The Three C's of Liquid Filtration: Clarity, Color, and Contaminants
Submitted by Norm Hall || Valin Corporation
Learn how liquid filtration improves clarity, color, and contaminant control in food, beverage, industrial, and chemical processing applications.
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Vision Integration Transforms Collaborative Robotics
Submitted by Luck Chand || Valin Corporation
In the world of automation, both industrial and collaborative robots have proven invaluable in improving efficiency, repeatability, and safety. However, many robots in use today still operate in what can be considered a “blind” mode.
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A Blueprint for Predictive-Ready Packaging and Processing Equipment
Submitted by Corey Foster and Michael Ecklund || Valin Corporation
Predictive maintenance starts long before the machine hits the plant floor. Here’s how OEMs can harness known failure patterns, targeted sensing, and embedded intelligence to reduce service calls and boost customer uptime.
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Optimizing Plant Compressed Air Systems: Point-of-use Filtration, Multi-stage Purity, and Predictive Maintenance
Submitted by Kari Kohonen || Valin Corporation
Explore best practices for designing and maintaining compressed air systems to match air quality requirements.
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Engineering 101: Three Ways Heat Can Transfer
Submitted by Ryan Kraus || Valin Corporation
Learn the fundamentals of heat transfer and how conduction, convection & radiation impact heater performance. This Engineering 101 guide makes complex thermal concepts easy to understand and helps you choose the right heating solution for your process.
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Decoding the Encoder Decision for a Motion-Control Project
Submitted by Corey Foster || Valin Corporation
How to choose between digital incremental encoders, analog encoders and absolute encoders.
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Navigating the Challenges of Motor Commutation
Submitted by Corey Foster & Bruce Ng || Valin Corporation
In the world of motion control, engineers often face the challenge of integrating different brands of drives and motors into a cohesive system. At first glance, mixing and matching equipment might not seem like a problem, especially if the sizes of the components line up.
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4 Robot Types to Integrate Into Applications
Submitted by Tom Trinh || Valin Corporation
When and why to consider SCARA, Cartesian, articulated and collaborative robots.
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Why Operating Environment Matters for Actuator Selection
Submitted by Bruce Ng || Valin Corporation
Actuators are required for a variety of operations throughout a multitude of different industries. With so many different potential applications, one would correctly assume that the options can often be overwhelming. Many of these actuators only require a base-level of sizing that is mostly driven by the load (for the bearings) and the desired motion profile (for the drivetrain).
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Coalescing 101: Sizing and Considerations
Submitted by Joe Bodle and Norm Hall || Valin Corporation
In the world of industrial filtration, one of the most common activities involves the removal or displacement of water from another liquid. However, this process is further subdivided into three distinct phases. Chronologically, the first of these phases is particulate filtration (sometimes referred to as prefiltration).
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Bridging the Gap from IIoT Promise to IIoT Reality
Submitted by Ray Marquiss, Corey Foster || Valin Corporation
Although new tools and technologies are available to make tapping into industrial IoT more manageable, one must ensure expectations are accurate.
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PLC Selection: Beyond IEC 61131 Magic Bullet Claims
Submitted by Ray Marquiss, Corey Foster || Valin Corporation
Avoid the allure of one-size-fits-all solutions and consider standardization, support and future-proofing for programmable logic controllers.
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Absolute Encoders — Facts and Misconceptions
Submitted by Ray Marquiss || Valin Corporation
A little knowledge goes a long way knowing and understanding the advantages and limits of encoders and limit switches can ensure the best possible motion system design.
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Sensors in Condition Monitoring: Making Optimal Decisions
Submitted by Corey Foster || Valin Corporation
The key to making the proper decisions on condition monitoring is to understand what kind of information is required, how often that information is needed and what kind of budget is in play.
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Heating a Tank for an Industrial Process
Submitted by Jon Irvine || Valin Corporation
Taking a systematic approach to specifying a tank heater can help ensure the equipment specified delivers the heating performance desired. Factors to consider include the amount of energy needed, heat loss, direct or indirect heating, materials of construction, and controls.
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Condition Monitoring: What Are We Measuring?
Submitted by Corey Foster || Valin Corporation
The concepts of preventive maintenance and condition monitoring are not always characterized in a way that is entirely accurate. They sometimes seem to be treated as a one-size-fits-all service that many operators believe they need. However, these concepts can mean very different things depending on the application.
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Understanding the Environment is Critical to Specifying Conveyors
Submitted by James Walker || Valin Corporation
Understanding the environment the conveyor is earmarked for is the most critical piece of the puzzle. Oversights on this part of the specification process can cause delays and corrections that lead to significant costs that could otherwise be avoided.
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Considerations for Selecting Conveyors
Submitted by James Walker || Valin Corporation
Selecting a conveyor for an automation project is certainly not a one-size-fits-all scenario. Automation applications are incredibly diverse, and the options and features available on conveyors reflect that.
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How to Choose the Proper Process Controller
Submitted by Jon Irvine || Valin Corporation
There are many types of options to sift through, and keying in on the ones that benefit your process the most will guide you to the most appropriate controller.
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6 Points to Ponder When Selecting a Circulation Heater
Submitted by Ryan Kraus || Valin Corporation
In this article, featured in Process Heating Magazine, Ryan Kraus discusses the various criteria to consider when selecting a circulation heater.
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How to Monitor Assets Remotely Today
Submitted by Corey Foster || Valin Corporation
As long as products have had ethernet ports, people have been asking for remote access to them. They believed they could just plug the devices into the internet, and it would all work.?As more software tools became available and internet speeds increased, capable users found ways to give themselves access, however, there was a catch.
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Steam vs. Electric Heating — The Basics
Most facilities in the chemical process industries (CPI) require some form of heat. The amount of heat required, and the necessary level of consistency can vary from process to process. Regardless of the details, engineers must decide on a heating source that works best for a particular process.
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Silicon-Controlled Rectifier Power Controls: Worth the Investment
Submitted by Randy Mulvaney || Valin Corporation
In terms of what matters to most in the field today, it is safe to assume that reliability, flexibility, accuracy and cost are at the top of the list. With these factors in mind, implementing a silicon-controlled rectifier (SCR) control system for an electric heater is often an optimal approach.
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Sensor Strategies to Optimize Automated Processes
Strategic implementation of sensors helps maximize a process from the start and equips operators with enough information to constantly be aware of everything happening in a line. So, what type of sensor(s) will work best for your environment?
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