Connectors & cables


automated machines. “Properties such as high rigidity, overload capacity and high resolution make piezoelectric sensor technology from Kistler our preferred solution. What’s more, it’s easy to record the measurement data and forward it to the customer,” Wimmer points out. Traceability and transparency are increasingly important factors, he notes, and zero defect production is set to become the standard in many industries. “Thanks to Kistler, we can send the OK/NOK signal (good or bad) for every single part directly to the MES (Manufacturing Execution System). But that’s not all: we can even provide the end customer with complete measurement records including the serial numbers, if required.”


Alongside the 9340A Force Link – developed


by Kistler to meet the customer’s specific requirements – and the BL (Basic Level) and TL (Top Level) variants of the maXYmos process monitoring system, Rosenberger uses other Kistler solutions: “Thanks to a retrofit set for manual presses that Kistler developed, we’ve also been able to optimise some of our older workstations and connect them digitally to the production environment,” Wimmer explains. “Another very helpful innovation is the new cable that is compatible with dragchains: we’ve already installed it in some of our machines. It’s highly resilient, so it makes the whole plant far more effective.” The 190023A coaxial cable – robust, with low noise and high insulation – was specifically developed by Kistler for use with piezoelectric sensors in dynamic environments. Intensive laboratory testing has proven that this highly abrasion-resistant cable can withstand at least 10 million bending cycles.


QUALITY THAT LEAVES THE COMPETITION STANDING – THANKS TO KISTLER Summing up his impressions, Wimmer comments: “We’re highly satisfied to be in partnership with Kistler. That applies to the quality of their products and solutions, and to their readiness to adapt sensors and systems like maXYmos to meet Rosenberger’s specific needs.” He concludes: “On top of all that, Kistler's response times are fast, and they keep on developing solutions that span the critical range from assembly to software. For all these reasons, we will continue to choose measurement technology from Kistler in the future.”


Kistler Group www.kistler.com


KEEPING CABLES SAFE


Cable theft has plagued South African industry for decades. Here, Omniflex’s Ian Loudon explains how advances in remote monitoring are giving businesses a fighting chance


I


t is Wednesday night in Amanzimtoti on the south coast of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, and two members of the private security firm hired by Telkom, a major telecoms provider, head out to investigate an alarm that has been triggered. On arrival, they discover that one of the cables in the cabinet is cut and telephone handsets are strewn on the grass. It seems criminals have broken into the panel and cut the wire to make illegal international telephone calls as part of an elaborate scam. The team is still investigating when one of the security officers receives a phone call alerting them of an alarm that has been triggered just down the road. In the pitch black, they use torches to explore the bushes off the main road, and a few minutes into the search, a security guard finds the problem — 500 metres of copper wire has been ripped out. Had the thieves managed to get away with the cable, they would have melted down the cable to remove the plastic insulation and sold it to a scrapyard for around 900 Rand, or about $50 US dollars. For the company who has been a victim of this theft, it will cost ten times that to replace the cable and repair the critical infrastructure. This story, which was broadcast in a special assignment by the SABC TV network in late October 2001, highlights just how prevalent and damaging cable theft is. Two decades on, the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry estimates that cable theft costs the economy between R5–7 billion a year. It mostly involves the theft of copper cable from mines, pipelines, railways, telecoms and electrical utilities.


SECURITY MEASURES So, what measures have companies used to tackle the problem? For most companies it means investing in security; physical fences and barriers, and visible patrols and guards. Many sites combine this with CCTV and even offer financial incentives for information about cable theft. However, for many sites these measures


are prohibitive. In the mining sector, for example, sites can span large geographic areas over dozens of square kilometres or more, and the cost of installing fencing and employing patrols and CCTV operators can quickly rack up. A fact that the criminals know all too well.


Instrumentation Monthly September 2020


In mining areas, the sparse security means that thieves can drive a truck right up to the electrical substation or control panel, cut the cable and attach it to the vehicle’s tow-bar and rip the cable right out of the ground. The result is an instant loss of power to the mine’s operations, killing everything from pumps and ventilation fans to lighting and conveyors.


CABLE ALARMS One popular option in recent years has been the use of alarms that detect a system power failure. These are electrical devices that alert the mine owner when the power goes out — a potential sign that the cable has been cut. However, the problem with these systems is that they fail to distinguish between a genuine power outage and a criminal who has cut the wire. Because South Africa uses load shedding,


or rolling blackouts, to manage electricity supply and demand — and the schedules for these planned outages are made public — thieves time their robberies down to the minute. They wait until the power goes out and then strike, stealing the cable and making their getaway before the power comes back on. The typical alarms used in these situations register the power cut as a false-positive, meaning that the mine owner does not realise the cable has been stolen until much later. As a remote monitoring specialist, Omniflex understood this problem better than most and recently developed the Silent Sentry. This is a GSM-based, battery powered remote terminal unit (RTU) that monitors to see whether the cable circuit is open or closed, unlike other alarm systems that simply look for the presence or absence of power. This means that in the event of a power outage, the Silent Sentry detects whether a cable has been cut, continues to run on battery power, and sends SMS alerts to the owner. However, this only treats the symptom, not the cause. The criminals on the ground are a small part of a much wider problem that requires enforcement across the scrap-metal supply chain. There needs to be a wider effort across industry, law enforcement and government to eliminate the problem. In the meantime, you can give your security a fighting chance by using the right alarms to tackle cable theft.


Omniflex


www.omniflex.com 41


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78