Picture caption: Thomas Hardy Kendal has installed an OPTIMASS 1000 to help it overcome problems with measuring food ingredients.
Kendal, UK -- Brewer and drink packaging company Thomas Hardy Kendal Ltd has installed a KROHNE OPTIMASS 1000 Coriolis Mass flowmeter.

The instrument has enabled the company to overcome problems encountered in the measurement of an ingredient used in products it manufactures for a new contract.

Before winning the new contract, Thomas Hardy Kendal used an electromagnetic flowmeter to measure various ingredients used to make drinks. However, the new product range uses a deionised sweetener ingredient which it found could not be measured using this technology.

The company needed to rapidly find a way of measuring the deionised sweetener, as well as numerous other ingredients that vary in viscosity and temperature, to ensure it could manufacture the products.

KROHNE was able to provide a solution for Thomas Hardy Kendal. By measuring Mass flow its OPTIMASS flowmeter is capable of accurately measuring deionised materials as well as the other ingredients used.


Read full article: 'OVERCOMING FLOW MEASUREMENT PROBLEMS'

R-Series with SSI provides accuracy in positioning to MTS Systems…
CARY NC, USA (October 10, 2007) – MTS Systems Corp., Sensors Division is providing the R-Series SSI encoder position sensor to its parent company MTS Systems for the ISTIR Advanced Friction Stir Welding development system, the first fully instrumented friction stir welding system capable of performing load-controlled welds along three independent axes.

It has reliably produced welds with double curvature, joined materials less than 1mm and up to 30 mm thick, and joined together materials that vary in thickness.

“By using MTS Temposonics® sensors in these machines, we ensure that our customers get a much more accurate machine that’s very repeatable,” said John Meyer, Program Manager, MTS Systems. “We also don’t need to worry about the calibration of the sensors, which saves us time in assembly and our customers’ time in maintenance and upkeep. The Temposonics SSI sensors are very stable.”

A solid-state welding process, friction stir welding is a combination of extruding and forging and is not actually a true welding process. The method was not created specifically for aluminum but is well-suited for it.


Read full article: 'MTS Sensors Ensure Precision in Friction Stir Welding'

Executives from leading manufacturers voice support during HART Communication Foundation press conference at ISA 2007

(Austin, Texas, USA - 9 October 2007) — Executives from leading process automation companies voiced their support for the new WirelessHART Communication standard during the HART Communication Foundation (HCF) press conference at ISA 2007 (2 Oct, Houston, TX).

In a display of unified commitment to the new technology, representatives from ABB, Emerson, Endress+Hauser, and Siemens spoke of the positive impact WirelessHART technology will have on the process industry and their expectation for the quick adoption of the technology by end users.

Statements from each company representative follow:

Read full article: 'WirelessHART Communication Supported by Leading Process Automation Companies'

Shepperton, UK -- Porvair Sciences, specialists in microplates and microplate technology, has announced the opening of a new Class 10000 cleanroom at their Wrexham, UK facility. Production of the full Porvair line of highly-regarded microplates has transferred to the new facility.

Featuring multiple ultrasonic welding stations and full tissue-culture treatment facilities, the new cleanroom is designed to accommodate the fast-growing Porvair assay plate business and to give customers faster delivery with improved QA inspection of finished plates.

Production of glass and plastic clear-bottomed assay plates for fluorescence, luminescence and whole-cell adsorption assays has now been streamlined at Wrexham and Porvair Sciences renowned "Extractables-Free" polypropylene deep-well plates, which require tissue-culture treatment, will be transferred to the new site before year end.



Read full article: 'Porvair Sciences invests in new microplate production facility...'

READING MA, USA -- (BUSINESS WIRE) -- TECHKON GmbH has announced that it is bringing the "next generation of color measurement tools to town" with the establishment of TECHKON USA. This North American operation will market TECHKON’s SpectroPlate, SpectroDens and Scanning Spectro-densitometer products.

Fast reshaping the market landscape, these TECHKON products provide a previously unattainable combination of ergonomics, speed and accuracy for prepress companies, print houses, and print buyers worldwide.

Constructed without any moving mechanical parts, TECHKON products share a hand-friendly design that can be easily maneuvered over the color target and activated with a simple click of a button -- all in one fluid motion.

All products feature TECHKON’s proprietary spectral sensors, optical system and image processing algorithms which provide a mercurial measurement speed of 1 second and the most aggressive accuracy standard in the printing industry.


Read full article: 'TECHKON Brings ''Next Generation of Color Measurement Tools to Town'''

NEW 640x512 FPA CEDIP IR Security Camera
CROISSY-BEAUBOURG, FRANCE -- The ADAMANT IR camera from Cedip Infrared Systems is a compact, yet powerful thermal surveillance system designed for a wide range of demanding applications.

The new system features a high performance 640x512 MCT 15 micron pitch focal plane array and three field of view optic packaged in a fully mil-spec, marine qualified enclosure weighing only 9 kg.

The triple field of view lens features a wide 21.7° x 17.5° FOV, a medium range 6.9°x 5.5° FOV and a narrow 1.7° x 1.4° FOV enabling detection of a tank sized target at 16 Km.

ADAMANT is a high performance thermal surveillance system designed by Cedip Infrared Systems for fixed position surveillance, passive observation, detection and recognition of targets by day and nights, even in bad weather conditions.

Compact, weatherproof design and new diagnostic software make maintaining the ADAMANT IR camera easy and quick. The system is ideal for waterway surveillance, long range reconnaissance, homeland security monitoring of large area public infrastructure and military range tracking applications.

Drawing upon considerable experience in developing powerful, yet robust thermal surveillance systems - Cedip Infrared Systems have introduced a host of useful new features into the ADAMANT IR camera. Unmatched image quality is provided by powerful, high throughput optics and proprietary video processing technology that improves the definition of images.

ADAMANT can be delivered with Ethernet or Optical fibre output allowing remote control and video display over long distances. For OEM integrators, ADAMANT is also available as a core engine package, without the enclosure and the front window.


Read full article: 'Compact, yet powerful thermal surveillance system'

Houston TX, USA - ISA ‘07— ICONICS, an award-winning Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and provider of Web-enabled, OPC-based, HMI/SCADA Visualization and Manufacturing Intelligence software for Microsoft Windows® operating systems, has announced its new 64-bit-based OPC Web-enabled HMI/SCADA suite, GENESIS64™.

The GENESIS64 suite includes several modular solutions that simplify connectivity from the plant floor to corporate business systems. Designed from the ground up to take maximum advantage of Windows Vista, .NET and SharePoint® technology, it allows plant operators and IT professionals to integrate real-time manufacturing and business information into a common, Web-enabled visualization dashboard.

GENESIS64 continues ICONICS’ commitment to furthering OPC Unified Architecture (OPC-UA) technology throughout its industrial automation software solutions. In addition, a solution that is based entirely on Microsoft’s Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) integration and XAML helps to provide an enriched user experience.


Read full article: 'ICONICS Announces GENESIS64™'

New Thermo Scientific Series 8000 CO2 incubators offer complete contamination control for cell culture protection
MILFORD MA, USA --– Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., a leader in serving science, has introduced the Thermo Scientific Series 8000 CO2 incubators. Featuring cutting-edge cell culture incubation technologies, this new range of incubators provide stable, precise temperature, humidity and CO2 control, with advanced decontamination technology.

A choice of either water jacket (WJ) or direct heat (DH) incubators is offered to meet even the most stringent laboratory and research requirements, offering maximum thermal protection and the flexibility to culture cells with confidence.



Read full article: ' Thermo Fisher Scientific Introduces Advanced Range of CO2 Incubators'

Melbourn, UK & Menlo Park CA, USA -- Velocity11 has announced an Automated Microplate Spin-down Station that enables batches of microplates to be spun down in parallel.

Integrating the Velocity11 BenchCel® Microplate Handling System and VSpin® Access 2 Automated Microplate Centrifuge the new workstation provides walk-away convenience for handling up to 320 microplates. A simple software interface allows users to specify the centrifugation settings and with a click of the mouse, the BenchCel System and VSpin Centrifuge take care of the rest.

The VSpin® Automated Microplate Centrifuge is the smallest robotic-accessible automated centrifuge on the market. It provides unmatched vibration and noise control in a small, low maintenance package. Ideal for high or medium throughput applications, the VSpin features a dual position design to accommodate two standard microplates at a time.


Read full article: 'Automated Microplate Spin-down Station'

SAN JOSE CA and PHILADELPHIA PA , USA -- Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., a leader in serving science, announces the new Thermo Scientific Atlas Chromatography Data System (CDS) add-on instrument control software for the Thermo Scientific Accela High Speed LC providing integrated instrument control, digital data acquisition, chromatography data processing and reporting.

Award winning Atlas CDS provides chromatographers with a client/server chromatography-based software solution available for controlling the Accela LC.

Read full article: 'New Software Control for Accela High Speed LC System'