An educational blog sponsored by Classic Controls focusing on education and training for the process control, instrumentation, and industrial valve community.
Industrial accidents, whether minor or catastrophic, can serve as sources of learning when analyzed and studied. Operators, owners, and technicians involved with industrial chemical operations have a degree of moral, ethical, and legal responsibility to conduct work in a reasonably and predictably safe manner without endangering personnel, property, or the environment. Part of a diligent safety culture should include reviewing industrial accidents at other facilities. There is much to learn from these unfortunate events, even when they happen in an industry that may seem somewhat removed from our own.
The U.S. Chemical Safety Board, or CSB, is an independent federal agency that investigates industrial chemical accidents. Below, find one of their video reenactments and analysis of an explosion that occurred at a Louisiana chemical processing plant in 2013. A portion of the reenactment shows how a few seemingly innocuous oversights can combine with other unrecognized conditions that result in a major conflagration.
Check out the video and sharpen your senses to evaluate potential trouble spots in your own operation.
Uninterruptible Power System Ametek - Solidstate Controls
In our hyper-paced digital age, maintaining a continuous supply of clean electrical power is a key element of facility operation. The microprocessors embedded in most modern devices, coupled with organizational financial pressures to limit losses and downtime, create an environment where an uninterruptible power system is an easily justifiable design inclusion, if not a necessary one.
Commercial installations of UPS may have somewhat differing overall requirements from units placed in industrial service. Ametek Solidstate Controls, a recognized manufacturer of specialized uninterruptible power systems for a broad array of applications, authored a white paper outlining the terms used to describe UPS and the differences between units slated for industrial and commercial applications. The paper delivers some depth and insight on the subject and will likely boost your understanding of the equipment and the concept of an uninterruptible power system.
More information is available from product application specialists, with whom you should share your power system requirements and challenges to develop effective solutions.
