Blog - Post List
  • Regulators - Blog (no longer active): Application Guide for Natural Gas Pressure Regulators

    I saw on my LinkedIn home page that my friends who manage Fisher Regulators have released the Natural Gas Technologies Application Guide – Edition VII , which is now available online in eBook format… very nice! This application guide is designed to help you quickly and easily select pressure regulator products for natural gas applications in transmission, distribution and utilization. If you don’t have great familiarity…
  • Valves Blog (no longer active): Application Guide for Natural Gas Pressure Regulators

    I saw on my LinkedIn home page that my friends who manage Fisher Regulators have released the Natural Gas Technologies Application Guide – Edition VII , which is now available online in eBook format… very nice! This application guide is designed to help you quickly and easily select pressure regulator products for natural gas applications in transmission, distribution and utilization. If you don’t have great familiarity…
  • Valves Blog (no longer active): When is a Safety Integrity Level Rating of a Valve Required?

    Control valves play a large role in process control. Emerson’s Riyaz Ali shared with me that he is often asked about their use in safety instrumented functions (also known as safety loops). When asked recently, he shared an ISA Safety Division newsletter from the fall of 2007. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find the newsletter in my Google searches. His article in this newsletter, When is a Safety Integrity Level (SIL) Rating…
  • Valves Blog (no longer active): Vibration Monitoring of Control Valves Prevents Unplanned Shutdowns

    Emerson’s Shawn Anderson teamed with a recycled paper mill staff member and their local business partner on an Emerson Exchange presentation, Vibration Monitoring of Control Valves Prevents Unplanned Shutdowns. Here is the presentation abstract: Two control valves in this recycled cardboard paper facility had experienced vibration related failures. These failures were difficult to detect and/or predict due to the variable…
  • Valves Blog (no longer active): Metal-Seated Ball Valve Applications

    Emerson’s Shawn Fagen , Zach Stahlin and Mark Nymeyer teamed up on an Emerson Exchange presentation, Heavy Metal – Turn up your Z500 Knowledge to Eleven! I was expecting to need earplugs but instead found out that their abstract was: This session is an introduction for the end user to the newly introduced Fisher Z500, metal-seated ball valve. The Z500 valve is a simplistic two-piece floating ball design with integral…
  • Valves Blog (no longer active): Improving Offshore Platform Waterflood System Availability

    Emerson’s Ryan McIntosh presented, A Deepwater Oil and Gas Platform Realizes an Improvement in Availability. His abstract: A customer was having issues with maintaining control over their waterflood system due to valve failures. This application, key to optimal oil/gas production and maintaining reservoir pressure subjects the valves to an eight to as high as ten thousand psi pressure drop. The valves Fisher replaced…
  • Valves, Actuators & Regulators Blog: Mounting Digital Valve Controller Howto Video

    It has been a busy week as many of the experts around Emerson Process Management here in Austin to work on ways to improve their participation in the social channels. James Holloway I wanted to share a “how to” video, Mounting a Fisher FIELDVUE DVC6200 Digital Valve Controller to a 657 Actuator . In it, Engineering/Industrial Management student and former Emerson intern James Holloway shows the process of mounting…
  • Valves, Actuators & Regulators Blog: Mounting Digital Valve Controller Howto Video

    It has been a busy week as many of the experts around Emerson Process Management here in Austin to work on ways to improve their participation in the social channels. James Holloway I wanted to share a “how to” video, Mounting a Fisher FIELDVUE DVC6200 Digital Valve Controller to a 657 Actuator . In it, Engineering/Industrial Management student and former Emerson intern James Holloway shows the process of mounting…
  • Valves, Actuators & Regulators Blog: Mounting Digital Valve Controller Howto Video

    It has been a busy week as many of the experts around Emerson Process Management here in Austin to work on ways to improve their participation in the social channels. James Holloway I wanted to share a “how to” video, Mounting a Fisher FIELDVUE DVC6200 Digital Valve Controller to a 657 Actuator . In it, Engineering/Industrial Management student and former Emerson intern James Holloway shows the process of mounting…
  • Valves, Actuators & Regulators Blog: Mounting Digital Valve Controller Howto Video

    It has been a busy week as many of the experts around Emerson Process Management here in Austin to work on ways to improve their participation in the social channels. James Holloway I wanted to share a “how to” video, Mounting a Fisher FIELDVUE DVC6200 Digital Valve Controller to a 657 Actuator . In it, Engineering/Industrial Management student and former Emerson intern James Holloway shows the process of mounting…
  • Valves Blog (no longer active): Mounting Digital Valve Controller Howto Video

    It has been a busy week as many of the experts around Emerson Process Management here in Austin to work on ways to improve their participation in the social channels. I wanted to share a “how to” video, Mounting a Fisher FIELDVUE DVC6200 Digital Valve Controller to a 657 Actuator . In it, Engineering/Industrial Management student and former Emerson intern James Holloway shows the process of mounting the DVC6200 instrument…
  • Valves Blog (no longer active): How-to Video on Valve Actuator Torque Calibration

    There is nothing like a brief “how-to” video. I use these often around the home as a filter to determine if it’s something I can do myself or if I need to call out an expert. We have many examples of these in our world of process automation. Here’s one from the Emerson team managing the line of Bettis actuators. In this 4:80 YouTube video, TEC2 Model 500 Calibration with Torque Calibration Tool , Emerson’s Thomas…
  • Valves Blog (no longer active): Working Monitor Pressure Regulators in Fuel Gas Pressure Control

    Fuel gas drives the boilers, fired heaters, generators, compressors and more in many process manufacturing and production operations. Accurately controlling fuel gas pressure is important for optimum combustion and overall energy efficiency. I received a draft of an Emerson Exchange Denver conference presentation by Dow’s Tony Dafft, Ryan Baker with Emerson local business partner, Puffer-Sweiven , and Emerson’s Michael…
  • Regulators - Blog (no longer active): Working Monitor Pressure Regulators in Fuel Gas Pressure Control

    Fuel gas drives the boilers, fired heaters, generators, compressors and more in many process manufacturing and production operations. Accurately controlling fuel gas pressure is important for optimum combustion and overall energy efficiency. I received a draft of an Emerson Exchange Denver conference presentation by Dow’s Tony Dafft, Ryan Baker with Emerson local business partner, Puffer-Sweiven , and Emerson’s Michael…
  • Regulators - Blog (no longer active): Controlling Pressure when Testing Oil and Gas Well Bore Cement

    For those not familiar with the oil & gas drilling process, the cement that is between the well bore and outside of the well casing is critical to the overall integrity of the well. PetroWiki defines its role : Cement is used to hold casing in place and to prevent fluid migration between subsurface formations. TESCOM ER5000 Series Electropneumatic Controller Controlling the pressure is very important in the cement…
  • Valves Blog (no longer active): Controlling Pressure when Testing Oil and Gas Well Bore Cement

    For those not familiar with the oil & gas drilling process, the cement that is between the well bore and outside of the well casing is critical to the overall integrity of the well. PetroWiki defines its role : Cement is used to hold casing in place and to prevent fluid migration between subsurface formations. TESCOM ER5000 Series Electropneumatic Controller Controlling the pressure is very important in the cement…
  • Valves Blog (no longer active): Faster Subsea Hydraulic Equipment Startups

    Offshore oil and gas producers use hydraulic power to operate much of their subsea equipment. This equipment includes valves, cylinders, motors, manifolds, blowout preventers and remote operated vehicles to name a few. Pressure regulators in Hydraulic Power Units (HPUs) help ensure the required hydraulic pressure is available for this equipment. One of the challenges in pressurizing this equipment is the time it takes…
  • Regulators - Blog (no longer active): Faster Subsea Hydraulic Equipment Startups

    Offshore oil and gas producers use hydraulic power to operate much of their subsea equipment. This equipment includes valves, cylinders, motors, manifolds, blowout preventers and remote operated vehicles to name a few. Pressure regulators in Hydraulic Power Units (HPUs) help ensure the required hydraulic pressure is available for this equipment. One of the challenges in pressurizing this equipment is the time it takes…
  • Valves Blog (no longer active): Butterfly Valve for Diverse Throttling and On-Off Applications

    References to the use of butterfly valves date back to James Watt, who : …made use of a butterfly valve in his steam engine, and the first Mercedes car built around 1901 introduced a butterfly valve in the fuel intake linked to the accelerator pedal. Wikipedia describes butterfly valves as from: …a family of valves called quarter-turn valves . In operation, the valve is fully open or closed when the disc is…
  • Valves Blog (no longer active): Integrated Oil and Gas Well Testing

    Testing the composition of oil, gas, basic sediment and water has historically been a batch-type operation where the flow from a single well has been diverted from a header leading to the production separator over to a test separator. These components are measured in the test separator before returning for further processing. As technology has advanced to provide both subsea and topside multiphase flow metering , composition…
  • Valves Blog (no longer active): Detonation Arrestors for Unstable Detonation Conditions in Piping Systems

    For production processes with flammable substances, flame arrestors are important safety devices that allow gases to pass through but prevent flames in order to prevent a larger fire or explosion. A recent Control Engineering Europe article, Detonation arrestors reduce complexity and increase safety , highlights considerations in detonation arrestors , which are flame arrestors designed to prevent the transmission…
  • Regulators - Blog (no longer active): Detonation Arrestors for Unstable Detonation Conditions in Piping Systems

    For production processes with flammable substances, flame arrestors are important safety devices that allow gases to pass through but prevent flames in order to prevent a larger fire or explosion. A recent Control Engineering Europe article, Detonation arrestors reduce complexity and increase safety , highlights considerations in detonation arrestors , which are flame arrestors designed to prevent the transmission…
  • Valves Blog (no longer active): Corrosion-Resistant Materials in Chemically-Hostile Valve Applications

    When it comes to instrumentation and final control elements which touch the process, materials of construction are one of the critical selection criteria. In a whitepaper, PPS Outshines Stainless Steel in Chemically Hostile Valve Applications , Emerson’s Steve Attri describes how this PPS material is highly resistant to corrosion in highly-corrosive applications. He opens defining and describing PPS: Polyphenylene…
  • Regulators - Blog (no longer active): Corrosion-Resistant Materials in Chemically-Hostile Valve Applications

    When it comes to instrumentation and final control elements which touch the process, materials of construction are one of the critical selection criteria. In a whitepaper, PPS Outshines Stainless Steel in Chemically Hostile Valve Applications , Emerson’s Steve Attri describes how this PPS material is highly resistant to corrosion in highly-corrosive applications. He opens defining and describing PPS: Polyphenylene…
  • Valves Blog (no longer active): Shrinking the Distance between Expertise Seeker and Expert

    My operating premise for why social networks and online communities are so important for process manufacturers and producers is the complexity of the engineering profession in these industries. Former Emerson Process Management president John Berra said it best in an Automation World column : Our work demands the broadest skill set of any engineering discipline—it requires knowledge of chemical processes, mechanical…