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SignalFire Wireless Telemetry, a leading manufacturer of industrial wireless telemetry products, will offer its Pressure Scout Intrinsically Safe Wireless Pressure Sensor with the LoRaWAN® wireless protocol in June 2024.  By connecting to LoRaWAN®

networks, the Pressure Scout can wirelessly monitor assets in hazardous or general-purpose environments.   The Pressure Scout will initially monitor in general purpose areas before expanding its capabilities to Class 1 Division 1 hazardous locations by Fall of 2024.

Based on the field proven Pressure Scout, this version with LoRaWAN® protocol will address the challenges of monitoring pressure over wide areas by offering a range of up to 15 miles (24 km).  The pressure transmitter will offer battery life of up to ten years and measure pressure from vacuum to 20,000 psi (1360 kPa).   With LoRaWAN®, the Pressure Scout can address those applications where less frequent measurements are suitable but wider coverage is most important.  Applications include monitoring critical infrastructure such as municipal infrastructure, gas distribution, and wellheads in urban or widely dispersed environments.

“We are excited to broaden our portfolio with LoRaWAN®.  This adds to our existing 900MHz and cellular solutions so users can choose the best fit solution for their applications,” says Sandro Esposito, VP Sales & Marketing for SignalFire Telemetry.

“The Pressure Scout with LoRaWAN® protocol is another example of our expertise to design products that offer reliable data measurement and transmission in an industrial form factor,” says Josh Schadel, GM and CTO for SignalFire Telemetry. “With clever data transmission in our device, we can optimize for battery life while providing more measurements to our users.”

For more information about the Pressure Scout, visit https://www.signal-fire.com/900mhz-rf-products/pressure-scout/or contact info@signal-fire.com

Is there a signal conditioning product that you think is worthy of an award? If the answer is yes, then now is the time to nominate that product for an Instrumentation Excellence Award. The Instrumentation Excellence Awards (IEAs) celebrate the very best from the world of test, measurement, sensing and control.

The 2024 awards ceremony, organised by Instrumentation Monthly publisher Datateam Business Media, will take place on 24 October at the Grand Connaught Rooms and will once again take place alongside the Electronics Industry Awards, making it the night of the year for networking.

Entering the Awards is quick, easy and completely free of charge – so there’s no need to delay! To make your entry really stand out from the crowd, it is recommended that you try to include a comprehensive overview of the product or company that you have nominated. There is even the option to include supplementary documents like data sheets and images alongside your nomination.  

Nominations close soon so visit www.instrumentationawards.co.uk to make your nomination and to find out more about the Instrumentation Excellence Awards.

One of the most effective tools in the fight against air pollution and carbon emissions is the technique of gas absorption spectrometry.

Used to detect gases such as carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO₂) and nitrogen oxide (NO), the technique is widely used in factories and processing plants, including semiconductor fabrication plants.

Gas absorption spectrometry takes advantage of the optical properties of gases in the Mid Wavelength Infra-Red (MWIR) wavelength band. Many gases of interest absorb light at a specific wavelength, with tuned lasers being a common light source – when compared to a reference medium, a gas of interest will absorb some of the laser light, and the detected optical power of the source will be reduced.

The value of the absorption peak allows the accurate detection and identification of a specific gas.

Based in Shanghai, MicroPhotons is a distributor of optical products as well as supporting its customers in the development of optical technology applications such as spectrometry and gas analysis and detection.

The company was approached by a customer to help it with a project that called for accurate measurement of optical systems in the MWIR portion of the spectrum.

The challenge for MicroPhotons was that existing technologies for detecting gas absorption rates require the use of liquid nitrogen to cool the emitters. MicroPhotons planned to replace the super-cooled emitters with a super-continuum light source, allowing gas absorption measurements to be performed at room temperature.

Although more convenient and saving a large amount of test time, this approach requires very high measurement accuracy in the optical spectrum analyzer (OSA) used to characterize the light source.

Also, the gases to be monitored had absorption peaks at wavelengths across the whole MWIR spectrum, from 1.9 to 5.5 μm – most OSAs are designed for use in telecoms systems, which only require measurement of wavelengths up to 1.7 μm.

MicroPhotons was looking for a single instrument that could cover the entire MWIR spectrum. This could dramatically reduce test time and effort, avoiding the need to set up and calibrate more than one measurement instrument when testing equipment for the detection of gases with different absorption peaks.

To meet its customer’s needs, MicroPhotons chose the AQ6377 OSA from Yokogawa. Across the 1.9 to 5.5 μm range, the AQ6377 is the only OSA capable of analyzing the entire wavelength spectrum.

The AQ6377 is the latest version of the Yokogawa AQ6300 series of OSAs. The world’s first OSA offering side mode analysis of MWIR lasers, it offers extended wavelength coverage into the MWIR region from 1.9 to 5.5 μm. Its long wavelength range makes the AQ6377 ideal for environmental sensing and medical applications.

The device also achieves wavelength measurement accuracy of ±0.5 nm and provides a close-in dynamic range of 50 dB, thanks to the sharp spectral characteristics of the AQ6377’s monochromator. This means that signals in close proximity can be clearly separated and accurately measured.

According to Mr Wang, CEO of MicroPhotons, the AQ6377 OSA has provided outstandingly accurate measurement of the emissions of both tunable lasers and the super-continuum light source. This accuracy was proved by a measurement exercise performed after characterization of the super-continuum light source using the AQ6377.

Mr Wang says that MicroPhotons ran measurements of the absorption of emissions from the characterized super-continuum light source.

He says: ‘We measured the absorption spectra of a range of gases including C₂H₂, C₂H₆, C₃H₈, and NH₃.

‘The measurement results very closely tracked the data provided by the SpectraPlot online tool, which provides a reference for the optical characteristics of gases. This gave us great confidence that the measurement output from the AQ6377, on the basis of which we characterized the light source, is extremely accurate and repeatable over its very broad measurement bandwidth.’

To download the full case study, please click here.

Is there a case or an enclosure that you think is worthy of an award at this year’s Instrumentation Excellence Awards? If the answer is yes, then now is the time to nominate that product.

The 2024 awards ceremony, organised by Instrumentation Monthly publisher Datateam Business Media, will take place on 24 October at the Grand Connaught Rooms and will once again take place alongside the Electronics Industry Awards, making it the night of the year for networking. Entering the Awards is quick, easy and completely free of charge – so there’s no need to delay! To make your entry really stand out from the crowd, it is recommended that you try to include a comprehensive overview of the product or company that you have nominated. There is even the option to include supplementary documents like data sheets and images alongside your nomination.  

Nominations close soon so visit www.instrumentationawards.co.uk to make your nomination and to find out more about the Instrumentation Excellence Awards.

Instrument measurement and control specialist, Electroserv has expanded into new premises, more than five times the size of its old site.

This move will allow Electroserv, which is a key supplier to many manufacturers around the UK, to hit its £10m turnover goal and create more than 20 new jobs.

The new 15,176sqft premise is located at Lyme Green Business Park, Macclesfield, just next door to the previous location which is a 2994sqft space.

Directors at Electroserv have ensured the space is highly specified making the most of every square foot. With an investment of £200k, the building has been configured to include two well-equipped laboratories, a state-of-the-art workshop, high spec, contemporary office space, dedicated packing area, large loading bay, open plan kitchen / dining area complete with pool table and a warm and welcoming reception area. The modern, industrial style is carried throughout the two-storey building. 

Managing Director, Simon Fisher said: “2024 is a big year for the company with significant new plans in the pipeline. Our previous site served us well for a long time and we’re pleased to be able to relocate so close. The new premise is a fantastic, highly functional space and we’re excited to welcome customers, suppliers and more to visit.”

Alongside the office re-location and expansion, new sales manager, John Walker has been appointed to help drive the projected growth for the company.

With more than 32 years’ industry experience, including a lengthy stint with Watlow (previously Eurotherm), John is well placed to support Electroserv’s ambitious plans. 

John said: “I’m excited to join Electroserv during the rapid growth they’re experiencing, it’s a very positive time. It’s a great company to work for and everyone is supportive.”

“One thing I am really excited about is the expanse of what we can do here. We’re not just a product sales company, we can deliver a full solution to our customers, including full turnkey solutions, DSEAR inspections, installations, calibration and more.”

Simon added: “John has a strong technical background and has worked with some of the big Pharma companies. He’s got a wealth of experience as a sales manager in our sector and will be a great asset to Electroserv.”

Further to the expansion, investment and appointment of John, Electroserv will be creating another 20 jobs within the next three years, 50% of which will be filled by the end of 2024. Jobs will be available across the sales, engineering and admin teams.

For more information about Electroserv visit www.electroserv.co.uk.

Is there a standout sensor that you think is worthy of an award? If the answer is yes, then now is the time to nominate that product for an Instrumentation Excellence Award. The Instrumentation Excellence Awards (IEAs) celebrate the very best from the world of test, measurement, sensing and control.

The 2024 awards ceremony, organised by Instrumentation Monthly publisher Datateam Business Media, will take place on 24 October at the Grand Connaught Rooms and will once again take place alongside the Electronics Industry Awards, making it the night of the year for networking.

Entering the Awards is quick, easy and completely free of charge – so there’s no need to delay! To make your entry really stand out from the crowd, it is recommended that you try to include a comprehensive overview of the product or company that you have nominated. There is even the option to include supplementary documents like data sheets and images alongside your nomination.  

Nominations close soon so visit www.instrumentationawards.co.uk to make your nomination and to find out more about the Instrumentation Excellence Awards. 

Control Station has announced a significant increase in services revenue and delivered a financial performance that closely tracked the company’s strategic growth goals. The company launched Digital Lifecycle Solutions in mid-2023 as a complement to its market-leading portfolio of process analytic and optimization software products. The expansion of services was viewed as key both to Control Station’s long-term growth and to enriching the value of its software portfolio.

Revenue from Control Station’s services more than doubled on a year-over-year, achieving a composite increase of 109.5%. Whereas income from traditional training services remained flat, Revenue from Control Station’s application-based service offerings increased by 169.9%. Of note, services related to the company’s PlantESP™ Loop Performance Monitoring solution witnessed year-over-year growth of 239.0%. PlantESP sits atop the industrial automation market as the leading control loop performance monitoring solution.

“Process manufacturers share a critical need for best-in-class analytics and world-class engineering support,” stated Dennis Nash, Control Station’s president and CEO. “PlantESP has proven uniquely capable of equipping customers with the actionable intelligence needed to optimize production performance. Through our service offerings we’ve also proved the value of partnering with customers to leverage PlantESP’s analytics.”

Control Station delivers services to an increasingly multinational base of manufacturing customers. Through the end of 2023 the company had successfully licensed its award-winning LOOP-PRO™ and PlantESP products to end-users in over 70 countries. Control Station delivers services in support of its customers via both onsite and remote means. As a result of the 2020 global pandemic, remote delivery of services has become an increasingly accepted approach for manufacturers. With a growing team of field application engineers, Control Station has the subject matter experts needed to augment a manufacturer’s production staff.

“Our services philosophy emphasizes partnering with customers to achieve mutual success,” noted Jon Stevens, Director of Services for Control Station. “Customers rightfully prioritize maintaining production, and they engage our team of experts to identify opportunities for performance improvement as a complementary function. By teaming up in this manner, we’re helping them to achieve their optimization and sustainability objectives.”

Relative to the company’s strategic growth plan, Control Station achieved 97.9% of its Revenue target during 2023 and positioned itself for continued growth during 2024. The imminent launch of an expanded suite of Digital Lifecycle Solutions and new plant-wide monitoring capabilities are both expected to contribute to fulfillment of the company’s multi-year plan. The extension of services and technologies positions Control Station to capitalize on the global market for digital transformation solutions. According to Mordor Intelligence, the market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 19.4% through 2029.

Is there a standout Calibration product that you think deserves to be recognised with an award? If the answer is yes, then now is the time to nominate that product for an Instrumentation Excellence Award. The Instrumentation Excellence Awards (IEAs) celebrate the very best from the world of test, measurement, sensing and control.

The 2024 awards ceremony, organised by Instrumentation Monthly publisher Datateam Business Media, will take place on 24 October at the Grand Connaught Rooms and will once again take place alongside the Electronics Industry Awards, making it the night of the year for networking. Entering the Awards is quick, easy and completely free of charge – so there’s no need to delay! To make your entry really stand out from the crowd, it is recommended that you try to include a comprehensive overview of the product or company that you have nominated. There is even the option to include supplementary documents like data sheets and images alongside your nomination.  

Nominations close soon so visit www.instrumentationawards.co.uk to make your nomination and to find out more about the Instrumentation Excellence Awards.