Swagelok Northern California Blog

When performing sample analysis in an analytical sampling system, an operator may need to precondition the sample before it reaches the sample conditioning system. The two available design options allow you to choose when the sample is preconditioned: (a) before it enters the sample transport line, or (b) after it reaches the analyzer location.

A breakdown of pressure regulators to alleviate some of the frustration that comes with working with them

Pressure regulators are complex fluid systems components that require careful design and installation to achieve safe, successful performance. Over time they are subject to issues such as loss of pressure control, fluid leakage to atmosphere, and pressure leakage across the seat when closed. A five-step process can help to properly troubleshoot a regulator’s performance no matter the industry in which it’s used.

Soot, or black carbon, is ubiquitous on our planet. Although it is integral to several industrial processes, the basic chemistry of its formation has been unknown until now. Scientists hope this new knowledge will enable them to mitigate the catastrophic damage of soot on human health, climate, and agriculture.

Metal or carbon fillers are commonly added to epoxies that will be used for applications that require conductivity, like electromagnetic shielding. The drawback is the epoxies are then heavier, weaker, and more difficult to process. Rice University researchers have substituted a 3D graphene foam of their own invention.

A new way to manufacture hydrogen at lower temperatures using a ceramic textile has implications for the oil refining, petrochemical manufacturing, and green energy industries. This steam electrolysis method uses only water and electricity to produce hydrogen, unlike the traditional “cracking” method.

Start by selecting material for the inside layer, then work your way outward to the cover and end connections

Employers are having a hard time finding and keeping qualified manufacturing workers. Possible causes are a skills gap, a tightening labor market, and the wave of retiring Baby Boomers. The implications are huge for the US economy and individual companies, so what’s a manufacturer to do?

Wastewater is full of organic compounds that could be used for energy, bioplastics, or even animal feed, but there has been no efficient means of harvesting them. A new study shows that electrified purple phototrophic bacteria can do the job with nearly 100% efficiency.

MIT researchers have invented a device that harnesses even small shifts in ambient temperature to produce electrical power. This is the first thermoelectric device that does not require two inputs to create power. Such low-power, long-lasting devices could be used for remote sensing on this planet or others.

Following some simple guidelines and proven field techniques can help you avoid common problems associated with designing an industrial steam system. The first step is simply to make sure you have a complete understanding of all of steam system characteristics. That way you ensure you’ll be selecting the appropriate components and using them to their best advantage.

Your specs and our Assembly Services team make an ideal combination

Breakthroughs in topological spintronics may pave the way for a heavy metals-free memory called SOT-MRAM, replacing DRAM in PCs, servers, and workstations.

Researchers from Korea have discovered a new way to recycle the unburned carbon from the smokestacks of diesel-burning, oceangoing ships (perhaps the least green type of vessel on the planet), by turning it into graphite. The graphite can then be used in battery manufacture.

Researchers have developed a 2D material, MXene (titanium carbide) that can be dissolved in water to create a “paint.” The exceptionally conductive material can then be sprayed on to flexible surfaces to transmit and direct radio waves invisibly.

When performing industrial fluid system maintenance, safety is paramount. The pressure or flow inside a single line represents a hazard to technicians changing a gauge or measurement device. This is why risk managers emphasize the necessity of isolating any fluid system line prior to maintenance. There are two standard ways to install block valves in sequence in order to achieve safe isolation.

As baby boomers retire, they take decades of knowledge and experience

Swagelok is facing the skills gap head on. In an era when more Baby Boomers are retiring than students are graduating from college prepared for STEM jobs, Swagelok focuses on intensive training of new hires and continuous training of employees to make sure its workforce is agile, engaged, and ready to pivot to any change within the industry. This policy has also led to its launching a new Global Headquarters and Innovation Center at its Ohio location.

Only 30% of manufacturing companies reuse the knowledge acquired by their long-term workers. Most fail to properly identify or capture the knowledge they worked so hard to build, so that as more and more workers with key expertise retire, they leave with undocumented knowledge in their heads—and nowhere else. Now is the time to implement some knowledge retention and reuse practices.

Swagelok’s sponsorship of BLOODHOUND SSC—a team based in Bristol, England pursuing the world land speed record—has enhanced the STEM education program in the Hudson school district in Northeast Ohio. Our objective is to inspire the next generation to get involved in science, technology, engineering and mathematics through real-world learning on BLOODHOUND’s supersonic car project.

An international team of scientists with representatives from 60 countries has agreed on new definitions of the kilogram, ampere, kelvin, and mole. The new definitions hinge upon the laws of physics rather than physical artifacts, and will be implemented on May 20, 2019.