Page 9 - Energize August 2022

NEWS

current, power, harmonics and associated
power quality values, and capture dips,
swells and inrush currents, with event
waveform snapshots and high-resolution
RMS profiles.

IoT sensors – Pieter Deysel
Pieter Deysel is the managing director of
Instrotech, a Comtest company, which
operates from the same set of offices as
Comtest. He spoke about Keller’s and
Optris’ sensors which operate as Internet
of Things (IoT) devices, measuring and
sending vital information about industrial
equipment to controllers, both locally
and distant via the internet, including the
storage of data on the cloud.
Communication between sensors and reliable. A recent application involved measuring the temperature of the wheels of a train
and monitoring points can also be done travelling at 120 km/h as it passed a particular spot on the track. Since the range of possible
wirelessly, using existing wireless protocols, applications is so large, many different devices are available, with short to long wavelength
he added. Data is secured by a 256-bit AES options, to measure a wide range of temperatures, from tens of degrees to thousands of
encryption system – a highly sophisticated degrees. Free-of-charge software and cellphone apps, make these devices easy to use.
and intrinsically secure scheme.
Instrotech’s Hugh du Plessis spoke Interactive session
about the importance of steam tube leak The demonstrations were followed by a number of interactive sessions with experts from
detection. Using a locally designed and Comtest’s foreign principals via Microsoft Teams. These experts provided some information
built device called Inspecta, technicians regarding the various companies’ plans and strategies going forward. It was clear from every
monitoring coal-fired power stations, one of these discussions that these companies have an excellent relationship with, and think
biomass boilers, concentrated solar highly of, the team at Comtest.
power plants, or any other steam-
powered equipment can identify faults Send your comments to rogerl@nowmedia.co.za
early, he said, saving money and time
associated with maintenance and repairs.
Du Plessis also discussed the company’s
Automatic Purge System, which allows the
clearing of steam pipes from outside the
steam tube network.

Optical measurement – Sharon
Jordaan (Instrotech)
Sharon Jordaan explained that unlike
handheld infra-red (IR) optical scanners,
Optris’s professional IR cameras are used
in fixed positions where they unobtrusively
measure temperature in industrial,
commercial and transport applications.
They can be found at airports, sports
stadiums, shopping malls and hospitals
where they are used for crowd-based
screening. The fact that they are in fixed
positions makes remote monitoring easy

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