Happy Manufacturing Day! What, you didn't know there was a day devoted to an industry that was once the backbone of our great nation? Surprise, surprise there is...and there are 1,613 MFG DAY events planned to celebrate it in 2014.
Industrial Hazards are more common than many people think. The big cases get the publicity, but there are many smaller incidents that occur before an extreme case is newsworthy. In the past two years in the USA, there have been a dozen or more newsworthy cases – this begs the question of how many “smaller events” must have happened that did not make the news?
In many cases, since the overall cost of safety is not seen in the bottom line, companies try to cut corners by implementing the minimum acceptable safety standards to “just get by”.
Processes that are monitored for solvent vapor concentrations are typically enclosed, heated spaces that require an active sample drawing system. They have an intentional release of solvent at all times. In fact these processes are often optimized for speed and performance by safely releasing more solvent, not less; as they often operate near legal limits for combustible gas concentrations. This means the precise concentration of solvent vapors must be measured with a high level of accuracy while meeting the standard AND special requirements of a process application.
While flame ionization is the appropriate sensor technology for measuring total hydrocarbon levels in the parts-per- million (PPM) range, not all FIDs are the same.
Here are the top ten characteristics to look for in your FID:
Halloween is a time for ghosts, goblins & ghoul... but a really frightening thought would be having an unreliable monitoring system! Here are the essential requirements for a reliable solvent vapor analyzer that will meet NFPA 86 requirements (found in section 11.6.10):
