Salmonella in roast chickens due to infected pipe

The roast chicken company which has caused a salmonella outbreak in Spain announced on Monday that the source of the epidemic is a pipe which was infected with bacteria. SADA, which is owned by Dutch multinational Nutreco, said the infected pipe distributed the sauce for the packaged chicken products which are branded Pollo Asado SADA and Pimpollo. Testing traced the bacteria to a pipe at the firm's factory in Lominchar in Toledo.

The number of recorded cases of gastroenteritis from salmonella poisoning continues to grow. By Tuesday afternoon, Spain's regions had reported a total of more than 400 cases, although the Spanish Food Safety Agency (AESA) said its epidemiological investigation had so far confirmed 120. AESA is in the process of confirming more cases, ensuring that none is counted twice. The health department said it had also checked 120 cases, with 30 outbreaks of salmonella. AESA's head Ignacio Herranz said production at SADA's factory had been halted since the first cases were detected in Murcia on Thursday.
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Director jailed over faulty valves

A Derbyshire company director has been jailed for selling unsafe equipment to North Sea oil rigs. The faulty ball valves sold by 47-year-old Paul Timson could have caused an explosion and destroyed an entire North Sea oil rig. At Derby Crown Court, Timson also pleaded guilty to forging safety documents before the products were sold for use by Texaco and BP. He was jailed for 15 months. His company, Nixon Industrial Valves on the Airfield Industrial Estate in Ashbourne, had also exported parts to firms in India, Canada and Iran.

Timson, 47, from Arleston in south Derbyshire, admitted 19 charges of forgery, one of obtaining £42 ,000 by deception and three of failing to ensure the valves were safe. The court was told the offences took place between 1996 and 1998. Collingwood Thompson QC, prosecuting, said a health and safety expert had assessed the equipment supplied by his firm. The valves were used to regulate the flow of gas and water under high-pressure.
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MEA Leads in Actuator Valve Engineering and Design

Elk Grove Village, Illinois- MEA Incorporated, an ISO 9001:2000 certified manufacturer of industrial equipments, is currently providing digital control for their actuators with a hundred percent reliability, which eliminates costly and unplanned shutdowns caused by valve problems. With continued performance together with full system redundancy, the system articulates easily into one’s existing network, contributing several levels of security. Having a system that is completely flexible with all electrical codes, one can translate analog to digital in an economical approach, with MEA behind you with complete field service support, both for troubleshooting and integration. From boiler induced and forced draft control, digital control slide valve actuators, steam turbine and steam admission control, delayed coker switch valve control to wind tunnel butterfly valve actuators, MEA has been successfully engineered, furnished, designed, and installed these products to their clients, especially engineers, designers, and manufacturers of both mechanical and electrical automation systems.
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Careful valve changeover keeps propane tank in use

Following a hot bolting procedure on the 24in nozzle flange and 6in ball valve lower and top flanges to ensure a quick change, a valve plug was inserted and the valve change out performed. A successful valve change-out on a live propane tank was safely executed at an oil terminal by Furmanite International recently, avoiding a potentially costly disruption to production The project is believed to be the first time such a procedure has been carried out on a live cryogenic tank. This article was originally published on Engineeringtalk on 7 Jul 2008 at 8.00am (UK),

Onsite machining fixes platform mistake. Furmanite has the capability to undertake on-site machining projects from plant maintenance requirements to large scale new-build turnkey packages. The project was undertaken on a 37m high, 100,000 barrel propane tank. External corrosion to the flange bolts and body meant the 6in ball valve needed to be changed, but the traditional route would have meant decommissioning the tank.
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Valve choices

The basic decision is whether to use servovalves or proportional valves. The main difference between them is how the spool is shifted. Proportional valves use an electric coil and magnet, like the voice coil of a typical audio speaker, to directly move the spool. Servovalves use a small torque motor to control hydraulic pressure, which in turn moves the spool (pilot-actuated).

The response of these two valve types differs because of the force available to shift the spool. Servovalves generally respond faster than proportional valves because of the ratio of hydraulic forces to the mass of the spool, although some proportional valves approach servovalve response times. Proportional valves must supply enough force to move the spool, the inline LVDT, and the solenoid core, as well as overcome spring centering forces. The precise machining and small orifices associated with pilot-operated servovalves drive up the cost and make them more susceptible to contamination. In many applications, this has steered people away from servovalves and toward proportional valves.