October 2019

VALVE/ACTUATOR FOCUS Engis UK, the European Division of Engis Corporation, has worked closely with ball valve manufacturers to develop a new lapping gel specifically for use in severe service ball valve lapping applications such as oil and gas production and petro- chemical refining. Severe service ball valves are often installed in remote and difficult to access locations and must withstand the harshest conditions, including very high pressures, high temperatures and caustic materials, while providing tight tolerances and zero- leak characteristics. Significant benefits of the Engis LD diamond lapping Gel include longer cycle- time per application, approximately twice 38 HYDRAULICS & PNEUMATICS October 2019 www.hpmag.co.uk the length of some compounds, resulting in less downtime and faster lap rates which can reduce overall lapping time by up to 30-40%. Reduced scratching and operator fatigue In addition, less pressure is required using the LD Gel, reducing scratching and operator fatigue in manual operations. This results in a reduction in expensive scrappage of components, while test stand failures are significantly reduced - to near zero in some instances. Engis lapping Gels contain specially controlled diamond particles that are micronized in the Engis laboratories - where diamond lapping and polishing products are produced for a wide range of highly demanding industries - whereas some conventional lapping compounds, particularly those not manufactured to the most exacting standards, often incorporate rogue abrasive particles and can suffer from particle agglomeration or excessive ‘dry out’ during processing, resulting in surface scratches which compromise the zero-leak goal. Engis LD Gel is available in 18 or 100 Gram syringes in particle micron sizes ranging from 60 microns down to 1 microns. www.engis.com Engis UK launches new severe service ball valve diamond lapping gel Integrating electrical and pneumatic functions in a valve island has proven its worth in process engineering plants, for example, since the compact electropneumatic automation systems can be controlled and programmed faster via just one bus line. Therefore, Bürkert and Siemens have been constantly combining their know-how for many years: The latest generation of the valve island Type 8647 AirLINE SP is now also seamlessly integrated into the new distributed peripheral system SIMATIC ET 200SP HA (High Availability) from Siemens, i.e. combined in a compact, high-performance automation system. The new integration stage further increases plant availability. Now, for the first time, valve islands in highly available and up to R1 redundant PROFINET environments can be operated directly in a distributed peripheral system. Process reliability in the plant The flexible valve island was developed for plants that need to run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year with the highest demands on availability and reliability. Together with the Siemens modules, it can be mounted as a space- saving solution in a control cabinet. The highly scalable design makes it possible to adapt the control cabinet layout exactly to the actual requirements. The direct connection to the Siemens peripheral system guarantees not only fast and seamless integration during start-up, but also correct monitoring during subsequent plant operation. Thanks to complete software integration in the Siemens process control system PCS 7, all diagnostic information and process parameters of the valve island can be monitored. This allows preventive and wear-oriented plant maintenance to be initiated and downtime to be minimised. Redundant PROFINET interfaces ensure the plant continues to operate even if a communication participant fails. The up to 64 hot-swap capable valves per island, which can be exchanged during operation without system downtime or Valve island for the new Siemens peripheral system The latest generation of the valve island Type 8647 AirLINE SP from Bürkert is compatible with the distributed peripheral system SIMATIC ET 200SP HA from Siemens and provides important functions for maximum process reliability. (Source: Bürkert Fluid Control Systems). influencing the adjacent valves, also contribute to the high availability of the entire plant. Check valves in the vent duct are an additional safety function. They prevent valves from being accidentally enabled by pressure peaks in the vent duct, thus eliminating media mixing. The new Type 8647 AirLINE SP meets all the requirements of modern, safe and highly available automation systems thanks to its ability to also integrate fail-safe pneumatic signals quickly and easily into the valve islands. www.burkert.com