Product Overview: Autrol America Smart Transmitters for Process Measurement and Control

Smart Pressure Transmitter
Courtesy Autrol America, Inc.

Autrol America provides pressure measurement instruments for process applications throughout every industrial segment. Pressure measurement, as an application, involves a wide range of special challenges which must be accommodated by variations in the instrument configuration and capability. Pressure measurements are used broadly for determining flow, level, and the degree of gauge or absolute pressure in a vessel or pipe. Smart transmitters provide a host of useful functions that include unit conversion, diagnostics, error detection, transfer function, signal processing, and more. Signal transmission via 4-20mA, or communication using HART for Fieldbus protocol, provides the level of connectivity needed for control systems of all types and any scale.

In the Autrol line, you will find and extensive variety of configurations and variants to meet the specific needs of almost every application.

• Absolute pressure transmitter
• Gauge pressure transmitter
• Differential pressure transmitter
• Coplanar pressure transmitter
• High pressure transmitter
• Direct flanged pressure transmitter
• Remote mount pressure transmitter with diaphragm seal
• Nuclear products pressure transmitter
• Flow transmitter with rate and totalizing functions

A product overview flyer is included below. Share your process measurement requirements and challenges with an application expert, combining your process knowledge with their product application expertise to develop effective solutions.

Product line illustration for Autrol America - Industrial Pressure Transmitters from Hile Controls of Alabama, Inc.

See How It Works: Magnetic Level Gauge

Magnetic level gauges, also referred to as magnetic level indicators, are routinely used to provide a display of liquid level in tanks and other vessels. They are often employed in tandem with magnetostrictive, guided wave radar, or other measurement means to provide a reliable local display of liquid level, as well as an electrical signal that can be transmitted to recording instrumentation or controllers. The favorable attributes of magnetic level gauges include:

• Continuous level measurement
• Operable without electric power
• Direct visual tank fluid level indication, regardless of tank shape or profile.
• Wide range of operating temperature and pressure
• Breakage resistant construction
• Range of construction materials available to accommodate corrosive media
• Measuring indicators, switches, and transmitters mounted externally, without contacting the medium being measured.
• Low maintenance operation.
• Readable level indication from greater distance than glass sight gauges.
• Applicable to large fluid level ranges with a single instrument.

Magnetic level indicators have a strong position in the liquid level measurement field and should be considered as a candidate for fulfilling those applications where the magnetic level gauge features fulfill the project requirements. There are many options available to customize the level indicator for each specific application. Share your application challenges with a product specialist, combining your process knowledge with their product application expertise to develop an effective solution.

The Value of the Technical Sales Engineer

Add value to your team with a technical sales engineer

Process and control equipment is most often sold with the support of sales engineers working for the local distributor or representative. Realizing what these specialists have to contribute, taking advantage of their knowledge and talent, will help save time and cost, contributing to a better project outcome.

Consider these contributions:

Product Knowledge: Sales engineers, by the nature of their job, are current on new products, their capabilities and their proper application. Unlike information available on the Web, sales engineers get advanced notice of product obsolescence and replacement. Also, because they are exposed to so many different types of applications and situations, sales engineers are a wealth of tacit knowledge that they readily share with their customers.

Experience: As a project engineer, you may be treading on fresh ground regarding some aspects of your current assignment. You may not have a full grasp on how to handle a particular challenge presented by a project. Call in the local sales person - there can be real benefit in connecting to a source with past exposure to your current issue.

Access: Through a technical sales engineer, you may be able to look “behind the scenes” with a particular manufacturer and garner important information not publicly available. Sales reps deal with people, making connections between customers and manufacturer's support personnel that may not normally be public facing. They make it their business to know what’s going on with products, companies, and industries.

Of course, sales engineers will be biased. Any solutions proposed are likely to be based upon the products sold by the representative. But the best sales people will share the virtues of their products openly and honestly, and even admit when they don’t have the right product. This is where the discussion, consideration and evaluation of several solutions become part of achieving the best project outcome.

As an engineer who designs or manufactures a product or process, it's highly recommended you develop a professional, mutually beneficial relationship with a technical sales expert, a problem solve. Look at a relationship with the local sales engineer as symbiotic. Their success, and your success, go hand-in-hand.

Combine Two Liquid Level Technologies Into One Instrument

Combination Guided Wave Radar Transmitter
and Magnetic Liquid Level Indicator

Tanks and vessels containing process liquids benefit from having two independent indications of liquid level. A local indicator with high visibility provides on-site personnel the information needed to confirm a tank fill level or coordinate other tasks. An electronic signal provides continuous liquid level information to process control operations and monitoring equipment.

K-Tek, a subsidiary of ABB, combines a guided wave radar transmitter and a magnetic level indicator into a single compact instrument, fulfilling the total requirement with one instrument, one set of tank connections.

The instrument can be configured in a number of ways, with accessories that can be added to suit any application. Details are provided by the data sheet included below.

Share your level measurement and control challenges with application experts, combining your process knowledge with their product application expertise to develop effective solutions at your facility.

Combination Guided Wave Radar Transmitter and Magnetic Level Gauge from Hile Controls of Alabama, Inc.

Q & A Video - Adjusting Seats on a Back Pressure Regulator

Jordan Mark 50 Back Pressure Regulator

Back pressure regulators maintain a set point pressure on their inlet by controlling the fluid flow through their outlet. There are applications for this specialty valve type throughout the fluid processing industries. As with all valves, proper inspection and maintenance performed in a timely manner will assure optimum performance and a long operating life.

Jordan Valve responds to some customer inquiries with a short video that provides the benefits of the question and the answer to all. The video below provides the company's response to an inquiry about adjusting the seats on a back pressure regulator that employs a sliding gate seat.

View the short video, and share your fluid process control challenges with product application specialists. The combination of your process knowledge and their product application expertise will produce effective solutions.