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Volume 2, Number 4 WELCOME..... Take a break from World Cup excitement, to hear the latest from the boys in Chatsworth. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE TUNNEL MONITORING GUYS STRIKE AGAIN That's right!! Interscan is the low bidder on a nice CO monitoring job for a few of New York City's famous tunnels. Our proposal is being evaluated at the moment. For "some reason" we got lots of e-mail from the competitors right after the bid results came in. It seems that they wanted to know how we could provide so much at such a reasonable price. But then, our customers have known THAT for years. More on this job in future issues. But, by all means, if YOU are thinking of doing some tunnel monitoring, you know who to call... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ HYDRAZINE HEROICS For those of you who have to deal with this nasty compound, you might know that since the late 1970's, Interscan has been a major monitoring instrument supplier. Just recently, we got a NASA contract to provide lots more units, tested to a special high standard. Just another tough application. Bring 'em on. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ COOL WEB AND SOFTWARE STUFF Forget all the search engines. The very best way to find web pages is with Web Ferret. Download it at http://www.ferretsoft.com/netferret and let me know what you think. Check out the A-1 Icon Archive, a site with access to over 300,000 free website graphics such as icons, backgrounds, balls, clip art, pictures, as well as HTML helpers, HTML editors, and more for you to download. One last item--If you're a fanatic about having the correct time, the best time synchronization (SNTP) client I've found is Socket Watch. Download it from Locutus Codeware. http://www.locutuscodeware.com/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CALIBRATION THINGS TO PONDER Although we're not in the single digit parts per billion monitoring business, specs for this kind of thing come across our desk. One should never lose sight of the fact that one or two parts per billion is an exceedingly low concentration, and simply handling such concentrations--even if you can generate a reliable standard--is definitely not a slam dunk. What's more, what do you use to zero the instrument? If one or two ppb are supposed to be a significant reading, then your zero gas better be REALLY zero--like down to parts per TRILLION. Think about it. Hardly anyone else does!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ DON'T METRICATE YOURSELF UNNECESSARILY In the above piece, we talked about ppb, and I'll bet you understood what I meant. The same goes for ppm. How many of you have seen the ridiculous units milligram/cubic meter or microgram/cubic meter? They SOUND ultra metric, don't they?? There's just one BIG problem. Whereas ppm or ppb are independent of temperature or pressure, the "metric" units aren't. Never mind the pressure problem, which frankly doesn't come up very often. However, temperature does--all the time. In fact, to convert from ppm to milligrams or micrograms per cubic meter requires one to ASSUME a temperature. What should it be? 20 deg C? 25 deg C? 0 deg C? And, what nomenclature does the instrument manufacturer put on the panel? "Milligrams per cubic meter at 25 deg C"? What happens if the temperature isn't 25 deg C? Help us fight these absurd units. Parts per million, like color, romance, and your favorite movie, is not a metric issue. In fact, since it expresses a ratio of volumes, it is unit independent!! It has no units. PS--If you need a formula or Excel spreadsheet to do the conversions, send me an e-mail. As far as I know, I'm the only person who cared enough to do the conversion accurately. In this case, the decimal places DO make a difference. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SCADA NEWS Interscan was the first gas detection company to make use of Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition software. It lets us produce monitoring systems that are easy to use, and have tremendous functionality. Still, there is a downside. This software can be expensive, and the available packages are overkill for what we need. We don't need to run the New York subway system, we just want to monitor some inputs control some devices, and archive the results. To this end, we've been evaluating some lesser known products that seem to fit the bill perfectly for gas detection. We might even be distributing these packages beyond the gas detection realm. I should have further news by the Fall. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Your faithful webmaster |
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