Effective Inventory Management During a Turnaround
Submitted by Kari Kohonen || Valin Corporation
Nothing will impede a successful plant turnaround like improper planning. One aspect of this planning is effective inventory management, and the keys to achieving this are properly identifying and communicating maintenance needs. Read the article below published in Hydrocarbon Processing Magazine to learn more.
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Guiding a Chopper Valve Application
Submitted by Sri Gavini || Valin Corporation
A large refinery in California (U.S.) was conducting a turnaround and utilized an outside engineering firm to oversee the process. During this phase, the engineering firm discovered the refinery needed new emergency safety shut-off valves (chopper valves) as part of their regeneration process.
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The UL 508A Certification: Why It Is Important
Submitted by Jason Gaines || Valin Corporation
The certification exists for a reason to ensure that the control panels being built meet the very highest safety standards available.
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Sensors in Condition Monitoring: Making Optimal Decisions
Submitted by Corey Foster || Valin Corporation
The key to making the proper decisions on condition monitoring is to understand what kind of information is required, how often that information is needed and what kind of budget is in play.
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Heating a Tank for an Industrial Process
Submitted by Jon Irvine || Valin Corporation
Taking a systematic approach to specifying a tank heater can help ensure the equipment specified delivers the heating performance desired. Factors to consider include the amount of energy needed, heat loss, direct or indirect heating, materials of construction, and controls.
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Condition Monitoring: What Are We Measuring?
Submitted by Corey Foster || Valin Corporation
The concepts of preventive maintenance and condition monitoring are not always characterized in a way that is entirely accurate. They sometimes seem to be treated as a one-size-fits-all service that many operators believe they need. However, these concepts can mean very different things depending on the application.
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What You Need to Know About Emergency Isolation Valves
Submitted by Peter Jessee || Valin Corporation
Industrial process plants are complex facilities with thousands of components that play a role in the operation of the plant. Not all these components hold the same consequences if they are improperly selected or if they fail to perform their designed function.
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Simple Excel Worksheet Predicts Control Valve Aerodynamic Noise
Submitted by Jon Monsen Ph.D., PE || Valin Corporation
Recently an article was published that presented an easily constructed Excel sheet that estimates hydrodynamic noise in control valves1. A number of people have asked me if there is something similar for aerodynamic noise.
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Gas Compressibility Factor and Control Valve Sizing
Submitted by Jon Monsen, Ph.D., PE || Valin Corporation
A veteran of valve sizing with more than 40 years of experience provides his perspective on how to calculate the compressibility factor of a real gas for control valve sizing purposes.
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Excel-Worksheet Predicts Control Valve Hydrodynamic Noise
Submitted by Jon Monsen || Valin Corporation
Most control valve manufacturers include IEC 60534-8-4:2015 in their control valve sizing and selection software to predict control valve hydrodynamic noise. However, users who want to make quick noise predictions or who want to construct valve sizing applications, programming the above noise standard can be a daunting task.
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Simplified Methods for Liquid Control Valve Sizing
Submitted by Jon Monsen || Valin Corporation
If one wants to be able to do accurate hand calculations, or construct a simple program or Excel sheet, the method described here gives answers that agree exactly with iterative calculations using the equations in the current version of the ISA and IEC standards.
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Emergency Isolation Valves — Needs and Requirements
Submitted by Peter Jessee || Valin Corp.
EIVs are a critical safety device for fuel-burning equipment and industrial processes that use flammable ingredients. Proper selection is critical for the safety of the workers in the plant, plant equipment and the surrounding communities.
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Using Control Valve Installed Gain Calculations
Submitted by Jon Monsen || Valin Corporation
The availability of an easily constructed Excel worksheet that calculates and graphs control valve installed gain in conjunction with the users preferred control valve sizing application has prompted a new interest in the application of these calculations. Three examples are shown here.
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Improving a Thermal Loop: The Power Controller
Submitted by Nathan Ehresman || Valin Corporation
For any process where temperature needs to be monitored or controlled, a thermal loop is required. Typically, a process that contains a thermal loop includes some key elements: the process itself, the temperature sensor or transmitter, the temperature controller and the power controller.
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Fluid Handling: Pick The Proper Positioner
Submitted by Peter Jessee and Dave Fahlgren || Valin Corporation
Positioner selection deserves due diligence and consideration of several factors before making any firm decision. Theres certainly not a typical one-size-fits-all approach for positioners; an uninformed choice can lead to undesirable consequences.
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Marking Filtration as a Top Priority for Peaker Plants
Submitted by Greg Neneman || Valin Corporation
For a power plant to run as efficiently as possible, proper filtration is a critical part of the equation.
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Valin’s Inventory Management Services: Providing Peace of Mind
Submitted by Rich Wilbur || Valin Corporation
By taking advantage of Valins program, customers can be confident that their inventory management function is fully optimized. They can rest assured that the right parts will be in the right place right when they need them, while keeping the peace of mind that their transactional costs are being lowered and the KPIs are being adequately analyzed.
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Actuator Options for Process Automation
Submitted by Corey Foster and Peter Jessee || Valin Corporation
The process industries have control valves with actuators designed to open, close, and control them. Many people prefer pneumatic actuators given their long history, reliability, and high performance.
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6 Points to Ponder When Selecting a Circulation Heater
Submitted by Ryan Kraus || Valin Corporation
In this article, featured in Process Heating Magazine, Ryan Kraus discusses the various criteria to consider when selecting a circulation heater.
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Calculating the Installed Flow and Gain of a Control Valve
Submitted by Jon Monsen || Valin Corporation
A simple process method based on the principle that piping pressure losses are approximately proportional to flow squared is presented.
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Looking Beyond Globe Control Valves
Submitted by Peter Jessee || Valin Corporation
While globe control valves are still a viable solution, modern rotary control valves offer many advantages and serve as a more suitable solution in certain process applications.
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How to Monitor Assets Remotely Today
Submitted by Corey Foster || Valin Corporation
As long as products have had ethernet ports, people have been asking for remote access to them. They believed they could just plug the devices into the internet, and it would all work. As more software tools became available and internet speeds increased, capable users found ways to give themselves access, however, there was a catch.
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Understanding the Feedstock with Valin
Submitted by Norman Hall || Valin Corporation
The only way to achieve a specified purity level is to select and install proper filtration, with the job intended and the task fully understood. Norman Hall, Filtration Business Unit Manager for Valin Corporation, suggests a correct approach.
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Steam vs. Electric Heating — The Basics
Most facilities in the chemical process industries (CPI) require some form of heat. The amount of heat required, and the necessary level of consistency can vary from process to process. Regardless of the details, engineers must decide on a heating source that works best for a particular process.
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