Processing serves professionals who are focused on the development, management, maintenance and improvement of industrial processing operations to maximize product quality, output and profitability. With this mission, our annual Breakthrough Products Awards honor innovative technology solutions that made significant contributions to improvements in the process industries within the past year.
Processing is proud to present the 10 winners of the 2021 Breakthrough Products Awards. The manufacturers recognized this year introduced solutions that help end users effectively manage tough processing environments, meet stringent safety requirements, reduce unplanned downtime and drive overall profitability.
These awards celebrate major innovations as well as incremental improvements in technology that increase efficiency, productivity, safety and, ultimately, the bottom line.
Congratulations to the 2021 winners!
Material Master Bulk Bag Conditioner
Material Transfer & Storage, Inc.
The Material Master Bulk Bag Conditioner provides automated conditioning of a wide range of bag sizes, quickly and safely returning solidified materials to a flowable state. Utilizing a Material Master Bulk Bag Conditioner improves plant efficiency and operator safety while providing enhanced plant cleanliness and boosting employee morale.
The operator loads a bulk bag into the unit via forklift and presses a single button to activate the PLC-controlled conditioning sequence. The system includes a user-friendly conditioning recipe entry, providing quick access to multiple recipes for conditioning various products and bag sizes.
Twin pivoting conditioning arms with extended travel penetrate deeply into the material for effective results. A robust hydraulic rotary lift platform positions the bulk bag during the conditioning sequence, ensuring the bag is thoroughly conditioned from top to bottom on all four sides of each bulk bag.
The Material Master Bulk Bag Conditioner is customizable to meet any specific application requirements. It has the highest quality components and construction available in the industry. System automation provides reliable conditioning consistency, promoting improved efficiency for less downtime and a reduced resource requirement.
Aspen Mtell
AspenTech
Aspen Mtell is a prescriptive maintenance solution that helps organizations maximize asset performance and maintain sustainable operations by using existing resources effectively and efficiently. Mtell uses historical data to understand "normal behavior" of an asset and maintenance data to find key failure events. Machine learning (ML) agents deployed by Mtell are clever, self-contained software elements that automatically and precisely detect patterns well in advance of failure. Agents work in real time by learning, adapting and retaining this knowledge forever. Mtell is prescriptive in that it issues actionable advice allowing plant personnel to adjust process conditions and maintenance schedules, as well as manage inventory and delivery commitments.
The latest version of Mtell (V12.0) includes Maestro, which is AspenTech’s embedded AI functionality for building machine learning agents. Maestro addresses one of the biggest challenges in successful asset monitoring deployments: data selection, data cleaning and incorporating domain expertise. Users can leverage their domain knowledge in building agents through Maestro. This crucial advancement has reduced time to create agents by more than 50%, thus accelerating value capture for organizations.
Mtell can also transfer failure signatures across similar assets, leading to quick scalability and enabling users to blanket plants with autonomous monitoring agents for maximum asset reliability.
Gas Distribution Program
Swagelok
The Swagelok Gas Distribution Program helps industrial facilities enhance safety and reduce downtime. It includes a complete suite of services and subsystems designed to help facilities fully optimize their critical gas distribution systems.
Via the program, Swagelok gas distribution advisors provide a comprehensive evaluation of a facility’s existing systems to identify any potential leak points, as well as opportunities to improve performance and simplify maintenance. They then provide actionable recommendations to improve existing system designs or explain how standardized Swagelok gas distribution subsystems can be incorporated to overcome challenges.
Swagelok advisors collaborate with customers in industrial facilities to learn about their operations, then configure, assemble, test, and deliver fully engineered gas distribution subsystems that meet their requirements. Those available Swagelok-produced subsystems include:
- Swagelok Source Inlets: These assemblies establish a reliable and highly configurable connection between high-pressure source gases and the rest of the distribution system.
- Swagelok Gas Panels: These modular, easy-to-service panels ensure source gases are delivered at the correct flow rate to their destination.
- Swagelok Changeovers: These automatic subsystems switch from one gas source to another for uninterrupted supply.
- Swagelok Point-of-Use: These assemblies grant technicians a convenient method of accurately adjusting pressure to meet equipment needs.
FLUKE 3563 Analysis Vibration Sensor
Fluke Corporation
Vibration monitoring helps maintenance teams reduce unplanned downtime and prevent potentially catastrophic failures from occurring, but it has been difficult or cost-prohibitive to monitor every tier of asset. The Fluke 3563 Analysis Vibration Sensor system is a complete solution — hardware, software and services — that integrates a powerful set of technologies to give maintenance teams detailed insights into anything from performance tracking to fault analysis to improve the reliability of equipment.
The Fluke 3563 combines a high-frequency piezoelectric sensor, two MEMS sensors and software, enabling maintenance teams to continuously monitor and analyze vibration readings for a facility’s critical and semi-critical assets. Its smart battery management allows for a user-determined data transmission rate and helps users adapt and extend the sensor’s battery life while still capturing the data required. The Fluke 3563 features long battery life, a user-friendly interface, powerful analysis with the Live-Asset Portal software, flexible wireless network capabilities and expert setup and training.
The Fluke 3563 Analysis Vibration Sensor is unique in that it combines sophisticated piezoelectric technology with robust software to analyze a machine’s conditions versus simply screening for it. This creates a system that recognizes each machine’s unique vibration signal to reliably identify the four common faults — imbalance, misalignment, looseness and bearing damage — much more quickly to minimize equipment downtime.
Vibratory Feeder Dosing System
Volkmann USA
Volkmann USA has unveiled a Vibratory Feeder Dosing System that automatically meters precise amounts of powders into mixers, reactors, dryers, coolers, hoppers, pneumatic vacuum conveying systems and other process equipment.
Accurate to within 1 gram depending on the material, the Vibratory Feeder Dosing System features a proprietary pneumatic piston vibrator that sets the powder or other bulk material in a uniform layer across the dosing tray while gently advancing the material toward discharge in a first-in, first-out process. The potential for agglomeration is eliminated and particle integrity is assured.
Suitable for feeding food, nutrition, pharmaceutical and other powdered ingredients, the Vibratory Feeder Dosing System is available in sanitary, standard, explosion-protected and custom designs to accommodate nearly any material in either loss-in-weight, gain-in-weight or volumetric feeding. The powder feeder includes stainless steel in product contact areas as standard, and is offered with a wide range of optional equipment such as an enclosed dosing tube, weighing module and integrated sieving connections.
VERYX 2.0 Digital Sorters
Key Technology
Key Technology introduced its VERYX 2.0 line of digital sorters in the second half of 2021. Featuring a new mechanical layout, next-generation LED illumination, enhanced laser scanner technology, new powerful software driven by artificial intelligence (AI) and more, VERYX 2.0 advances high performance sorting of food products.
VERYX 2.0 eases use, reduces operating costs and improves the accuracy of foreign material (FM) and defect removal to optimize product quality and maximize yield. VERYX 2.0 features a new, optimized mechanical layout. The VERYX 2.0 belt sorters’ architecture houses all utility components within the frame, eliminating the need for an external enclosure. All door seals have been updated to a new patented design. Additional sanitation upgrades further ensure VERYX 2.0 can withstand even the harshest operating environments over long production cycles.
A next-generation LED illumination system on VERYX 2.0 delivers higher intensity light with less scatter and reduced shadowing effects, which improves the sorter’s FM and defect detection. Featuring components with up to twice the life expectancy of previous-generation LED lighting, Key’s new LED illumination technology reduces operating costs at the same time it improves sort performance.
Checkweigher/Metal Detection Systems
Mettler-Toledo Product Inspection
Mettler-Toledo Product Inspection launched a new series of smart-design washdown-resistant combination product inspection systems, integrating sophisticated checkweighing and metal detection technologies. The CM33 Washdown and CM35 Washdown combination systems are aimed at manufacturers of packaged food products, including dairy and meat products, who require a quick-cleaning, advanced contaminant detection and a precision weighing solution.
The CM33 Washdown is based on the C33 PlusLine Washdown checkweigher announced last year, but with an integrated metal detector from Mettler-Toledo’s Profile range of systems. It is capable of mid-range frequency operation and throughput of up to 250ppm, with weighing accuracy of up to +/- 0.2g. With the CM35 Washdown, manufacturers get a system that is capable of a high frequency range and high sensitivity.
To complete their combination CM33 Washdown or CM35 Washdown, customers can choose one of three stainless steel Mettler-Toledo Profile metal detectors: one for small, packaged products, one for bulk, dry product applications, and one that delivers maximum sensitivity in challenging applications.
Electric Diaphragm Valve
GF Piping Systems
GF Piping Systems (GF) has introduced the eDIASTAR 5-Series Diaphragm Valve with the dEA Smart Actuator, an innovative electric valve that allows easy and fast retrofitting of GF manual diaphragm valves without disassembly. The eDIASTAR is designed to regulate, close and control volume flows automatically.
The new valve was introduced in response to growing market demand for complete plant-wide automation. With the eDIASTAR, hand-operated valves that are isolated or not accessible to a compressed air system thereby preventing actuation, can now be automated for greater plant efficiencies. The valve can be controlled as open/closed, 4-20mA positioning, Profibus or Modbus. Available materials are PVC, CPVC, Polypropylene, ABS and PVDF in sizes 1- and 2-inch (d32 and d63). Pressure rated at 150 PSI, end connections can be ordered in socket, threaded, flanged, fusion socket or fusion spigot.
Durable, all- plastic construction without metal screws prevents corrosion, ensuring minimal maintenance and short downtimes, even in use with contaminated, aggressive or abrasive media. This makes it well suited for applications in chemical processing, food processing, water and wastewater treatment, and cooling and control.
Rotary Continuous Mixer
Munson Machinery
The sanitary Model RCM-60X20-SS Rotary Continuous Mixer from Munson Machinery blends primary bulk ingredients, minor ingredients and/or liquid additions uniformly in one to two minutes residence time (typical), at low cost per volume of material blended.
Unlike mixers that force agitators through stationary material, the Rotary Continuous Mixer design employs a 20-foot-long by 60-inch diameter rotating cylinder with internal mixing flights that impart a gentle tumbling action, distributing particles with each degree of drum rotation with no shear or heat generation, eliminating or minimizing degradation. A 30 HP gear-reduced motor rotates the mixing drum at slow speeds on external trunnion rollers, minimizing energy consumption and eliminating the need for shaft seals.
The mixer’s stationary inlet and outlet allow hard connections to upstream and downstream process equipment, while an internal stainless steel spray line plumbed through the stationary discharge end permits liquid coating, de-dusting or perfuming of dry ingredients. Spraying of liquid additives onto a wide expanse of cascading material produced by the internal flights minimizes the time required to achieve uniform distribution.
All-stainless construction, smooth interior surfaces, the lack of shaft seals and unobstructed interior access, allow rapid sanitizing and inspection of all material contact surfaces.
Full-Bore Ball Control Valve
Emerson
Emerson has introduced the Fisher V280 full-bore trunnion-mounted ball control valve for severe and specialty pressure, flow and process control applications. The valve provides excellent dynamic process control by utilizing a robust drive train unique to the market that is designed to guide the shaft and properly absorb energy. Available attenuators for liquid and gas process fluids offer an effective solution for combatting the negative consequences of cavitation, such as vibration, erosion and noise.
The body connections of the V280 valve have been reengineered to significantly simplify the design and reduce the number of parts, while utilizing the same construction for the inlet and outlet. This allows an easy retrofit of single or dual ball seals with standard or customized noise attenuating aerodomes or anti-cavitation hydrodomes on the inlet, outlet or both. Typical applications include midstream oil and gas, particularly compressor anti-surge service.
The V280 is a fully rated ANSI class 900 valve, available in 6-, 8-, 10-, 12- and 16-inch sizes. A variety of high-performance packing materials are available, including ENVIRO-SEAL live-loaded packing. Optional special materials and constructions are available to accommodate specialty applications. The valve comes standard as a single-seal construction but is available with optional dual-seal construction, allowing bi-directional flow and double block-and-bleed operation.