“Hear” and Now: Acoustic Telemetry Under the Sea

Pipelines are such a natural part of our daily life that you may not think much about what goes into their successful operation. Carrying everything from water to oil to natural gas, so many of our daily activities are directly or indirectly made possible thanks to well-constructed and reliable pipelines. The stresses on these systems are many: friction and pressure from the flow of liquid, pressure buildup from valve operation, vibration, and, perhaps most crucial, temperature. As this article from Offshore magazine illustrates, underwater natural gas pipelines are especially susceptible to the dangers of cold ambient temperatures: if they fall too much, crystals can form, slowing the flow of gas. If it goes unnoticed or unaddressed, that inconvenience turns into a burst pipe. In other words, a disaster.

Telemetry innovation plays a major role in preventing such situations. Through acoustic telemetry, the water temperature can be monitored, and maintenance personnel can be alerted when dangerous levels occur. Although we at Devar deal mostly in wired, electronic monitoring, we applaud the ingenuity of the acoustic model: it’s especially well-suited to deep-sea applications thanks to the lack of cables and wiring. As monitoring and alarm specialists, we’re here to answer any questions you might have about your own telemetry needs: be sure to visit our website for more information.

Plight at the Museum: Preserving Precious Artifacts through Humidity Control

Books, pictures, old letters – whether sitting on a shelf, hanging on our wall, or in a box in the attic, it’s likely that you’ve seen the effects of time and age on any or all of these items. Breaking down that idea of the effect of time, though, what does it really mean? Typically, it refers to the ravages of handling, temperature, and humidity on paper, an organic substance especially vulnerable to these environmental factors. Most people aren’t overly concerned about maintaining these items for all posterity, though – usually, a few decades will suffice. But what about objects that are hundreds of years old? How are they still around, and in as good of shape as they are? The answer lies in humidity and temperature control.

Of course, digital monitors like the ones that Devar supplies weren’t around when, say, Van Gogh painted his Starry Night, let alone when da Vinci gave us the Mona Lisa. But make no mistake about it – there was some type of environmental monitoring and control at work to ensure that these masterpieces stood the test of time. Products like ours just make that task easier for today’s museum curators. Humidity and temperature transmitters can be outfitted for entire buildings – after all, most museums keep paintings bare of any sort of glass covering – or for more intricately controlled environments, like the small housing in the Louvre that contains the Mona Lisa. And back to those dusty letters and old books? Humidity monitors aren’t just for institutions. Plenty of amateur archivists keep those objects precious to them in climate-controlled environments, giving them the same care and protection afforded to the great works. Here at Devar, we’re happy to serve both types of customer, helping those who care enough to save a piece of today for tomorrow.

A Clean Sweep: Cleanroom Moisture Monitoring

Have you ever seen some of the amazing images produced by the Hubble Telescope? Browsing through them, it’s hard to believe that it actually went into orbit with a defect, and for a time, did not perform as intended. But it’s true  – and that defect was caused by a particle less than 1/200 the width of a human hair. How is that possible? The circuitry used to produce such an advanced piece of equipment as the Hubble is, as you might expect, very delicate and precise. PCBs and wiring of that nature – finely-tuned, yet able to withstand the harsh demands of space – need to be developed in an environment that allows them to work exactly as intended, free of any variables like dust, moisture, or other tiny particles. Cleanrooms provide just that type of environment.

There are many factors that go into creating and maintaining a cleanroom environment (and there are many different levels of cleanroom environments, which you can learn more about here): filtration and design are among the most important, and so is monitoring. Without moisture monitoring, any potential breach of the cleanroom environment would not be discovered until later inspection or testing – or potentially not at all. As mentioned in our previous blog on pharmaceutical production, such contaminants can lead to dangerous products. In the case of things like the Hubble and other technical products, contamination can lead to downtime and deficiency costs in the billions or trillions of dollars.

For more information on Devar’s line of moisture monitors and other monitoring products, be sure to visit our website at http://www.devarinc.com!

Watch the Monitor: Pharmaceutical Humidity Transmitters

Have you ever spent hours writing a long email or report, only to lose some or all of your work thanks to a mistake on your part – forgetting to hit “Save” – or something beyond your control, like a power outage or computer malfunction? Unfortunately, most of us can share a tale or two like this. On the plus side, it’s mostly a time investment that we’re losing, as opposed to a financial one. For pharmaceutical manufacturers of highly refined compounds and medicines, though, it’s an issue of both money and time – lots of each – to lose a batch of product. One of the most common causes of such an occurrence? Believe it or not, it’s a change in humidity.

That’s right, a humidity shift as small as 0.5% – that’s one-half of a percentage point – can make all the difference in whether a run of, say, aspirin can be shipped out, or tossed out. The chemical compounds involved in manufacturing products like these react differently in different environments, and can become ineffective – or downright dangerous. Obviously, the utmost care must be taken with medicine products like this, which is why the standards are so rigorous, and why humidity monitors are so important to the industry. When miniscule shifts are noticed, corrective measures can be started to ensure that safe ranges are maintained. Also, it lets the operator know if the unfortunate event of a mishandled batch does occur, allowing the manufacturer itself to take the proper disposal measures.

For more information on our precision monitoring products, visit Devar’s full site today!

Get to the Chopper: Humidity Monitors in Helicopter Manufacturing

There’s no denying it: here at Devar, we get to see some fascinating uses of our products. Since humidity and temperature monitoring are so critical to so many intricate manufacturing processes, our indicators are used in lots of interesting and cutting-edge applications. In this case, though, “cutting-edge” means a little more than just “innovative.” A major helicopter manufacturer has, over the past several years, used Devar as the main source for humidity monitors for testing helicopters and helicopter components under all types of simulated weather conditions.

Think of one of the primary uses of helicopters – for most people, the military is what first comes to mind. In climates from arid deserts to soggy jungles, these finely tuned machines need to be able to operate reliably and safely, keeping their crews and passengers secure and well-protected. Of course, equipment can’t be tested first-hand in every type of environment where it might be used. This is where Devar comes in. Our monitors allow testing personnel to easily simulate all types of situations with ease and precision, with accuracy to within 3% relative humidity. Whether heavy rain or the driest heat, our monitors allow helicopter engineers to send their products out into the world with the utmost confidence that they can stand up to the harshest conditions.

Water Monitors in Action

Thieves, vandalism. . .and thousands of irate phone calls. All in a day (or two’s) work for the municipal water department in the South African province of Pietermaritzburg. As this story details, a water outage a few weeks ago led to a bit of detective work, lots of walking, a night robbery, and, ultimately, a happy ending for a dried-up city and a few workers. And it all started with telemetry.

The first sign of a problem – even before citizens began complaining about a lack of running water – was detected at a central station connected to the system of water monitors in place throughout the city’s reservoirs and pipelines. Since municipal monitoring equipment is a specialty of ours here at Devar, this prelude to what followed is what caught our eye. As the water superintendent and other workers set out to discover the cause of the problem, a remarkable convergence of science and intuition allowed the chief to determine just what was going on, and where it was happening.

State-of-the-art monitoring equipment is often indispensable, and at the least, a key supporting element of any water system. But 30 years of human experience can’t be replicated by a machine, and that’s what the superintendant drew upon when his ears told him that the water flowing through the pipes just didn’t sound right. For all the talk of real-time monitoring and instant fixes, there’s no method more direct than just listening, if you can.

For the full story, be sure to read the article. It’s quite a tale, and – spoiler alert – the water does get turned back on in the end. For answers to any further questions about water monitoring and telemetry, contact Devar today!

Why and How? A Discussion of Loop Powered Indicators

When selecting a signal indicator, “loop powered” is a phrase that you may come across often. While extremely useful, it’s not always clear to our customers what, exactly, this technology consists of – and how it can help them. This is a very basic explanation of the theory behind, and the purpose of, loop powered indicators.

The most important thing to understand about loop power (or “current loop”), is that it helps maintain the accuracy of signal readings when the distance between a sensor and the monitor is very long. This is because, traditionally, a sensor will transmit information as electrical voltage. Voltage can be lost due to resistance during transmission, resulting in an inaccurately low reading by the monitor. Loop powered indicators solve this problem by converting voltage to electrical current, which is, by definition, the movement of electrons from one point to another. Electrons are much less likely to be lost in transmission than voltage.

So, a loop powered indicator converts a unit reading to a voltage, which is in turn converted to a proportional current figure between 4mA and 20mA (the meaning of the typical 4-20mA current loop). This is converted back to a voltage on the monitor device, either appearing as a display or being processed as a data reading.

For greater detail on the current loop process, see Current Loop.