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 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 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 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 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 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…
THE MYSTERY A large municipality hired ACES to upgrade their telemetry system from MDS serial to MDS Ethernet radios. We replaced almost twenty radios and installed two access points. After the replacement one access point periodically locked up. Cycling power would…
THE MYSTERY A large aerospace company in Kansas owned a large industrial generator that wasn’t generating; it was subsequently sold to two different companies — neither of which could make it work —so the generator was condemned. THE CLUES The first thing the ACES…
THE MYSTERY A Yaskawa 515 variable frequency drive at a local aerospace company wasn’t starting. The VFD had been working correctly until suddenly stalling in its tracks. THE CLUES Upon arriving on the scene the CSI immediately recognized that the VFD run light was…
THE MYSTERY The freshwater division of a municipal water works complained that one of three pumps at a lift station was running constantly, causing the hydrostatic chamber to drain empty. This, in turn, caused the other pumps to come on, and eventually put so much pressure on the system that the pipes burst. The system was only rated for 93 psi, but with the other pumps running the pressure…
