ESIS Newsletter - December 2010
Merry Christmas! Esis Christmas Closure
Esis will be closing for the Christmas break from 5pm on Thursday 23 December 2010, and re-opening on Tuesday 4th January 2011.
We would like to wish all our customers and suppliers a very Merry Christmas, and we thank you for your support in 2010, and wish you a very happy and prosperous year in 2011.
In this issue:
- Take 3 minutes to learn about ESIS
- Are your business premises susceptible to flash flooding?
- Temperature Loggers - Part 1: The need to monitor temperature
- New Rugged Digital Camera with 5x Zoom and Industrial Features
- Runout Sale on StyleView Carts
- ARK-3440 Embedded Box IPC receives 2 awards
- Fighting Bacteria in Public Water Systems with the DataNet in Europe
Quotes
of the Month:
Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.
- Albert Einstein
Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be.
- John Wooden
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Note: Prices shown are subject to change
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If you have any questions, please email us, or phone us on +61 2 9481 7420.
Take 3 minutes to learn about ESIS!
Sit back, have a coffee and watch our short video to find out
who we are and what we can do for you.
Click
here to watch the video >>
Are
your business premises susceptible to flash flooding?
Install an early warning system so you can prevent damage!
The recent spate of storms and flash floods across eastern
Australia has highlighted just how vulnerable we are to these
increasingly common weather events. Many businesses have lost thousands
of dollars worth of stock and equipment, not to mention the loss of
business income and damage to premises.
Have you thought what would happen if a large storm causes flash flooding at your business premises at 3am when you are sound asleep at home? You wouldn't even know about it, and nobody would be on site to take protective measures. The damage bill could be huge.
The Esis Heavy Rainfall Warning System provides 24 hour monitoring of rainfall levels at your premises. This system is constantly measuring the rainfall level in mm, and it will trigger an alarm if there is more than a preset amount of rainfall in a given period of time. Alarms are sent to you immediately via SMS or telephone, to alert you when there is a high rainfall event occurring.
The rain alarm can be adjusted to trigger on a certain amount of rainfall in a given period, for example 60mm of rain falling within 2 hours. You can then have it configured to send SMS messages to multiple mobile phone numbers, or if configured with a landline dialer, it can dial up to 16 phone numbers in sequence, playing back a pre-recorded message to each person until someone acknowledges the alert.
The system also includes a surge protection unit and a battery backup power supply, so even if the storm results in a power failure, it will still be able send out the warning messages. A key lock prevents unauthorised changes to the settings.
For more details and pricing please contact us.
Temperature Loggers - Part 1: The need to monitor temperature
This is the first article in a series that will
discuss various aspects of monitoring temperature, with a focus on
temperature loggers. Much of what is discussed can also be applied to
thermometers and Part 2 actually discusses the differences between
thermometers and temperature loggers.
Money, reputation and lives
There are some things that a business can not
afford to lose. Money is an obvious one, but what about a good
reputation? In the food and medical industry, what about the life of a
customer? Lose any of these and your business won't be around for much
longer.
For most companies this is enough incentive to provide a safe business
environment. The law, however, is changing and is increasing the
standards. These laws provide strict requirements when
handling drugs, potentially dangerous food, blood and pathology
samples.
Finally customer expectations are increasing. Within the food industry,
freshness can not be compromised. Shelf life is another issue. In the
end your product must be the best because people don't want anything
less.
Key temperatures - food industry
There are a number of temperatures that play a
key role within the food industry. The obvious ones are 0° and 100°.
After all, the drinks need ice and the tea has to be hot. 22° to 24° is
the ideal room temperature.
5° and 60° have been specified within the Australian New Zealand Food
Standards Code as being the range in which microbiological growth can
occur. This is the danger zone. If food is left too long
within this temperature range then potentially deadly micro-organisms
can grow.
Heating food above 60° will kill the micro-organisms. It will not,
however, remove the toxins that may have been introduced. Cooling food
to below 5° will almost slow the growth of micro-organisms.
The Foods Standards Code states that if you are receiving, storing,
processing (including defrosting and preparing), cooling, reheating,
displaying and transporting potentially hazardous foods then you must
be able to prove that you have not exposed the food to this critical
temperature range for too long.
Key temperatures - vaccines
For the transport and storage of vaccines 2° to
8° are the critical temperatures. In fact, vaccines are still
viable below 2° but once some vaccines freeze they are no longer
viable. So 0° is actually the super critical temperature and 2°
provides a buffer zone to take into account inaccuracies and other
sources of variations.
Higher temperatures will shorten the shelf life of a vaccine. It is
similar to storing milk - the warmer it is, the shorter the time it
will last.
HACCP
The above information is a generalisation and
you may need to receive specific advice on your needs, but it does show
that there is a critical requirement to control temperature in many
fields.
HACCP (Hazard Analysis, Critical Control Points) is all about
identifying hazards and working out how to control the process. In our
case, temperature has been identified as the hazard, and often the
control points are things like fridges and freezers.
Control and monitoring
Once you are controlling the temperature, the
next question is "how do you prove it?" This is where thermometers and
temperature loggers provide a simple solution.
The next part in this series compares thermometers and temperature
loggers. But if you can't wait to read more, please contact
us.
New
Rugged Digital Camera with 5x Zoom and Industrial Features
Esis
is excited to introduce the G700SE Rugged Digital Camera from Ricoh.
The G700SE boasts the high functionality, performance, and ease of use
featured on the Ricoh G700, with water, dust, shock, and chemical
resistance. Extra features for industrial use include security
functions such as password-based camera lock and support for SD WORM
(write-once read-multiple) cards; one and two dimensional barcode
recognition in the camera unit itself; and a camera memo function for
adding information (audio, text, etc.) to the image data.
The camera also offers the ability to do wireless data transfers to external devices, and by installing the internal-electronic-compass-equipped GPS unit (option), it is possible to add position and direction information to your images. With an IP rating of 68 (without GPS module) it stands up to the roughest of treatment in the harshest of environments.
These capabilities make the G700SE a powerful tool for a wide range of operations, including facility maintenance (electric, gas, and water utilities; roads; etc.), disaster planning, and other functions of local governments, police departments, and fire departments; photo management in hospitals; production line management in the manufacturing industry; and warehouse management in the transport industry.
The camera resolution is a high 12.1 megapixels, and it has a powerful 5x optical zoom with 28-140mm wide angle lens, 1cm Macro mode and digital image stabilizer. The G700SE also offers a high resolution (1280 x 720) video capability that can be geo-tagged.
For more details and pricing please contact us.
Runout Sale on StyleView Carts
The
current Ergotron StyleView Powered Cart SV32 is about to be replaced by
a new model, the SV42. We still have stock of the old model that we
need to move, so prices have been dropped substantially while stocks
last!!
The StyleView carts provide a mobile solution to easily mount LCDs,
notebooks, tablet PCs, keyboards and other computer equipment.
Ergonomic design, versatile cable management, high-quality components
and rugged construction let you go mobile with confidence. The carts
feature a battery backed power supply which means that you don't need
to shut down your PC in order to move to a different location.
Ideal for medical and hospital environments, StyleView responds easily
to caregivers’ touch and effortlessly maneuvers to the point of care.
Its expansive range of ergonomic adjustment features sit-to-stand
motion combined with independent screen positioning and a negative-tilt
keyboard tray. Experience improved working comfort and enhanced
productivity.
The special runout pricing is as follows:
SV32-32007 Powered LCD
Cart: Now only
$3984+GST (was $4999+GST)
SV32-32008 Powered Notebook Cart: Now only $3984+GST (was $4999+GST)
SV32-32057 Powered Notebook Cart With Autolock Drawer: Now only
$4649+GST (was $5499+GST)
We only have very limited stock available, so contact us now!
ARK-3440 Embedded Box IPC receives 2 awards
Taipei, December 14
Advantech’s embedded IPC model ARK-3440 recently won both the 2010 China Top 10 Innovative Industrial Automation Product Award and the CEC Editor’s Choice Award for 2010. The ARK-3440 boasts an ultra-compact footprint and high performance computing power, equipped with either the Intel® Core™ i7 processor or Core™ i5, all in a fanless system. The built-in HDMI decoder improves on the Intel® QM57 integrated graphics with 3D, and is 3.6 times faster than the previous generation’s GM965 integrated graphics chipset, making the ARK-3440 the leading high-performance fanless industrial computer model. The ARK-3440 is especially suited for processor-intensive computing applications such as surveillance, mechanical control, and image processing. Its excellence in technical innovation and strong market influence have been garnering unadulterated praise across the board.
“The China Industrial Automation Show 2010” selection event is cosponsored by MM (Modern Manufacturing) magazine and the China International Industry Fair Organization Committee, and the entries are evaluated by committee experts. The purpose of the award is to recognize outstanding enterprises in the industrial control and automation industries and to credit their efforts and contributions, as well as the impact of these products on user enterprises, such as cost reduction, increased efficiency, improved quality, energy conservation and lower carbon emissions. That Advantech’s ARK-3440 stood above the competition and was honored as one of the Top 10 Innovative Products of the Year is a clear indication of its validation by industry experts, business users, and consumers in general. Ultimately, following a multiple selection process consisting of online voting and expert evaluation, the ARK-3440 was prominent on the list of award recipients for CEC Control Engineering Magazine’s CEC 2010 Editor’s Choice Award when it was announced at the International Industry Fair in Shanghai.
ARK-3440 has the edge on the competition with its graphics
engine that supports Full HD commercial broadcast content as well as
wide-screen and multiple displays. The model works with DVI, standard
CRT, 24-bit LVDS, and has built-in support for HDMI 1.3. It features a
wide input voltage range: 9 - 34 VDC, and supports up to 4 GB of DDR3
1066 MHz SODIMM. The model boasts two 2.5-inch SATA bays, 2 Gigabit
LANs, 6 USB 2.0 ports, three COM ports, audio, as well as 2 PCI/PCIe.
In addition, 6 programmable function keys are available on the front
panel to provide customers with flexibility (ARK-3440A only). The
nimble and innovative design of Advantech’s ARK series of embedded IPCs
are used in a range of different environments to accomplish myriad
tasks with stringent temperature and space requirements. Automotive,
retail, electronic billboard, surveillance, inspection, and factory
applications are just a few—and all represent markets where low power
consumption is important. The ARK-3440, with its high-performance
graphics display and impressive processing power, provides added value
for any application, especially where cost is a concern.
Fighting Bacteria in Public Water Systems with the DataNet in Europe
Fourier spoke to Marcial Ferro from MF
Instruments, Spain, about the leading applications he is finding for
the DataNet multi-unit wireless system. In a hot country like Spain
public buildings, labs, government offices, hotels and hospitals must
take all available precautions against the spread of bacterial
infection, particularly through water. Water towers and systems serving
all of the listed industries have turned to MF Instruments to implement
the DataNet system to provide trusted wireless temperature and humidity
monitoring across large networks.
A particular concern MF Instruments have noticed
is the spread of the bacteria - legionella - and clean, hygienic water
is essential to battle this. Hospitals, with weak patients, open wounds
and intrusive treatments such as intravenous drips or catheters make
for high risk from bacterial infections. However, public buildings
where many people share facilities also face similar and increasing
risks. Microorganisms have range limitations and live in an optimal
temperature niche. Therefore the temperature of refrigerators, water
towers or systems must be kept low.
Marcial Ferro tells us the format becomes relatively uniform when
dealing with these types of application. External temperature PT-100
probes are used with the DNL920 DataNet unit, usually inside water
towers and storage units. Repeater distances required are high due to
the size of the buildings in the applications. Usually PC Receivers can
be seven or more floors away, or even in another building. On the whole
clients have selected receipt of alarms by email and SMS. Thus far
Marcial Ferro tells us he has applied the DataNet system in dozens of
different applications, but all responding to the same bacterial
challenge. Government buildings, large chain hotels, museums, hospitals
and public buildings across Northern Spain, Italy and France - all
experiencing high temperature throughout much of the year - have found
the DataNet to be a key solution.