Kinetrol Rotary Vane Actuators. Simply the Best.

Kinetrol rotary vane actuators have a well earned, and long established, reputation for  performing where other pneumatic actuators fail. With outstanding cycle life, smooth and precise operation, and an environmentally rugged design, Kinetrol actuators are "simply the best" quarter-turn valve and damper actuator on the market today. Period.

For more information, contact Kinetrol USA. Call them at 972-447-9443 or visit their website at https://kinetrolusa.com.

Kinetrol Steadyline Actuators Mitigate Water Hammer Damage from Pump Station

Water hammer occurs when a pipe's fluid flow changes rapidly. The effect may be high pipe pressures, mechanical stress on pipe structures, and potential flow reversal. If not controlled, it can cause pipe bursting, pipe breaking and joint leakage. Vane actuators open and close valves and can be tightly controlled with regards to opening and closing speeds. The Kinetrol Steadyline series are precision valve actuators with built-in damping devices providing a smooth resistance to shaft rotation which increases with angular velocity. The Kinetrol Steadyline product smooths out the normal travel, dampens any valve-flow induced disc oscillations, and provides a minimum user-specified amount of travel time on power failure.

A water treatment facility pump station was having recurring problems with a large hydraulic actuator that was very cumbersome and expensive to maintain. The well engineered solution was a Kinetrol Size 14 Steadyline double acting actuator with digital speed controllers installed on 12” Pratt butterfly valves. The result: better performance, reduced downtime, lower cost of operation. 

Kinetrol USA

https://kinetrolusa.com

972-447-9443

Are Wastewater Treatment Plants the Key to Coronavirus Outbreak Early Warning?

Wastewater testing, or “wastewater quality indicators” are broad descriptions for the various test methodologies to measure water quality.  These tests analyze the physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of wastewater.

As countries and individual healthcare organizations work to arrest the spread of Covid-19 and to care for those who are infected, officials in some geographic locations are using wastewater testing as a possible method for identifying levels of Covid-19 in their communities.  The testing goal is to detect evidence of the Covid-19 genetic material, ribonucleic acid (RNA), in fecal matter in sewage and wastewater.

The novel virus, SARS-CoV-2, is the virus that causes Covid-19. It is known to invade the GI (gastrointestinal) track in some patients, and so the virus is extracted in their fecal matter. 

Looking at the amount of viral matter in waste water from a community could uncover the level of Covid-19 spread in the population.  This information can then be a trigger for the required mitigation initiatives and response plans, such as testing individuals, contract tracking, and quarantine. It also allows for information to be gathered on a cross section of the population, allowing for a way to monitor public health solutions for large groups.  

Figure 1

Scientists from around the world are setting up pilot programs to test waste water.  The Netherlands has successfully performed a Covid-19 test for waste water and additional programs are launching in Singapore, Zurich, Lausanne,  Milan, Rome, Australia, and in parts of the US, such as Colorado, Ohio, New York, and Wyoming.  Scientists in these regions have been able to identify the novel Coronavirus at low concentrations in waste water, pointing to an early warning systems for communities.  

In April, 2020, the scientific journal, Nature, listed that over a dozen groups around the globe were doing research analyzing waste water for Covid-19, and that evidence of the virus was already found in the United States, the Netherlands, and Sweden.

Sampling and analysis of pre-treated sewage is key. The results of this analytical testing reveal the characteristics and presence of the Coronavirus in parts per million quantities, and can be laid against the population numbers of a geographic area to ascertain the existence and amount of virus existing in the wastewater.  An example of this kind of data dump is illustrated in Figure 1 (courtesy of the Massachusetts Water Resource Authority and Biobot Analytics). 

Article courtesy of Kinetrol USA.