When two metal flanges meet, imperfections in the metal to metal contact allows liquids to leak. These imperfections can be caused by a number of factors, including temperature causing expansion and contraction or vibration and constant movement of components. For a water or wastewater plant, this presents a number of serious issues that must be … Continue reading Keeping flanges locked tight →

Keeping New Zealand fruit export industry competitive on the global stage means finding ways of keeping post-harvest operations efficient. PACE looks at a robotic solution that pushes the envelope in bin filling technology. The post-harvest sector, where agricultural produce is dealt with immediately following harvest, involves the cooling, cleaning, sorting and packing of crops. In … Continue reading Reaping the harvest: automating New Zealand’s agricultural industry →

Like BMW, DHL, and M&Ms, some companies have become so familiar that they are just known by their acronym. In the water and wastewater industry two such companies are BSC and CRC. With BSC standing for Bearing Service Company, and CRC standing for Corrosion Reaction Consultants, the meeting of the two in an industry driven … Continue reading A trusted partnership in protecting against corrosion →

While the human eye can detect electromagnetic radiation in the visible light spectrum, all other forms of electromagnetic radiation, such as infrared, are invisible. Discovered in 1800 by astronomer Frederick William Herschel, infrared radiation lies between the visible and microwave portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. The primary source of infrared radiation is heat, or in … Continue reading Painting thermal pictures →

PACE speaks with Vega Australia’s managing director John Leadbetter about responding to innovations in the automation and manufacturing industries. With wave after wave of innovation emerging and promising to disrupt the industry in new ways, it can be overwhelming to keep up. According to Vega Australia’s managing director, John Leadbetter, however, what manufacturers are craving, … Continue reading Adapting to an age of technological disruption →

Together CBC and Gates offer a dedicated selection of water hoses for a multitude of applications, from farm irrigation through to chemical treatments at wastewater plants. This variety is what keeps people like Kent Clark, Product Manager for Fluid Power at Gates Australia motivated to continually improve the industry. Whether it’s launching new products into … Continue reading CBC and Gates team up to keep water pumping →

Stephane Marouani, country manager at MathWorks ANZ, tells us what new trends will dominate in STEM education and how aspiring employees will be required to adopt new learning methods. The importance of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) skills to business development and the future of work has been widely talked about for a few years … Continue reading Coding to learn, self-paced studying and more: how STEM students can up their skills game in 2020 →

Metso and Outotec are on the verge of combining into a minerals processing powerhouse. Ben Creagh explores what this, along with Metso’s vision for autonomous mineral processing, means for mining. Metso is gearing up for a transformational year in 2020 as the company moves through the final stages of combining with Outotec. In July last … Continue reading Autonomous processing emerges as Metso joins forces with Outotec →

Food and beverage production needs high volumes of energy and produces large amounts of waste. What are the best ways for companies to be environmentally sustainable while maintaining economic efficiency? PACE talks to Total Construction’s James Bolton and Rob Blythman. Food and beverage processing is highly energy intensive. Producing the heat required for industrial production, … Continue reading Making production sustainable and efficient →

Philipp H. F. Wallner, Industry Manager, Industrial Automation & Machinery, MathWorks, discusses four common hurdles that need to be overcome before tapping into the benefits of predictive maintenance. These days you keep hearing about predictive maintenance and how valuable it is. It’s the utopia where equipment operators can anticipate impending malfunctions, pre-emptively schedule repairs, minimise … Continue reading Moving predictive maintenance from theory to practice →

Over the last two years, APS Industrial has been the master distributor of Siemens industrial low-voltage electrical and automation products in Australia. PACE speaks with Justin Farrell from Siemens and Simon Kearney from APS Industrial to discuss the recent trends in industrial automation technology. Coming under the broad umbrella of “Industry 4.0”, recent trends in … Continue reading Getting the edge in industrial automation →

Exploring the advantages and disadvantages of two industrial energy supply systems with Treotham Automation. Whenever design engineers have to guide hoses and power and data cables in moving applications with long travels (more than 100 metres), the question arises of which energy supply system is the most efficient, especially considering such factors as reliability, maintainability, … Continue reading Energy chains versus motor cable drums →

In the water and wastewater segment, operations tend to be risk adverse. This is because there is little, if any, room for mistakes, says BSC National Accounts Manager Wayne D’Souza. “It’s a segment where all eyes are on it. A mistake could mean the pollution of rivers, or oceans. Or it could mean that the … Continue reading BSC continues to build customer confidence →

Tertiary treatment is the final stage of the cleaning process undertaken at a wastewater treatment plant, improving effluent quality before it is reused, recycled or discharged into the environment. This stage of treatment removes remaining inorganic compounds, organics, turbidity, nitrogen, phosphorus, metals, and pathogens such as bacteria, viruses and parasites. The process usually involves physicochemical … Continue reading Getting the most out of belts and drives in tertiary wastewater treatment →

NOVUS Automation has recently launched a new data logger family – the LogBox Connect. It provides wireless connectivity to field signals and devices while offering ease of integration. The LogBox Connect comes in three different versions – 3G, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Low Energy. These can fulfill connectivity and data acquisition needs of any application. Each … Continue reading LogBox Connect and IIoT →

Secondary wastewater treatment removes soluble organic matter and suspended solids that remain following primary treatment. This stage involves biological processes aeration for the decomposition of solids and the use of chlorine to disinfect the liquid. During different stages of secondary treatment, the level of oxygen in the wastewater is altered to create aerobic and anaerobic … Continue reading Bearing up in corrosive wastewater conditions: Schaeffler’s FAG Black Series and Split SRB →

The initial stage of wastewater treatment – the primary treatment stage – involves the removal of solid material from water by the processes of screening, comminution, grit removal, and sedimentation. Clarifiers, or settling tanks, enable the removal of the solids through sedimentation. While sewage flows through the tanks, the solids gradually sink to the bottom. … Continue reading Robust bearings for primary wastewater treatment →

As battery storage technology becomes more affordable, more companies are turning to renewable energy as a means of cutting down on energy costs. PACE talks to Total Construction’s James Bolton and Rob Blythman about what needs to be considered when transitioning to solar power. With high power costs looking likely to remain a norm, Australian … Continue reading Powering the factories of the future →

PC-based control offers a central, open and comprehensive machine control platform ideal for delivering highly efficient, IoT-based automation strategies. It enables machines, plants and production lines to be connected in ways that unlock their full efficiency potential across entire processes. In this context, TwinCAT Cloud Engineering adds a new dimension by providing users with an … Continue reading Smart engineering directly in the cloud →