ABB’s Measurement and Analytics business has launched two new guides covering its services for flow calibration and valve testing. Available on request from This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., the guides explain how ABB’s flow calibration facilities at its Stone house and Workington factories can be used to help check the accuracy of flowmeters and control valves.

For flow calibration, the facilities enable a wide variety of flowmeter types to be calibrated to the leading international standards. All calibrations are carried out to ISO9000, with the option of a UKAS accredited calibration where the certificate carries the ILAC and UKAS Calibration Laboratory 0255 logo.

The flow calibration guide explains how the facilities can be used to calibrate meter sizes from 1mm to 2.4 metres at accuracies down to ±0.1%. It also covers the range of calibration techniques available, including gravimetric, volumetric or comparison methods, describing each technique and explaining how to choose the right method.

The valve testing guide covers ABB’s ability to test control valves from 25mm up to six metres and weighing up to 10 tonnes in accordance with the EN ISO 60534-2-3 standard for control valve testing.

The guide outlines the testing process and discusses the benefits of ABB’s service, which enables valve users to ensure that their valves have been tested for their specific requirements. Both services are offered via ABB’s Measurement & Analytics Products Service team and are part of a wider service capability spanning ABB’s entire portfolio of instruments and analysers.

The vital role performed by flowmeters, control valves or any form of instrument or analyser means that it is worth investing the money, time and effort in ensuring that devices are properly serviced throughout their lifetime, from installation and commissioning through to upgrade or replacement.

Our flowmeter calibration and valve testing services are just two examples of our wider service offering, which can help our customers to enjoy continued accuracy and high performance from their equipment throughout its operational life.

To request a copy of the guides, or for more information about ABB’s instrument and analyser service offering, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call 03339 997 996

Throughout the company’s near-sixty year history, Rotork engineers have focussed on solving customers’ problems and developing new flow control solutions. Whilst some innovations can be adopted immediately, others demand thousands of hours of testing, assessment and certification before they can be offered to customers.

Continuous investment in product testing is therefore a key part of the policy, ensuring that Rotork manufactures the most reliable valve actuation products in the world. The latest evidence of this activity has witnessed the further expansion of the Product Assessment Laboratory at Rotork’s electric actuator manufacturing plant in Bath. This facility has a long and successful track record of research and development leading to the introduction of innovative and market-leading technologies including IQ intelligent non-intrusive actuation and CVA electric actuators for process control valves.

In one area of the expanded laboratory, new test-rigs and data acquisition systems have been installed to enable increased testing of nuclear actuator products. Rotork’s extensive experience of nuclear operations and nuclear qualifications has contributed to the development of new products, whilst the acquisition of new businesses has further increased Rotork’s scope of supply and service to the nuclear industry.

The latest electric valve actuator ranges for nuclear new-builds is tailored to suit the specific requirements of the internationally predominant nuclear island designs. The NE actuator range has been developed for use in EDF and AREVA (EPR) nuclear power stations. The ND DC (direct current) and NA AC (alternating current) actuator range has been developed for Westinghouse AP1000 Pressurised Water Reactor (PWR) nuclear power stations.

These new designs are developments of the widely proven Rotork NA range that has been fully qualified to IEEE 382-1996/2006, comprising a simple single-stage worm drive in an oil bath gearbox, electric motor, torque and limit switches and a separate terminal compartment to which all electrical components are wired. The actuators are designed for a working life of sixty years and the new test rigs will play a critical role in confirming this ability.

The increased investment in testing facilities is supported by additional manpower to meet the demands of research and development across all of Rotork’s increasing ranges of electric actuation products.

Yokogawa Electric Corporation announces that it will be releasing a number of new UTAdvanced® series controllers on April 24. The new controllers include four DIN rail*1 mounting type controllers and one 1/8 DIN panel type program controller. This is part of Yokogawa's ongoing effort to expand its controller business by satisfying market needs and giving customers a greater range of choices.

Development Background:

UTAdvanced series controllers are mounted on furnaces and other types of heat process-related industrial facilities for the measurement, display, and control of operating variables such as temperature, pressure, and flow rate.

In recent years, it has become more common for equipment manufacturers to integrate the setting, manipulation, and display functions of programmable logic controllers (PLC) and other embedded control devices on touch panels and other types of user interfaces, and to mount the hardware on DIN rails inside panel boxes. There is an increasing need for such DIN rail mounting type controllers.

The UTAdvanced series controllers come in two sizes: 1/4 DIN and 1/8 DIN. While 1/4 DIN controllers are more popular because they have large display panels and provide a wider range of I/O signal choices, there are certain applications where space is at a premium that require a smaller device. For just such applications, Yokogawa has added more 1/8 DIN controllers to its product lineup.

GE Measurement and Control, Inspection Technologies division, announced the issuance of two patents for the use of dual multi-axis robotic devices for parts inspection (U.S. Pat. No. 8,833,169 and UK Pat. No. 2497418B). The patents cover a robotic inspection system that uses a pair of cooperating, multi-axis robots mounted on linear slides to perform ultrasonic inspection of parts. Features described in these patents can be found in GE’s Hydrastar ultrasonic inspection product.

Hydrastar systems are deployed globally at several aerospace manufacturers, specifically those that build composite airframe and jet engine components for major airframe and engine original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). These systems have proven to be very flexible, are high through-put machines, and are available with a variety of ultrasonic end effectors for both conventional and phased array ultrasonic methods.

“We’re extremely pleased to be recognized for the development of automated ultrasonic inspection technologies for critical airframe and aircraft engine structures which is consistent with industry needs for flexible, high productivity solutions,” said Jeffrey Stetson, Testing Machine Leader for GE Measurement & Control, Inspection Technologies division. “By utilizing commercially available six axis robots, GE’s Hydrastar platform provides an outstanding, standardized solution, replacing conventional Cartesian-based gantry systems.”

Additional proprietary application technologies available on the Hydrastar platform include GE’s Wide Phased Array TTU squirter tool (U.S. Pat. No. 8,650,959), which can provide up to six times the through-put of conventional ultrasonic squirter tools and GE’s Phased Array Surface Adapting ultrasonic method (U.S. Pat. No. 7,581,444), which uses the time of flight information from an ultrasonic signal to provide real-time adjustment of phased array focal laws to accommodate changing geometries.