Sparks Electrical News January 2018

CONTRACTORS’ CORNER

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BIRD TECHNOLOGIES LAUNCHES NEW CHANNEL POWER MONITOR

B ird Technologies, a leading provider of RF components, subsystems, test equipment and services, and represented locally by Comtest Solutions, has launched a Channel Power Monitor that monitors all aspects of land mobile radio systems. It comprises a 1 RU central proces- sor and a variety of sensors, which work together to monitor all components of a radio system, in- cluding each individual radio, the combiner, the feed lines and antenna. These inexpensive sensors are placed throughout the system, with a 5% accuracy that is traceable to NIST. The Channel Power Monitor hosts its own web- page for setup and display of all measurement

tenna/feedline characteristics to identify and alarm on critical changes. With the data logging function, long term performance monitoring can be used to identify performance changes before they nega- tively impact system performance – enabling a preventative maintenance team to address prob- lems before they occur. Solutions are available for the entire range of Land Mobile Radio frequencies from 140 MHz to 960 MHz. Features include: • Data logging. • Slim 1RU package. • Built-in web server providing SNMP messaging. • Standard push-to-talk (PTT) compatibility.

parameters. This enables access to the system from any computer, tablet or phone on the network, limited only by the network’s security. The webpage displays all measurements and allows for alarms to be set for failure conditions, such as high or low power or poor antenna VSWR. The unit includes software and hard contact alarms and can also be configured to send an email alert to an emergency condition. Also standard is Data Logging, which takes reliability one step further by enabling users to see degraded performance before it becomes an emergency. The Channel Power Monitor continuously moni- tors radio performance, combiner loss and an-

• Full control of alarm and data logging settings. • 16 channels with expansion modules to cover the largest radio systems. • Software and hard contact alarms.

Enquiries: +27 (0)10 595 1821

TOTAL PLUG-AND- PLAY SOLUTION FOR CONDITION MONITORING OF EQUIPMENT

T he FAG SmartQB, distributed locally by Bearings International (BI), is a ready-to- use, preconfigured condition monitoring system for electric motors, fans, compressors, and gearboxes. The system is ideal for industries such as cement, paper, steel, water management, machinery, and plant engineering. Commissioning takes five minutes, and re- quires no special skills or understanding of vi- bration diagnosis. Clearly-understood, plain-text messages relating to the causes of any possible defects are generated on the touch-screen dis- play when changes occur in the condition of the equipment. The system allows for 24/7 monitoring for maximum plant availability and, with up to six sen- sors, is preconfigured for the capture of various anomalies. Output of five error states is possible, namely bearing damage, unbalance, friction/cavi- tation, temperature increases and basic variations. Additional features include a live display of current values, trend pattern and damage devel- opment, an RJ45 Ethernet interface for service technicians, and static information regarding op- erating hours, defect frequency (yesterday/today/ overall), maximum values, and mean values since the last evaluation. FAG is a flagship brand for BI, which focuses on top-quality products from leading international manufacturers involved in the industrial aftermar- ket, OEM, manufacturing, and mining sectors. “BI’s premium products offer customers the best cost- to-performance ratio. Our customers can also count on leading technical support and service,” says product manager Coenie van Deventer. “We recognise the constraints of high energy prices, low productivity, skills shortages, and a highly-competitive economic environment. BI’s and Schaeffler’s engineering and reliability divi- sions offer a highly-flexible range of predictive, planned, and breakdown maintenance services,” van Deventer adds. Engineering services include application design, evaluation, and optimisation.

Enquiries: +27 (0)11 899 0000

SPARKS ELECTRICAL NEWS

JANUARY 2018