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A1-Predicta Partners With Sierra to Provide An Alternative to Manuel SF6 Top-Off and Fill Equipment
For A1-Predicta’s customers, major utility companies around the globe, productivity matters. In this era of rising energy costs and environmental consciousness, utility companies are exploring ways to lower their operating expenses while still complying with environmental regulations, all in a continuing effort to become more productive and profitable.
After decades of using cumbersome, manually operated SF6 top-off and filling systems, premier power companies like the National Grid of England began searching for a better alternative to increase employee productivity, produce traceable data and also comply with the strict laws of the Kyoto Protocol worldwide and the EC824 in the European Union.
In early 2006, A1-Predicta conceptualized the perfect “green” solution for this problem—a fully automated SF6 top-off and fill operation. Vaughan Williams, Business Manager and Neil Kane, Managing Director at A1-Predicta, knew that a high-performance mass flow controller to regulate the SF6 entering the vessels would be the heart of their new product. The search was on for the perfect partner.
In early 2006, A1-Predicta chose Sierra Instruments as their mass flow control experts. Vaughan Williams candidly states, “Sierra simply rose to the top.”
A1-Predicta Values Sierra’s Integrated Gas Handling Solutions
Paul de Waal, Managing Director of Sierra’s European headquarters, located in the Netherlands, took charge of this budding partnership. In October 2006, he flew to England to meet with Vaughan Williams and Neil Kane, discussing the engineering requirements and specifications of their new product. “We need a completely automated, portable, un-attended system with data storage for traceability and a touch screen for easy operation,” explains Vaughan Williams.
The timing was perfect. Sierra Europe had just started designing and building complete Integrated Gas Handling Solutions with the Smart-Trak® Model 100, our digital high-performance mass flow controller, as the heart of the system. “Our mission with these integrated gas solutions is to engineer the right solution for the right problem," says Paul de Waal.
Maurits Koppe, Software Specialist from Sierra Europe, further explains that these solutions are based on a “modular system that has building blocks that you can add together to make a complete solution. In this case, a Sierra Smart-Trak® Model 100 mass flow controller, a pressure and temperature transmitter, a battery monitor and guarding system, overshoot pressure protection, a data logger with CF card and PLC, all controlled by Sierra’s Human Machine Interface (HMI) in a modbus network.”
After months of product development, troubleshooting, and overcoming hurtles, A1-Predicta’s product concept was taking form. Vaughan Williams recollects that the “development of the product went smoothly with professionalism,” and what he values most is “Sierra’s flexible engineering.”
England’s National Grid Applauds A1-Predicta’s Innovative MF-1000
In January 2007, A1-Predicta and Sierra’s hard work paid off. With the new MF-1000 prototype in hand, Paul de Waal and Maurits Koppe flew to England to unveil their product to their premier customer, the National Grid out of England.
Paul Capp, the National Cables Manager from National Grid responsible for the SF6 maintenance policies in the UK stated that “our main concern was convenience. Before the MF-1000 was introduced, his engineers had to drive heavy carts through the grid covered areas of the high-voltage substations. The old systems needed AC power and were very inconvenient.” The National Grid agreed to do a beta-test of the MF-1000. Paul Capp was pleased.
In late 2007 and early 2008, the National Grid agreed to beta-test 10 units.
The MF-1000 Provides a Competitive Advantage To Utilities Companies
With the innovative MF-1000, power companies around the globe do have a better alternative. Now, operators at utility substations simply hook the portable system to the SF6 gas bottle located on the other side of the vessel, and the MF-1000 automatically measures the pressure in the vessel, usually between 3 and 5 bar. The operator punches in the target pressure on Sierra’s touch screen Human Machine Interface (HMI) and presses the “Go” button. “The operator can walk away and do other productive work or even set up and run other MF-1000 systems as needed,” explains Maurits Koppe of Sierra Europe.
When the operator returns, the pressure in the vessel has automatically reached the target pressure and a totalizer shows the exact amount of SF6 gas that has entered the vessel. Now a lonely operator does not have to stand by worrying about filling the vessel too fast (which can freeze the pressure regulators) or overfilling the vessel. The MF-1000 conveniently saves this SF6 usage data on a CF card to be transferred to any computer or stored in a SF6 database management system.
Sierra and A1-Predicta Innovate Green Solutions That Save Money
Power companies like the National Grid recognize they can not only save man-hours with this automated/portable system but also comply with the strict laws of the Kyoto Protocol with fully auditable and traceable data, and save money doing it.
Vaughan Williams is excited and optimistic that “the MF-1000 will revolutionize the utilities world.” A1-Predicta has already sold 20 units worldwide, and the National Grid plans on buying 10 more units in late 2008.”
Together, A1-Predicta and Sierra continue to innovate other “green” solutions to monitor and control SF6, a dangerous greenhouse gas, polluting our environment to ensure a cleaner environment for the next generation.
Top-Trak® Model 824s from Sierra. These units are in use from Antarctica to New York City, from the mountaintop observatory of Hawaii to the most populated cities of Asia. “Not a single one has failed in normal service, not one has had to be replaced either in warranty or ten years later,” says Dr. Hansen. Nothing pleases an OEM customer more than dependability.
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