Safety Drives The Industry
Boiler manufacturers throughout the world have been striving for years to
provide safe and reliable equipment. Adhering to rigid construction standards
such as ASME, UL, CSD-1, NFPA, cUL, etc., the safety in boiler design has made
significant strides as they go about satisfying a plethora of needs from
comfort heating to an assortment of process applications. Much of the increased
safety over the last 20 years, has been a direct result of boiler manufacturers
incorporating some of the advances in control technology into their operating
systems. Microprocessors and solid state based componentry have proven to be
extremely effective and reliable replacements to the old electromechanical
controls which were prevalent for so many years. The additional benefits
offered by this type of technology in addition to enhanced safety, is the
ability of the device to self check itself to assure it's operating properly,
enhanced security through password protection, communication either locally or
remotely, diagnostic checking and logging of alarm history, just to name a few.
The primary control on the boiler, however, which has been mostly overlooked
when it comes to incorporating state of the art technology, is the low water
cutoff.
Ties To 50% Of Boiler Incidents
Considered by many as the most important safety device on the boiler, the
typical low water cutoff and pump control offered today looks and functions the
same as it did 75 years ago, and as such, includes some inherent problems which
can manifest themselves if the control is not maintained regularly and
properly. The National Board has been tracking "incident" reports over the past
10-15 years, siting specific boiler occurrences while investigating the various
causes. In almost 50% of the cases, the low water cutoff was determined to be
the principal cause of the occurrences, some of which involved catastrophic
losses including loss of life.
New Technologies Enhance Safety
Cleaver-Brooks, knowing this was a vulnerable area, and wanting to provide the
safest boiler possible to its thousands of valued customers, decided to take
direct action. The basis of design called for use of a microprocessor based
control system which embraced six (6) important design criteria: Simplicity,
Safety, Security, Dependability, Adaptability and Environment. The result is
the revolutionary C-B Level Master low water cutoff and pump control using the
proven magnetostrictive technology (used for many years in various industries
for measuring level and distance relationships) in conjunction with a solid
state sensor and microprocessor based controller.
Magnetorestrictive Technology
Single phase power (120 volts) is delivered to the C-B Level Master's
controller where it is reduced to 24 VDC and sent to the sensor. The sensor
takes this power source, reducing it further, sending a low voltage signal
through a small wire imbedded in the sensor's probe. Traveling up and down this
probe is a 2" float containing an integral magnet which accepts this signal and
returns its position back to the sensor. The sensor then communicates the
signal to the controller where it is displayed in inches above or below the low
water cutoff point on the LCD readout and the LED light display. This float is
made of 2500# DP titanium, and is non contact/non wearing, providing years of
useful life.
For Keeping Your Boiler Operation As Safe And Reliable As Possible
Simplicity
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Magnetostrictive technology eliminating levers and switches
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Non contact and non wearing titanium float
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User friendly controller with easy to read parameters/alarms
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Uses single phase power to a central connection point
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Controller uses plug-in connectors for easy exchange
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Can be used for on/off pump operation or modulating feed
Safety
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Column blowdown reminders and message it's been done properly or improperly
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System allows for checking the auxiliary low water cutoff and its proper
operation
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Float movement is constantly checked; stuck float shuts boiler down
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Electrics and microprocessor circuits checked several times per second for
continuity and performance
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Low water shutdown and alarming
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High and low water warnings
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Alarm and blowdown history logging with time and date stamps
Security
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Password protected regarding level settings and alarm and blowdown history
files
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On going level indication; easy to see and read exactly
Dependability
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Alarm and blowdown history logging
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Blowdown reminders
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Constant checking of electrics/electronics
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Remote communication access (RS-232)
Adaptability
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Direct replacement and retrofittable to all makes of boilers
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On/off or modulating boiler feed control with same unit
Environment
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C-B Level Master eliminates the mercury!
The C-B Level Master. Simply, the safest control on the market
today.
