A basic unit ventilator component such as a low temperature cut-out offers a cost-efficient solution to ease the maintenance burden and lower life cycle costs.

When compared to a traditional freezestat, the solid-state design of our new technology solution, the Chill-Out combination sensor, provides faster installation time and ultimately improves unit ventilator and air handler performance for facility owners over the long term.

Our new whitepaper explains it all:

Whitepaper Download: Chill-Out Combination Sensor: A Comparison of Low-Temperature Cut-Outs in Unit Ventilators and Air Handling Units

In this free whitepaper, we share:

• A comparison of functionality, construction and installation between the freezestat and the Chill-Out temperature cutout
• How the new technology of the Chill-Out reduces the cost of installation, eliminates the problems associated with freezestat installations and offers facility owners a lower TCO
• A look at three potential installation conditions and the resulting performance for both the freezestat and Chill-Out temperature cut-out options.

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In both process heating and HVAC applications, engineers need to be able to take temperature readings with confidence. In large facilities, maintaining signal integrity over large distances and integration with control systems can pose challenges. Transmitters mitigate those issues by ensuring signal accuracy and making it easy to integrate with standard controllers.

Our whitepaper explains the need for transmitters in detail and offers tips for integrating and troubleshooting transmitters in your application. Download it at this link or read on for some of the top insights.

Alleviate RTD Accuracy Degradation Over Long
Lead-Wires

Industrial applications commonly use RTDs, which sense the temperature of an application by measuring the electrical resistance of the sensor and extrapolating temperature from there. If the display is on the other side of a large facility, the RTD’s resistance would be affected by the resistance of the wires connecting it to the indicator or controller, reducing the sensor accuracy.

Ideally, an RTD will have short leads to reduce lead-wire resistance as much as possible before a transmitter communicates it to a control point. The transmitter converts RTDs resistance reading to an industry-standard 4-20mA analog signal that doesn’t degrade with long leads, while significantly improving the signal-to-noise ratio.

Other solutions are not as practical. RTDs with 3 lead wires mitigate the resistance error from long wiring runs, but do not eliminate it and add the cost of a 3rd wire which can be significant over a long wiring run. RTDs with 4 lead wires do a good job of eliminating the error from the long wiring run but bear the added cost of two additional wires. The conversion of the signal to current that the transmitter provides is the best solution.

Simplify Integration into Existing Infrastructure

Transmitters make adding a new sensor to a system as simple as possible. Most controllers already have 4-20mA inputs, since it is an industry standard. Simply connect the transmitter and configure the controller input for temperature.

Minco offers a variety of fixed-range transmitters as well as factory- or user-configured programmable models. They carry a variety of standard certifications, come in miniature box, puck, and rail-mount configurations, and accommodate both RTDs and a wide variety of thermocouples.

Minco also offers HART-compatible transmitters. The HART protocol is used throughout the process, HVAC, and manufacturing world, providing bidirectional communication which allows the controller to receive temperature and diagnostic data from the transmitter, and remotely send programming commands to the transmitter. Capitalizing on the digital signal alone, up to 63 HART transmitters in multidrop mode can be connected using a single controller input and power source.

How to Install, Use, and Integrate Transmitters

Transmitters offer plenty of benefits in industrial heating, but they need to be installed properly. Minco’s whitepaper on augmenting RTDs with transmitters is an easy resource for installing and configuring transmitters for better signal reliability and actionable accuracy.

Download Minco’s whitepaper on transmitter uses and installation here.

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In today’s competitive markets, manufacturers are always looking for ways to cut costs, slash time to market, and improve product performance. But while component buyers are price sensitive, they also look at measures like total cost of ownership, reliability, performance, and customization. This is particularly true of technical products in fields like medical diagnostics, aerospace, powergen and military and defense where failure is simply not an option. Designers of those products, and others like them, recognize that the cost of a specialized component or an integrated assembly can be more than offset by reduced assembly cost. They know that speed to market can help maximize the profitability of a new or improved product. And they rely on their suppliers to help eliminate risk in demanding markets.

Minco’s Product Groups:

Minco’s vast institutional knowledge makes for a wide range of capabilities. Over the years the company has chosen to master three product groups.

The company brings its unique engineering expertise and manufacturing capabilities to each of these areas and works closely with customers to meet the most demanding challenges, both quickly and cost-effectively.

Minco focuses its expertise in several product areas:

• Heaters: Driven by customer needs, Minco’s Thermal Solutions engineers can customize thermofoil heaters in irregular shapes and sizes. Leadwire, flex-circuit, or solder pad terminations can be configured to simplify integration, and heaters can be zoned to put heat precisely where you want it.
• Sensors and Control: Minco’s Temperature Sensing and Control Solutions (TSCS) product group manufactures a wide array of standard and custom temperature sensors, including probes, probe assemblies, bearing embedment, bolt-on, HVAC sensors, stator winding sensors, surface-mounted ribbon sensors, and a lot more in RTD, thermocouple and thermistor configurations. We also offer control instrumentation for managing sensors and heaters.
• Flex Circuits: The company’s flex circuit expertise is unsurpassed in the industry. Minco flex circuits can range from single- to multilayer designs, with a special focus on Rigid Flex designs that puts us at the forefront of this exciting technology. Fine line dimensions and selective bonding save space and reduce weight, and circuits can incorporate custom stiffeners, pins, connectors, and inductive communication coils into turnkey electronics packages.
• Assemblies: Minco can tie all these capabilities together into single, easy-to-install integrated solutions. Thermofoil heaters, sensors, instruments, and flex circuits can be integrated into a single unit, simplifying assembly, reducing end-product cost and boosting quality and reliability.\

How We Operate

What sets Minco apart isn’t just the products we deliver but how we function as a company and interact with our customers to develop and deliver those products.

Minco is uniquely positioned to meet performance requirements and help speed customers’ innovative products to market. The company is specifically set up to work with customers on new product introduction (NPI) with early manufacturability analysis and a streamlined approach to prototyping. With over 100 engineers, the company encourages early engineer-to-engineer (E2E) engagement to deliver robust, reliable, and cost-effective solutions while simplifying the development process. The company adheres to rigid quality standards, provides thorough documentation, and maintains the highest level of up-to-date certifications. Minco engineers have partnered with thousands of customer engineering teams to understand their needs and design, prototype, and mass produce solutions. We bring as many engineering disciplines as necessary to bear on a challenge to produce, not just a product, but an integrated solution designed for efficient assembly, superior performance, and maximum reliability.

This approach is no accident. Minco’s process-based approach begins with intense, company-wide focus on customer requirements. For speed and efficiency, the company encourages decision making at the lowest levels possible, particularly those closest to the customer. And, from top to bottom, the company strives to make continuous improvement more than just a slogan.

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Porsche cars have a unique system of model numbering. The high-performance, rear-engine 911 was followed by the economy, mid-engine 914 co-developed with Volkswagen. A few years later, Porsche introduced the front-engine, eight cylinder 928 luxury tourer. The numbering system makes no apparent sense. Actually, a Porsche model number is taken from the blueprint number of the model’s original drawing and follows that model through its entire life. That’s why entirely unrelated Porsche models could, in theory, have consecutive model numbers. All Porsche model numbers tell you is the order in which the various models were conceived.

• An embedment type resistance temperature sensor (base model number S331)
• It has a 100-ohm platinum sensing element with a .00392 TCR (PA)
• It has three leads (3)
• It has TFE lead insulation (T)
• Its lead length is 120” (120)
• It includes a retaining ring and spring for mounting in a hole (AC1)

The same base model is available in a variety of configurations. Each can be specified by changing characters in the model number. For example, if the “3” following PA were changed to “4”, it would specify four leads instead of three.  If the “T” were changed to “S”, it would change the lead insulation from plain TFE to TFE with stainless steel braid.

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Many industrial and commercial processes are dependent on precise temperature control. This has long been the case in HVAC applications, where even relatively slight variation from ideal temperatures can lead to sweats or chills, not to mention unnecessary expense. The need for precise temperature control is also recognized in the oil and gas industry and in the operation of many kinds of rotating equipment—generators in power plants, wind turbines, large motors in a variety of applications, industrial pumps, and more. Sensors are used to spot temperature changes that can indicate wear and can provide warning in time to head off catastrophic failure. And in many industrial applications, higher normal operating temperatures are more efficient; the problem is that these temperatures are close to those at which overheating, wear, and breakdown can occur, leaving a very narrow band of ideal operating temperature.

To meet these requirements, users need increased accuracy from temperature control systems—the sensors and transmitters that keep systems as close as possible to ideal operating temperatures. Where Class C sensors once sufficed, customers have turned to more precise Class B and, in some cases, even more accurate Class A sensors. The problem is that, in addition to any inaccuracy in the sensor itself, there is additional inaccuracy caused by slight miscommunication between sensor and transmitter when converting sensor resistance to a 4-20 mA current output. Transmitters are calibrated to nominal resistance values, so this source of error is hard to avoid in off-the-shelf pairing of sensors and transmitters. While the mismatch may be small, the degree of inaccuracy can vary across a wide temperature range, making it difficult to optimize the system’s efficiency and performance. There is a relatively simple, cost-effective solution to the problem. Minco offers match calibration of a sensor and transmitter. Rather than calibrating a transmitter to nominal resistance values, the calibration is completed with the actual resistance values of a paired temperature sensor.  Calibrating both at the same time effectively eliminates sensor inaccuracy from the system accuracy specification.  Match calibration provides a constant accuracy over the full temperature range. As long as the sensor and transmitter are used together, inaccuracy is kept to a minimum. Because the sensor inaccuracy disappears, there is no need to use higher cost Class A temperature sensors when specifying match calibration. The cost of this calibration is nominal, and the savings can be significant. It’s a match made in heaven.

Contact Minco today to learn how our match-calibrated sensors and transmitters can deliver superior accuracy in your next project.

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