The conditions under which oil and gas are brought from their reservoirs to the surface can be outright hostile to many common materials used in fluid system components employed in industry. Potentially dangerous mechanisms include localised corrosion, stress corrosion cracking (SCC) and sulphide stress cracking (SSC).

A recent energy audit at its manufacturing facility paved the way for Geofabrics to optimise its on-site compressed air system, and derive staggering ongoing energy savings.

Minimising the power consumption of industrial and commercial processes is gaining increased focus with rising oil and coal prices, as well as impending emission trading systems in Australia and elsewhere. The power consumed by large industrial refrigeration plant often makes up the major portion of site power used on refrigeration-intensive sites, such as food processing plants.

Historically, there has been a clear divide between control strategies for process and discrete applications. However, with the recent development of a new generation of DCS systems, the distinctions are now not so clear-cut.

LGL is undertaking a major upgrade of its Lihir Island gold operation in New Ireland province of Papua New Guinea. The upgrade will increase the total annual gold production by about 240,000 ounces to approximately 1 million ounces per annum from 2011.

This article discusses two powerful distance measurement photoelectric sensor technologies: triangulation and time-of-flight.

Researchers have created a versatile gripper using everyday ground coffee and a latex party balloon, bypassing traditional designs based on the human hand and fingers.

Offline analysis of historical process data is an integral part of process optimisation and production tracking. OPC helps maximise the return on process history investments by providing a standardised mechanism for collection of real-time process data and by enabling scalable multivendor and distributed historical analysis solutions.

The undulations of the jellyfish hold secrets that may make possible a new generation of tiny pumps for medical applications and soft robotics.

An innovative DAF (dissolved air flotation) system for treating or refining wastewater, engineered in Europe to EU standards, has been introduced to Australia by CST Wastewater Solutions.

Traditionally, VSDs have been used for the control of pumps, fans, conveyors etc, but with the rising cost of power and the increased efficiency and reliability of modern VSDs, many applications can be found on the basis of power savings alone.

Advances in software, robotics and intelligent storage, buffering and sequencing systems have enabled the development of two innovations designed to reduce the cost and improve the efficiency, productivity and safety of building mixed case pallets.

Over the last few years mining heavyweight Rio Tinto has worked hard to make significant efficiency improvements to its Pilbara rail network. A key contributor to this success was the optimisation of train loading operations at Yandicoogina.

While wireless technology has moved well beyond simple point-to-point connectivity, the fundamental tenets of the technology remain the same. Some basic understanding of RF technology can empower more informed decision-making in relation to which wireless technology to deploy relative to application need.

Meat processing is a labour-intensive, hands-on industry that requires extensive safety protocols to protect the health and safety of operators - not to mention the health and safety of consumers.