Reports by NASA officials indicate that on any given day in the months of July, August and September an estimated 6,000 wildfires scorch lands across the world. While fires are a necessary part of natural processes, they often incur a tremendous deal of damage to both property and health. To combat such effects, many different professionals and organizations join together. At the forefront, city planners and agricultural departments develop irrigation systems to moisten at risk areas. Meteorologists try to predict the likelihood of conditions conducive to fires and the movement of existing fires based on weather patterns. On the front lines firefighters rely on available water sources and accurate information to best combat the flames in the field. Each avenue for fire prediction and prevention relies heavily on a single industrial device known as a flow meter. [Continue Reading Article]

This week, Sierra Instruments introduced their Smart-Trak® 2, a significant re-design of their flagship Series 100 Digital Mass Flow Meters and Controllers. The result of over five years of user feedback, new features of the Smart-Trak® 2 have added even more control, independence and flexibility. Sierra is also proud to introduce the Compod™, a Smart-Trak® 2 add-on that expands networking, streamlines and simplifies functionality and reduces costs. [Continue Reading Article]

Delivering saline solution to a clinic for medical needs … sounds simple enough, right? Not when that clinic is on the International Space Station, the moon or even Mars. Transporting medical fluids that are manufactured on Earth into space is expensive and logistically challenging. NASA Johnson Space Center knew there had to be a way to manufacture medical fluids in space to alleviate the transportation problems and to make spacecraft more self sufficient, so they called on the microgravity science expertise and spaceflight hardware development know-how of Cleveland, OH based NASA Glenn Research Center and ZIN Technologies, Inc. ZIN Technologies engaged Brooks Instrument to help solve this unique flow challenge. V-F Controls, Brooks Instrument’s sales representative in Mentor, OH, recommended the Quantim Coriolis mass flow controller. This device would be ideal to measure the water flow through a purification system to a standard IV bag that was prefilled with salt crystals and a magnetic lab stirrer. [Continue Reading Article]

Fuel cell engineers use test stands to simulate the performance of fuel cells. The challenge is to mimic reality and determine the optimum fuel mixture and temperature, while also examining failure mechanisms. Another objective is to test the performance of anode/cathode materials, catalysts, and membranes. Fuel cell test stands consist of systems for mixing, delivering, and humidifying gases, all of which depend on reliable flow measurement and control. A typical test stand uses several thermal mass flow controllers (MFCs) of various flow rates to deliver the precise amount of blended gases to the fuel cell. Since the test stand must imitate normal operating conditions, these flow controllers must react to process signals quickly – much like a car accelerator – to provide a true test of the desired performance. In addition, the MFCs must have a broad turndown to mimic low and high fuel consumption rates. Many fuel cell test stands use MFCs that do not have the performance capabilities to adequately test fuel cells. [Continue Reading Article]

In this era of rising energy costs and global competitiveness, compressed air waste in facilities can be a major financial drain to the bottom line. Air may be free, but compressed air certainly isn’t. According to Cary Carlisle, an expert compressed air auditor and seasoned technician from Air Compressor Supply, Inc. (ACS), over a 10-year period, electricity costs make up 76 percent of a factory’s operating costs... [Continue Reading Article]

Single Iteration, a division of Watlow, has conducted preliminary concept generation and evaluation for several alternative solutions for providing rapid cooling of AlN based heaters. Cost/benefit analysis of the various alternatives indicated that forced air cooling would be preferred for many applications of the latest AlN heating technology... [Continue Reading Article]