Blog
The Case of the Corroded Valve
THE MYSTERY A local aircraft manufacturer has a fuel farm of ten large tanks, each storing 30,000 gallons of Jet A fuel. A valve on each tank opens to allow fuel to flow in and out to tank trucks or other tanks. When one of these valves failed, the customer called in...
The Case of the Overly Sensitive Sensor
THE MYSTERY One of ACES’ clients does metal fabrication and manufacturing for the government, which has exacting standards. In this case the client needed to report and display the rotational speed of a spin lathe shaft. In some applications it might be possible to...
The Case of the Missing Parameters
THE MYSTERY The ACES CSI was called to the scene of a factory that manufactured cardboard boxes. Two of 24 drives controlling a folding and gluing machine were down and there was an error code on the front of the amplifier that indicated “the operating parameters were...
The Case of the Fried DC Drive
THE MYSTERY An ACES Control Systems Engineer was called to the scene of a violent crime: A forklift had rammed a control cabinet, which pushed the side of the cabinet into the terminals of a DC drive. The power arced to the cabinet wall and grounded, causing the...
The Case of the Non-Tripping Safety Circuits
THE MYSTERY ACES performs the annual gas train safety checks on the ovens and autoclaves for an aerospace parts provider. One of steps of the safety checks is the combustion blower airflow or pressure-proving switch. When the ACES Control System Investigator was...
The Case of the Non-Lifting Hoist
THE MYSTERY The depalitizing elevator of a local bottling plant stopped working, bringing production to a halt. The case of the non-lifting hoist.THE CLUES Upon examination the ACES Control Systems Investigator found that the depalitizer hoist which lifts the bottles...
The Case of the Infectious Sinusoidal Variance
THE MYSTERY An ACES Control Systems Investigator was called to the scene of an oil-heating steam generator platform, in a processing plant for natural gas liquids (NGLs). The CSI had been called for routine biennial emissions testing, but he noticed the trend lines...
The Case of the Chilly Drop Bottom Furnace
THE MYSTERY A manufacturer of large metal extrusions for the aircraft industry called ACES to the scene of a 40’ drop bottom furnace. The furnace had failed its most recent NADCAP audit because the hot junctions of the thermocouples recording the high and low limits...
The Case of the Dark Vacuum Furnace
THE MYSTERY The temperature controller of a 20-year-old vacuum furnace had gone completely dark. This furnace was a critical piece of equipment for the owner, a local aircraft plant. The original manufacturer of the controller no longer supported it — but they would…
The Case of the Gummed-Up Glue Machine
THE MYSTERY A local box manufacturer called ACES in a panic because the machine which produced the starch that glued their corrugated cardboard had suddenly quit working, resulting in a sticky mess. The factory used glue to turn giant rolls of paper into corrugated…