Valve Magazine - Summer 2010

facility to prove out critical operating characteristics, under actual passive heat-removal system service conditions,” using one of Emerson’s large control valves designed specifically for the new plant.

OFF TO THE LABS

After a morning of speeches, attendees were organized into seven groups for a walking tour around the center, where staff demonstrated the type of testing taking place there. It’s one thing to hear about the massive capabilities of the center; it was quite another to see those capabilities in action. While I thought the massive flow lab, which takes up a large portion of the facility, was quite impressive, I was particularly intrigued by the integration test lab.

Lorin Miller, senior marketing manager for FIELDVUE & Positioning Instruments, explained that the lab was created to make sure the company’s integration software works well with everyone’s controls. The walls were lined with dozens of control valves from the earliest models to the latest. In the lab, the staff can simulate a control system so they can test

The flow capabilities of the new flow lab will allow very large valves to be tested in real conditions.

and see what the customer would see in the field, Miller explained.

I appreciated the fact the company had models from other companies. After all, an end-user wanting to add diagnostic software to its control valves isn’t necessarily going to have

FUN FACTS ABOUT THE INNOVATION CENTER

; The flow lab can fill an Olympic-sized pool in just over eight minutes or a Goodyear blimp in about 12 seconds.

; Control valves can be tested at pressures up to 3,500 psi—equal to providing enough force to support a sport utility vehicle on a postage stamp.

; A 26,000-square-foot sound chamber allows engineers to develop and verify noise levels of new devices before a customer’s plant is ever built.

; To build the center required nearly 2 million pounds of process piping, more than 1,600 feet of 30-inch and 36-inch pipe, seven underground air storage tanks each more than 150 feet long, and more than 4,500 cubic yards of concrete.

Fisher valves installed. One of the most frustrating technology tasks many of us experience today is getting new software to work with older equipment, so kudos to Emerson for taking this approach and providing a way to smooth out compatibility problems before its software is ever installed.

Getting to Marshalltown is no easy matter—there are no direct connections to Des Moines from most major cities; and then you face a 60-mile drive through countryside. With a very busy travel and work schedule facing me, I briefly considered cancelling my plans to attend the opening. After having visited, however, and seeing what can be done in the new Innovation Center, I’m really glad I didn’t. VM