vacuum port plate, enabling mating and unmating.

Deco manufactures more than 1,000 varieties of Potcon connectors for vacuum, pressure and environmental containment. These feedthroughs are capable of the standard pin-to-pin or socket-to-socket configurations, but also offer a pin-to-socket design. Another feature offered by the Potcon line is the connector-to-wire configuration, which is available alongside the standard connector-to-connector and connector-to-solder cup designs.

Ed Douglas, president of Deco, said: 'By providing a mated solution that uses the same connection in the vacuum chamber as on the bench, the Potcon feedthroughs facilitate bench-top testing prior to installation in the vacuum chamber, minimising the risk of project failures that may arise. 'In vacuum-chamber applications, regular mating and unmating is common and a typical wire harness solution makes that operation very cumbersome. 'With the Potcon connectors, customers can do dry-run testing through the same connections without having the vacuum bulkhead present.

'This also saves undue wear on the actual installed wiring into the chamber, which can stay intact,' he added. Potcon feedthroughs may be specified and sealed to the housing for reliable mounting. The sealing technology employed allows customers to specify virtually any connector from any manufacturer and have it sealed in either a custom or standard fitting of their choosing. Pre-tested, vacuum outgassed and ready to install, Potcon solutions can seal Mil-C-series, circular-plastic, sub-D (including standard density and micro-D), coaxial, waterproof, thermocouple, high-current and high-voltage connectors.

Potcon feedthroughs are used in space simulation, semiconductor manufacturing and glovebox applications. Testing conducted on these feedthroughs and optional mating connector/cable sets includes helium mass spectrometry leak detection to an allowable leak rate of 1.0 x 10^-10sccm He/s, electrical hi-pot tests up to 30KV and electrical continuity.