AUGUST 2021 | VOL.75 NO.4 | Est. 1953
Post Print Approved 100008186
INSIDE PACE
IICA
Trailers in motion
Sealing
Remembering Bill Ebzery
Robust bearing solutions
Custom machine seals
MOVING FORWARD WITH SKILLS PACE COMES WITH MANUFACTURERS’ MONTHLY EVERY EDITION
NEWS
International hydrogen program to build Australian industry
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ustralia’s national science agency, CSIRO, will deliver the $5 million Hydrogen RD&D International Collaboration Program backed by the federal government, aimed at advancing Australia’s clean
The program will build domestic capability and drive hydrogen research and commercialisation.
hydrogen industry. The program is aimed at strengthening research connections, collaboration and knowledge sharing between domestic and international hydrogen research organisations. This will enhance Australia’s hydrogen research, development and demonstration (RD&D) capability. The Hydrogen RD&D International Collaboration Program will promote strong relationships with research agencies to accelerate development of a global clean hydrogen industry, minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction Angus Taylor said. “The Morrison government is positioning Australia to be a worldleader in the production of clean hydrogen, as well as a trusted and reliable exporter to our trading partners,” Taylor said. “Investing in R&D and building connections with international partners are critical to Australia building and growing our own
globally competitive industry. “We recognise the important economic and job opportunities becoming a major global hydrogen player will deliver, while also lowering emissions.” The program will also build domestic capability, drive innovation and play to Australia’s strengths in hydrogen research and commercialisation, according to minister for Industry, Science and Technology Christian Porter. “This investment in international research collaboration will deliver a range of insights and outcomes, enhance Australia’s international reputation for excellence in science and innovation and translate research activities into viable technologies with tangible commercialisation outcomes,” Porter said. “This program will also improve our understanding of future hydrogen supply chains and markets and help us to harness the potential for an Australian clean hydrogen industry
to grow our economy and create Australian jobs.” The Hydrogen RD&D International Collaboration Program will build on recent collaborative efforts between the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources and CSIRO in developing an “Australian Hydrogen Researcher Network.” This was established to better connect Australia’s hydrogen research community and the new international program. Some of the proposed program activities include supporting researcher exchanges, developing collaboration tools and events and enabling sharing of knowledge about research relevant to hydrogen and its derivatives, such as ammonia. The federal government has invested over $1 billion to support Australia’s clean hydrogen industry and entered partnerships with Germany, Singapore and Japan to accelerate the development of low emissions technologies. PACE
Monash “torpedo” devices preventing a third COVID-19 wave
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ictoria’s Department of Health, Melbourne Water, Water Research Australia and other industry partners have partnered with Monash University to track traces of COVID-19 in wastewater with “torpedo” passive samplers. Detecting COVID-19 earlier in wastewater may help prevent further waves and reduce the need for lockdowns in the future, according to Monash University’s Department of Civil Engineering associate professor David McCarthy. “The ‘torpedo’ has revolutionised
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the way we can monitor SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater, and these devices are now being used all over Victoria for early detection of COVID-19 to contain outbreaks and prevent further lockdowns,” McCarthy said. “In the recent outbreak (June 2021), our devices were able to detect the presence of the original infection in the Epping sewer shed days prior to a reported clinical case, allowing our chief health officer to sound the alert and call for those with symptoms to get tested.” Then followed other methods of early detection using the devices,
allowing the Department of Health to target messaging and encourage people in the area to get tested and isolate. “Victorian decision makers were indeed drawing on the data made possible by our sampling innovation, to inform key decisions affecting all Victorians,” McCarthy said. “Direct social, health and economic impact does not get more real and substantial than major city COVID lockdowns; the early detection that our sensitive wastewater sampling devices permit has been coined a ‘game changer’ by our Department of Health partners.”
Monash University’s wastewater samples are now being utilised worldwide to determine the location of COVID-19. “The ‘torpedo’s’ impact is well beyond Victoria with a national and global reach, and it is now actively used in all states and territories of Australia and has been used in the following countries: New Zealand, Indonesia, China, South Africa, five states across the USA, five provinces and territories in Canada, The Netherlands, Italy, UK, France, Luxemburg, Spain and the list is growing,” he said. PACE
NEWS
Queensland Uni engineers are next gen electronics
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esearchers at the University of Queensland have engineered a carbonbased material that could spawn the next generation of electronics, with more memory, speed and advanced features. The material, C3N bilayers, could contribute to a growing nanoelectronics market that is predicted to be worth $162 billion by 2027. Potential applications for this material include telecommunications, medical equipment and automatic access systems, the University of Queensland’s Australian Institute for
Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN) and School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences (SCMB) professor Debra Bernhardt said. “Graphene has long been considered a promising material for use in electronics, with its high mechanical strength and electrical and thermal conductivity, but it has limitations,” Bernhardt said. “The research team engineered a material with nitrogen atoms included in two layers of honeycomb-patterned graphene, then experimented with shifting and twisting the layers. “This material – C3N bilayers – has the potential to expand the
capabilities of nanoscale electronics, which enables more functionality in a smaller area. Changes in the alignment of the layers can result in the ability to tailor the flow of electricity for various devices, which is not possible with just graphene,” she said. The new structures enable production of electronic components that can be combined to produce types of electronics with varying requirements and capabilities, such as refrigerators and smartwatches. “This is exciting, because it combines theoretical predictions and experimental research to develop new devices that could be used in
many applications, such as computer memory and flexible electronics,” Bernhardt said. The research is a significant step forward, but more work is needed to readily produce the material at a reduced cost. The material’s concept was conceived by AIBN’s Dr Qinghong Yuan and developed by a research team at the institute, SCMB and international collaborators. Theoretical calculations were also deduced by visiting PhD student, Wenya Wei. The research for the C3N bilayers is published in Nature Electronics. PACE
New member elected to Emissions Reduction Assurance Committee
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he federal government has appointed Professor Alexander McBratney to the Emissions Reduction Assurance Committee (ERAC) for a period of three years. McBratney is the director of the Sydney Institute of Agriculture and a professor of Soil Science. He has made major contributions to soil science and agriculture through the development of the concepts of pedometrics, digital soil mapping and precision agriculture. He also has extensive expertise in soil carbon, which is a priority under the federal government’s Technology Investment Roadmap. Soil carbon is also one of five priority methods currently being developed in 2021, under the Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF). The Emissions Reduction Assurance Committee’s role is to advise the government on ERF
The Emissions Reduction Assurance Committee advises the government on Emissions Reduction Fund methods.
methods, to ensure that projects funded under the initiative deliver genuine emissions reductions. These in turn help Australia meet and beat
its emissions reduction targets. McBratney will contribute to the work at ERAC particularly in ensuring that Australia continues
to provide world-class, sciencedriven methods which underpin soil carbon credits under the Emissions Reduction Fund. PACE AUGUST 2021 www.pacetoday.com.au 3
NEWS
Renewable battery and microgrid opens in Yackandandah
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he northeast town of Yackandandah in Victoria has officially opened its new Totally Renewable Yackandandah’s Community Battery and the Twist Creek Microgrid. The Community Battery project will supply up to 40 Yackandandah households with 100 per cent renewable energy, with 65kW solar panels and a 274kW battery system installed by TRY and Indigo Power. It is Victoria’s first behind-themeter, community-owned solar and battery system, capable of providing clean energy to local customers during the day and into the evening. The project was made possible through the Victorian state government’s $550,000 investment. “Totally Renewable Yackandandah and Indigo Power are setting a great example with their ambitious targets and work to get Yackandandah on 100 per cent renewable energy by the end of next year,” minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change Lily D’Ambrosio said. “Projects like these show the community is keen to embrace renewables. This grassroots enthusiasm is so important as Victoria works to halve its emissions by 2030.” The project initially received $171,000 from the Victorian government’s New Energy Jobs Fund. It was then a test case for Sustainability Victoria’s sustainable financing mechanism, receiving an additional $100,000 grant to guarantee a social impact loan provided by local bank WAW Credit Union. The Twist Creek Microgrid also received $380,000 from the Victorian government’s Microgrid Demonstration Initiative. Solar panels, low-emission hot water services and batteries have been installed in nine homes in the bushfire-prone area to give the households cheaper, more reliable and
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Yackandandah’s Community Battery project will supply up to 40 households with renewable energy.
resilient power. Microgrids ensure that bushfireprone communities are well-prepared and have access to power in all circumstances. These investments build on the Public Virtual Powerplant opened in 2018, when rooftop solar panels were
installed on 10 community buildings in and around the township. These new community-based renewable energy projects are giving more Victorians access to clean, affordable and reliable energy, while ensuring local economies benefit from the boom in renewable energy and
the jobs it is bringing to Victoria’s regions, member for Northern Victoria Jaclyn Symes said. “The Yackandandah community is working together to generate clean, reliable and affordable power that boosts local economies and creates jobs,” Symes said. PACE
NEWS
CSS projects unlocked under Emissions Reduction Fund
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he federal government has released a draft carbon capture and storage (CCS) method for the Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF), for public consultation. Accelerating CCS commercial deployment and uptake will help reduce Australia’s emissions and protect industries and jobs. CCS is one of five priority methods being developed in 2021 under the ERF and it is a priority area under the government’s Technology Investment Roadmap. The ERF is one of the world’s most rigorous carbon offset programs. Accelerating new projects to unlock the emissions and economic benefits of carbon capture technology is currently a focus for the federal government, minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction Angus Taylor said. “Australia consistently meets and beats our emissions reduction targets and we do that without imposing
Including the CCS projects will unlock more low-cost abatement for Australia.
new costs or taxes on households or businesses,” Taylor said. “The Emissions Reduction Fund is central to our technology, not taxes approach to reducing emissions. We are continuing to support farmers, businesses and communities to adopt new technologies that reduce emissions and boost their economic opportunities.
“Including CCS projects under the ERF will help unlock more low-cost abatement for Australia, underpin new and expanding industries, and lead to job creation and economic opportunities, including in regional areas,” he said. The International Energy Agency and the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change both regard carbon capture technologies as essential to achieve the goals of the Paris agreement. Fast-tracking the development of new ERF methods was a recommendation of the King Review and will help achieve a greater range of low-cost abatement through the scheme. Through the 2020-21 Budget, the government committed more than $40 million of additional resourcing to the Clean Energy Regulator to halve the development time of new ERF methods to less than 12 months. In addition to CCS, new methods to be developed this year include blue carbon, soil carbon, biomethane or green gas and plantation forestry. The Clean Energy Regulator develops priority methods through a co-design process with industry, potential end-users, scientists and technical experts, and the Emissions Reduction Assurance Committee. PACE
HydroREC a founding partner in Zero Carbon Certification Scheme
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he Smart Energy Council and Hydrogen Australia have announced Queensland developer HydroREC has become a founding partner in its Zero Carbon Certification Scheme. “HydroREC puts the smarts into smart energy and renewable hydrogen,” Smart Energy Council chief executive John Grimes said. “HydroREC brings together leaders in renewable hydrogen, agribusiness, blockchain and renewable energy project development. It’s fantastic to have them on board.” “The Zero Carbon Certification Scheme is a certificate of origin scheme
for renewable hydrogen, renewable ammonia and renewable metals. It’s an absolutely critical step in building the industries of the future,” Grimes said. “HydroREC is all about tracking, tracing and trading of renewable hydrogen, water source allocation and other supply chain inputs. We’re honoured to be a Founding Partner in the Zero Carbon Certification Scheme, which will ensure that customers are getting the zero emissions products they are searching for,” HydroREC chairman Luciano Giangiordano said. HydroREC has been formed to deploy the blockchain capabilities of its technology research and development
partner Smart Trade Networks (STN) in the energy, water and renewable hydrogen certification space. The STN infrastructure is involved in ongoing research and development activities through collaborations with Queensland University of Technology and the Future Food Systems Cooperative Research Centre. The other initial Founding Partners in the Zero Carbon Certification Scheme are: • The ACT government • The Victorian government • Ammonia Energy Association • COP26 High Level Champions for Climate Action
• CWP Global • Energy Web • Power Ledger • Star Scientific • Yara • Eyoenergy • ACT Renewables Hub The German Energy Agency and the Australian National University are Advisers and Green Hydrogen Catapult a Partner Initiative for the Zero Carbon Certification Scheme. The Green Hydrogen Catapult is a global coalition of seven leading renewable hydrogen companies seeking to accelerate the scale and production of green hydrogen 50-fold in the next six years. PACE AUGUST 2021 www.pacetoday.com.au 5
NEWS
BOC announces PPA to reduce emissions by 16 per cent
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as and engineering company BOC, a subsidiary of Linde plc, has announced a new power purchase agreement (PPA) with energy from waste facility Avertas Energy and Shell Energy, to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 16 per cent. Under the 5-year agreement with Avertas Energy, BOC will purchase large-scale generation certificates from the Kwinana-based energy from waste facility, starting 1 January 2023. Under the energy retail agreement with Shell Energy, BOC will start receiving electricity for its Kwinana and Canningvale sites from mid-2022. The PPA will enable BOC to support decarbonisation of Australia’s largest food and beverage manufacturers
Avertas Energy is a facility that will use municipal solid waste to produce electricity.
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and other industrial customers. BOC has purchased enough certificates to supply the food and beverage sector with carbon dioxide and liquid nitrogen, produced with 100 per cent renewable electricity from 2023. This is a step towards achieving BOC’s sustainability goals, which are to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 35 per cent by 2028 and support longterm decarbonisation across its customer base, BOC South Pacific managing director John Evans said. “BOC is proud to be partnering with Avertas Energy and Shell Energy on this significant power purchase agreement, that reduces BOC’s greenhouse gas emissions by 16 per cent and supports the development of a world-leading energy from waste facility,” Evans said.
“We look forward to offering our customers the opportunity to decarbonise their operations, with carbon dioxide and liquid nitrogen a critical product for many food and beverage applications including modified atmosphere packaging, cryogenic freezing and carbonating drinks. “BOC is committed to increasing our renewable energy sourcing from solar, biomass or biogas and wind projects across the country, and actively exploring more opportunities on the east-coast of Australia,” he said. Avertas Energy is an Australian-first facility that will use municipal solid waste to produce electricity. It will divert 400,000 tonnes per annum of waste from landfill and deliver circa 38MW of reliable baseload energy.
“We are pleased to be able to support BOC on its decarbonisation journey,” Avertas Energy CEO Frank Smith said. Shell Energy Australia is also proud to support BOC’s sustainability goals and assist the decarbonisation of Australia’s manufacturing sector, Shell Energy Australia CEO Greg Joiner said. “Designing and delivering products and services that help large energy users decarbonise is a key focus for us, as we assemble the building blocks of a cleaner energy system in Australia,” Joiner said. BOC made a similar agreement with the New Zealand Environmental Certificate Scheme and Kea Energy solar farm, to allow BOC to provide green hydrogen to its New Zealand customers including NZ Steel. PACE
NEWS
Rio Tinto replaces natural gas with hydrogen in refineries
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he Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) will provide up to $579,786 in funding to Rio Tinto to support a feasibility study, investigating the potential to partially decarbonise its alumina refining operations using renewable hydrogen. Conventional alumina refining combusts natural gas to achieve the high temperatures required in the calcination process. Rio Tinto aims to investigate the technical implications of displacing natural gas with renewable hydrogen at its Yarwun alumina refinery in Gladstone, Queensland. The study would inform the viability of a potential demonstration project to validate the findings. The $1.2 million study, funded equally by ARENA and Rio Tinto, will comprise two distinct work packages: • Simulating the calcination process using a lab scale reactor at Rio Tinto’s Bundoora Technical Development Centre in Melbourne, Victoria. • Preliminary engineering and design study conducted at Rio Tinto Yarwun to understand the construction and operational requirements of a potential demonstration project at the refinery. The study will improve understanding of and the potential for renewable hydrogen to be used in the alumina refining process. It will also inform the scope of development works required to implement hydrogen fuelled calcination technology at an existing alumina refinery. As the world’s largest producer of bauxite and largest exporter of alumina, Australia accounts for 15 per cent of global alumina refining capacity. The process is energy intensive, using high pressure steam to produce heat and process bauxite into alumina. Then alumina can be converted to aluminium through smelting. In its strategy to support industry in reducing emissions, ARENA has targeted the alumina sector as key
Rio Tinto will investigate the implications of displacing natural gas with renewable hydrogen at its Yarwun alumina refinery in Gladstone, Queensland.
to achieving this. Alumina refining accounted for over 14M tonnes of carbon dioxide in Australia in 2019, representing around 24 per cent of the country’s scope 1 manufacturing emissions. The Australian government’s first Low Emissions Technology Statement also highlights the importance of developing a low emissions steel and aluminium industry, to help reduce emissions and stimulate economic activity. Innovation in metals refining can improve the competitiveness and emissions intensity of Australia’s steel and aluminium production. Last month, ARENA announced $11.3M funding for Alcoa to investigate and deploy an alternative technology using recycled steam for process heat, powered by renewable energy. Rio Tinto’s study will explore potential for hydrogen to reduce emissions across the aluminium supply
chain and complement Alcoa’s project, ARENA CEO Darren Miller said. “If we can replace fossil fuels with clean hydrogen in the refining process for alumina, this will reduce emissions in the energy and emissions intensive refining stage of the aluminium supply chain,” Miller said. “Exploring these new clean energy technologies and methods is a crucial step towards producing green aluminium. This study will investigate a potential technology that can contribute to the decarbonisation of the Australian alumina industry. “If successful, the technical and commercial lessons from Rio Tinto’s study could lead to the implementation of hydrogen calcination technology, not only in Australia, but also internationally,” he said. Rio Tinto accounts for about a third of Australia’s total alumina production capacity. Its aim is to reach net zero emissions across operations by
2050. Company-wide, it is targeting a 15 per cent reduction in absolute emissions and a 30 per cent reduction in its emissions intensity by 2030, from a 2018 baseline. “We see the ARENA and Rio Tinto-funded study as a step towards reducing refinery emissions and one that has the potential to play an important part in Rio Tinto’s commitment to decarbonisation,” Rio Tinto Aluminium Pacific Operations acting managing director Daniel van der Westhuizen said. “We’re investing in work that needs to be done, not only to decarbonise one of our sites, but also to help provide a lower-emissions pathway for Rio Tinto and the global aluminium industry. “We recognise we are on a long road towards reducing emissions across our operations and there is clearly more work to be done. But projects such as this are an important part of helping us get there,” he said. PACE AUGUST 2021 www.pacetoday.com.au 7
NEWS
Australian Carbon Industry Code of Conduct now operational
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he Carbon Market Institute, independent industry association, has announced Australia’s world-first Australian Carbon Industry Code of Conduct is now fully operational. The world-first, climate-related consumer protection code of conduct will commit Australia’s carbon industry to higher standards of integrity, transparency and accountability. “This is a vital step in growing a high integrity Australian carbon reduction and sequestration industry that farmers, consumers and investors can rely on,” Carbon Market Institute CEO John Connor said. “It’s an important world-first, building on an already respected framework of government assurance.” The Australian Carbon Industry Code of Conduct will investigate consumer complaints, monitor and audit signatories’ activities and enforce action against those that The Code is vital to growing a high integrity Australian carbon reduction and sequestration industry that farmers, consumers and investors can rely on.
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deliberately mislead or disadvantage community clients. Code signatories include carbon service providers who, on conservative estimates, represent almost half of all carbon credits issued under the federal government’s Emissions Reduction Fund. They will be significant participants in state-based contracting, such as Queensland’s Land Restoration Fund. Code signatories also include intermediary brokerage, legal and advisory service providers. Many signatories engage with independent landowners, farmers, pastoralists and Indigenous stakeholders in their business activities. Under the Code, these carbon businesses have committed to following ethical processes, does not jeopardise stakeholders’ rights and enhances the industry’s reputation. The inaugural Code Review Panel, an independent body acting as arbitrator of Code compliance and appeals processes, has appointed three
new members: • Former Clean Energy Regulator board member Virginia Malley • Regulatory and finance expert Kim Lawrence • Regulatory and finance expert Ross Carter. The NSW government has joined the Queensland government as formal government partner, endorsing the Code as a critical third-party assurance framework for developing state carbon markets. “We are excited to be the second government partner supporting this important market-shaping Code,” NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment director for Climate Resilience, Adaptation and Net Zero Emissions Esther Bailey said. “Strong and credible carbon markets will be vital to meeting the decarbonisation challenge and tools like the Code will help us get there.” “The Code has now reached a critical milestone of maturity and with growing support from
governments and industry partners, this framework is now an important foundation of Australia’s climate response,” Connor said. The Australian Carbon Industry Code of Conduct aims to increase carbon abatement quality across the country and ensure projects deliver positive outcomes to local employment, stakeholders involved and the environment. “Considering the scale and extent of climate action required to limit global warming to 1.5C, carbon projects remain a critical climate solution,” Connor said. “As this industry grows, the Code will play a role in ensuring that local communities, Indigenous stakeholders and farmers can make informed decisions, are engaged in a meaningful way and that appropriate benefit-sharing takes place. “The Code also provides a layer of consumer protection to other market participants, providing an additional level of risk assurance to the large and multinational corporates that are increasingly purchasing carbon credits,” he said. “In addition, the Code seeks to integrate climate repair with land and history repair – so that carbon projects contribute to healthy, resilient and pragmatic benefits to Indigenous communities that respect their native title rights. “We look forward to working with our expanding cohort of signatories in the coming months and raising the integrity and reputation of the industry to match the rate of growth of private and public sector investment in climate action right across the country,” Connor said. “We also look forward to engaging with our government partners and industry supporters to ensure our carbon industry can continue to contribute to Australia’s emissions targets at the highest levels of integrity, transparency and accountability possible.” PACE
IICA COMMENT
Vale: William (Bill) Ebzery Strong, dedicated, passionate, and steadfast were all the qualities that William (Bill) Ebzery were, and more, to his colleagues and friends in life. His legacy lives on in all those who knew him well.
During his life, Bill designed projects to give his students real life experiences and hands.
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t is hard to describe a man of such brilliance and dedication in just one page, so it is with great sadness that this message comes to you because Bill Ebzery of the Instrumentation and Process Control School at Ultimo Campus and previously Petersham College TAFE, passed away very suddenly on 9th March 2021. The impact of the loss to his family, friends, and colleagues particularly in industry and at TAFE is far reaching in his specialist area of Instrumentation & Process Control right across Australia, our Defence Force (ADF) and a vast number of industries throughout Australia. Throughout Bill Ebzery’s 30-year teaching career he was dedicated and passionate about his students, their learning and his encouragement of them in their career paths. One could not want for a better man in your team
William (Bill) Ebzery. with the depth of his underpinning knowledge, skill, expertise, innovation, and lively sense of fun in all that he did. He would design projects to give his students real life experiences and hands on tasks appropriate for the skills the students were gaining. For example, his “Wax on Wax off” project was designed to help beekeepers address the problem of the
Varoa virus and the impact it had on bee populations. The Wax On Wax Off project culminated in a student presentation evening at Petersham TAFE College which brought together all the stakeholders in the Beekeeping Industry. There were many projects where staff and the community could see teaching excellence at its best. Bill Ebzery would produce videos of the projects and would then sell the DVD’s and donate the funds to the Westmead Children’s Hospital – for winners all round. Bill was also a long time Jowett enthusiast with rallies across Australia, New Zealand and further afield. Bill fought for justice and fairness and was passionate about the survival of the TAFE system for our children and grandchildren. He organised a meeting with the assistant to MP Doug Cameron (shadow minister
for Skill, TAFE & Apprenticeships) and three fellow teachers, with the intention to highlight prominent issues within the VET Sector. Some of you may have caught whispers when his dad (also called William) passed away in the small hours of 28th October last year and his daughter, Diana tragically passed away after illness about three weeks later! And yet Bill, true to form, a stoic through and through, was back in the classroom for his students the same day his father passed and similarly after his daughter passed! Such was his amazing dedication. Bill is survived by his dear wife Susan Sharrock, the love of his life, son David and several adoring grandchildren. Bill’s funeral was held earlier this year on Monday 22 March 2021 at 11am at the Garden Chapel, Castlebrook Memorial Park 712-746 Windsor Road, Rouse Hill NSW. PACE AUGUST 2021 www.pacetoday.com.au 9
BEARINGS
Making the haul easier U-Haul trailers require robust bearing solutions for long hauls across Australian roadways.
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ayne Miller, national business manager for U-Haul Australia, says the company is on a mission: to exceed all expectations of trailer hire and to provide the best trailer hire experience in Australia. Which is why U-Haul Australia does not skimp on the quality of parts used on their trailers. “If you’ve got trailers crossing through some of Australia’s most desolated sections, such as the Nullarbor or the Hay Plains, you do not want to risk those trailers breaking down,” Miller stresses. “With cheaper bearings, failure invariably happens. And we can’t afford that with our customers – so we take a very proactive approach to ensure their trailer hire experience is a simple, seamless, and positive one.” As a family business that is 100 per cent Australian owned and operated, Wayne points out that U-Haul Australia is serious about delivering on its promise to “make local and one way hire a better experience for all Australians.” Part of this is led by innovation, which includes their “live” online booking system, which allows for 24/7 one-way interstate bookings – a service no other provider can match. But it is also due to the fact that the company, which is Australia’s largest trailer hire company, has a no-compromise attitude to quality. These combined factors are probably what is driving demand for U-Haul Australia’s trailers. “Australians are on the move – we’ve seen a significant increase in trailer hire since COVID-19 restrictions were lifted last year – and for us at U-Haul Australia, that means we have trailers going from one end of Australia to another, and quite often,” Miller explains. “To have a cheap bearing cause a trailer breakdown is not only going to translate to a bad customer experience but will prove costly to us in terms of recovering the trailer.” According to Miller, U-Haul Australia switched to using Timken tapered roller wheel bearings a number of years ago on the recommendation of
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U-Haul is Australia’s largest trailer hire company.
their go-to CBC branch in Nambour. The performance and reliability of the Timken bearings has been impressive, to the extent that the majority of U-Haul Australia trailers use Timken-branded wheel bearings. “As our service manager Glen puts it – we don’t have the luxury of using cheap products,” expands Miller. “And this includes cheap bearings, which don’t provide the quality and consistency we need. When we needed a higher quality bearing our representative at CBC Nambour was able to work with us to achieve this end goal.” Wayne elaborates on the challenges that arise if a trailer does break down. “Even though we have the largest footprint across Australia – with over 1,100 U-Haul locations nationwide – there are some distances in Australia where there is nothing but a great expanse of land between one town and the next,” he says. “In the event of a trailer breaking down in one of these areas, organising the pick-up and removal of that trailer can prove a real logistical challenge for us, as well as an expensive and time-consuming undertaking.” The U-Haul Australia trailers are also designed to be tough. As the company offers a guaranteed one-way interstate hire service, each individual trailer can expect to see a lot of Australia in its life cycle. Hence, the trailers require heavy duty bearings. Having experienced issues in the past with bearing failure, Miller says the company turned to CBC for a
solution. Their local branch is not only a trusted supplier of quality bearings but they also view CBC staff as genuine solution providers. “Our main headquarters and our largest workshop is on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, and so our local CBC branch is Nambour. We’ve been working with the CBC Nambour branch since we moved our key operations here, which is probably close to eight years ago,” Miller explains. “We order the bulk of our supplies for all states through this one branch because of the rapport we’ve built with them and the quality of service and product they provide to us.” Dave Harwood, technical sales representative at CBC Nambour, has been working with U-Haul Australia since they moved their primary workshop to the Sunshine Coast. “The relationship I have with the U-Haul Australia service manager and workshop manager is strong, and I have great support from my peers in delivering services and products to them,” Harwood says. “We make monthly calls and help identify other products with them that could be of benefit, or perhaps required in their other workshops throughout Australia.” Importantly, Harwood says the CBC and U-Haul Australia values are aligned – both companies have a very customerfocused approach and are committed to quality. “Understandably, the U-Haul Australia service manager, Glen, expects the same level of high customer service and efficiency that U-Haul deliver
to their customers,” Harwood notes. “We’ve proven ourselves over these last number of years, providing exceptional service, long-lasting, quality products, and in providing solutions that reduce their maintenance costs and help protect their brand. In return, they’ve been very loyal customers to us.” The partnership is certainly based on mutual respect. “The CBC staff have bent over backwards to help us with any issues we’ve experienced in the past,” says Wayne. “The relationship between our service manager, Glen, and Dave Harwood at CBC Nambour is particularly worth a mention. Glen describes the service provided by Dave as ‘sensational’ and that whenever problems arise, Dave is the ‘fix it’ man that Glen relies on to sort the issue out.” In fact, it was Harwood that first suggested the Timken wheel bearings for the U-Haul Australia trailers. “They were having issues with bearing failures due to the heavy usage throughout Australia. They needed a quality bearing that could ensure longevity and superior performance,” he explains. “I recommended a Timken tapered roller bearing set as a solution because of its premium quality and performance. The customer has seen the benefits of these since we implemented them – increased efficiency with minimal friction, heightened durability, reliability and enhanced overall performance.” The Timken bearing solution has been more than vindicated out in the field. “Since U-Haul Australia have been using these Timken sets – which is for about 6 years – there have been no product complaints,” enthuses Dave. “That means there has been fewer breakdowns, which translates to improved customer confidence in the U-Haul Australia brand.” Ultimately, this is the type of end result that CBC wants to provide to U-Haul Australia – one that will help them achieve their mission of exceeding expectations and providing peerless customer experiences. PACE
BEARINGS
The coated advantage: Why using ceramic coated bearings makes sense NSK uses an alumina-based ceramic coating material that provides complete insulation to the bearing.
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ith the growing demand from industries to enhance the energy efficiency in their operations, inverter-controlled motors such as those featuring variable frequency drives (VFDs) are being increasingly favoured due to their versatility and control over operational speeds. The uptake of inverter-controlled motors is expected to continue in the upwards direction as governments around the world mandate the use of energy-efficient products, with a global research predicting 6.5 per cent annual growth in the global VFD market from 2020 to 2027. With the introduction of VFDs into an existing AC motor set up without any provision for grounding the shaft currents, there is a common bearing failure mode that occurs which is called Electric Erosion. “What’s actually happening in the market is that more and more people are using VFDs and adding them to old motors which are already installed in their plants. If care is not taken to simultaneously update the motor’s bearings, this increases risk of current leaking from the motor and damaging the bearings,” says NSK business development manager Nitin Verma. The damage, as Nitin explains, occurs when electrical current passes through the contact point of bearing races and rolling elements during bearing rotation. What follows is sparks being generated in the thin lubricant film, causing the surface to be fused locally into an
NSK offers the HDY2 coated ceramic bearing.
irregular shape – a pattern referred to as “Fluting”. Traditionally, one way to prevent Electric Erosion in the bearings has been to deploy an insulated housing in the motor, but this requires special parts and assembly processes that might not align well with every application. Using non-conductive ceramic balls in the bearings is another option, but Nitin says this option is also not always cost-effective. “Silicon carbide is a very expensive material, so to produce ceramic balls for bearings beyond certain sizes can be very costly, rendering this option counter-productive.” To overcome this problem, NSK offers the HDY2 ceramic coated bearings, which are made available to industries in Australia through NSK’s long-term supply partner, BSC. NSK’s bearings feature an
alumina-based ceramic coating material sprayed on the exterior surface of the outer ring. The coating provides complete insulation to the bearing, while also providing excellent heat dissipation. The NSK HDY2 bearings are designed to provide insulative resistance of 1000MΩ at 1000V DC, which is more than ten times the insulation performance offered by other conventional ceramic coated bearings. “NSK’s bearings have also been tested and verified to provide shock resistance that’s three times superior to that of other ceramic coated bearings. NSK’s bearings also have a lower temperature differential than other ceramic coated bearings,” says Verma. NSK offers ceramic-coated variants in both deep groove ball bearing and cylindrical roller bearing ranges, encompassing bearing bore diameters from 50 to 110 millimetres. What Nitin says places NSK’s ceramic coated bearings a head and shoulder above its competitors in the marketplace is the unique bonding technology, which ensures perfect binding between the alumina coating and the bearing steel. “Without the perfect bond, the coating will get chipped off under shock loading and where there’s even a little bit of chipping on the coating, the insulation is lost completely. That’s why NSK uses a unique plasma spray technique to bond the alumina coating to the bearing outer ring – ensuring there’s no current
“NSK’s bearings have also been tested and verified to provide shock resistance that’s three times superior to that of other ceramic coated bearings.”
leakage,” says Verma. Apart from being supply partners for NSK, the BSC branches across Australia bring years of experience that enable them to assist industrial customers with bearing selection for their applications. As BSC state sales manager Shaun Glacken points out, motor repair companies and motor rewinders are one category of customers that can benefit from the NSK HDY2 ceramic coated bearings. “As bearing specialists, the BSC sales and engineering teams can support our customers with all of their bearing-related problems. Often, our customers may not even be aware of a solution available on the market. So, we take it upon ourselves to educate them and help minimise their risk of bearing failures. The market for NSK HDY2 may be niche, but it’s highly critical that when our customers need the product, we have it available to them,” says Glacken. PACE AUGUST 2021 www.pacetoday.com.au 11
SEALING
Sealing the deal with experience The machined seals division of Seal Innovations, Interseal, uses CNC machines to produce custom machine seals that are fit to purpose. Interseal serves customers in many industries, from hydraulics and pneumatics to mining, rail, and general industries.
C
ustomised machined seals can prove invaluable for engineers and maintenance technicians when replacements for worn out or out-dated seals are not readily available. Made-to-order seals are also widely used by engineers when prototyping new designs. But machining new seals is not as simple as cutting a new set of keys – though sometimes it can be as quick. Not only are the CNC machines used for seal cutting a lot more complex, designing the perfect seal profile, and choosing the right material requires extensive knowledge that only comes with experience in seal production. That knowledge and experience is what Interseal, the machined seals division of Seal Innovations, can provide. Seal Innovations, the sealing
12 www.pacetoday.com.au AUGUST 2021
and gasketing branch of Motion Asia Pacific’s group of businesses, has a history in seal manufacturing that goes back to the 1950s. With the advent of machined seals and growth in the market for speedy seals solutions, the custom machined seals division of Seal Innovations was formed to offer customer with single stop solutions. Established in 2008, Interseal began its operations with two state-ofthe-art rapid-production CNC lathe machines at the Interseal workshop in Sydney’s Castle Hill. In 2009 and 2010, Seal Imports and Ramseals were acquired, which added three more CNC machines to its assets. In addition to new assets, these acquisitions brought with them extensive acquired knowledge to the business, as Interseal product and engineering specialist, David Harley,
explains. “Some of our team members have been working in the sealing and manufacturing industry since 70s and 80s. With the subsequent acquisitions, we also brought on people who had more than 20 years’ experience in the seals machining industry. This means we now have so much cumulative experience and dedication among the team,” says Harley. Where and how this experience comes into play is best explained by Alain St Vincent, production manager at Interseal Sydney branch. “There are other companies that can custom-machine seals, but the fact that we have such a vast technical background means we can understand the customers’ needs, and that’s the reason we can respond so quickly. Every job that we do is unique. It can be as simple as machining a standard
seal, which we can do in minutes, or it may involve designing a special seal, starting with profile design, and following it up with field testing,” says St Vincent. “No matter how complex a project is, we have always stood by the quality of our seals. We don’t use cheap materials and we don’t settle for anything but perfection, a machined seal does not leave the factory if we are not a 100 per cent satisfied with the end product, 99 per cent is simply not good enough.” Today, Interseal has five CNC machines located across Australia – including three in Sydney, one in Brisbane and one in Perth. The business has also expanded to New Zealand, where two more machines are located. This gives Interseal the ability to produce over 15,000 parts per year, ranging from wipers to rod
SEALING
seals, piston seals, rotary seals, static seals, gaskets, o-rings, bearing rings and more. Special seal profiles up to 600 millimeters in diameter and seals in cut or glued format are among the team’s capabilities. Having such a wide footprint across Australia enables Interseal to service its customers on short notice, as Seal Innovations national key account executive, Raj Jadow, explains. “The best thing with having machines located in different cities is that we can make optimum use of our machines depending on the demand. So, let’s say if our machines in Sydney are all occupied but our machine in Brisbane is idle, we can forward the jobs to Brisbane to make sure the machine is used at an optimal level. Also, if somebody has an after-hours job in Sydney that requires next day delivery, we can get the job done in Perth and deliver it to the customer by noon of the next day. These are some of the benefits we can provide to our customers,” says Jadow. A milestone for Interseal came
The Interseal team offers custom machine seals. when the Seven Hills branch was audited by HACCP Australia Services in 2010 and received HACCP certification for following safety and hygiene practices in the manufacturing processes. This further broadened the business’ capabilities, enabling it to produce parts for a wider range of industries, from mining to food and beverage and pharmaceuticals. A majority of Interseal’s services
are to customers of Seal Innovations’ sister companies, CBC and BSC. This includes machining moulded rubber and plastic components for manufacturers for rapid prototyping, as well as for original equipment manufacturers and re-designing replacement seals for a wide array of industries, from hydraulics and pneumatics to mining, rail, and general industries. Interseal also has big plans for
expansion, as Jadow adds further. “We are looking at investing in a three-axis machine, which will allow us to manufacture much more complicated parts, including the ability to make 1000-millimetre seals. We are also constantly modernising our tools and equipment and we are hoping to expand our machining locations to Adelaide and Melbourne in the near future.” St Vincent wraps it up well with his take on the secret to Interseal’s success over the years. “We are the only machined sealing company I know that provides samples on large orders to determine functionality before commencement of full production. If a customer places an order for 100 seals, I make samples for fit and trial and only once the customer approves, do we progress with completion of the order. If, for any reason, they are not happy with the performance, we don’t charge for the sample. That’s how confident we are in the quality of our products and what we do.” PACE
Advancements in Electric Linear Actuator Technology
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– 12 or 24 V – Available with IO-Link
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AUGUST 2021 www.pacetoday.com.au 13
NEW PRODUCTS
LineVu: Inspiring confidence, improving process safety LineVu is a video-based system designed to detect contamination in high pressure gas systems, enable alarm notifications and allow access to live video to both office-based and field-based engineers. By providing better data on which to base operational decisions regarding process safety and efficiency, the system improves accountability of gas suppliers to gas network systems and can boost production in gas treatment plants. With live data, immediate action can be taken to prevent or minimise further contamination entering a gas network system, and recorded data can be used as evidence to recover pigging and clean-up costs from suppliers who breach supply agreements. Everyone wants to get the most from the assets they have but being able to see what is happening in a high-pressure gas treatment plant or gas pipeline has not been possible until now. Liquid carry-over, foam or even hydrate formation are common problems that need attention as soon as they occur. Unexpected liquids appearing in gas systems are the cause of large-scale loss and process failures and can have an impact on asset integrity. LineVu is a high precision camera system which can be used to determine the real flow limits of a gas/liquid separator system to support and improve flow modelling of “as built” processing plants. Permanent installation allows process failure events to be detected early and prevent loss and damage of assets such as compressors or absorber beds, and foam control becomes easier to manage.
AMS Instrumentation & Calibration Pty Ltd 03 9017 8225 www.ams-ic.com.au
Winmate’s W15IB3S-PTA3 15.6” PT Series HMI Panel PC Backplane Systems Technology presents Winmate’s W15IB3S-PTA3 15.6” PT Series HMI Panel PC. The W15IB3S-PTA3 is a 15.6” 1920 x 1080 resolution and PCAP Touchscreen HMI Panel PC with a low power consuming Intel Celeron N2930 processor. The true flat front panel is IP65 rated for protection against water and dust and a plastic enclosure. The HMI Panel PC has a fanless cooling system which can operate in temperatures from 0°C to 50°C. Multiple I/O interfaces include USB 2.0, one LAN port, serial interface RS-232/422/485 for machine-to-machine communications, USB 2.0, and USB 3.0 for data transfer. The W15IB3S-PTA3 HMI is an ultimate solution for Point-of-Sale (POS) applications. Key features: • 15.6” 1920 x 1080 with P-CAP touchscreen; • Intel Celeron N2930 1.83 GHz; • fanless cooling system and ultra-low power consumption; • front IP65 for protection against water and dust; and • a true flat, easy-to-clean front surface with edge-to-edge design. Company: Backplane Systems Technology Phone: (02) 9457 6400 Web: www.backplane.com.au
14 www.pacetoday.com.au AUGUST 2021
NEW PRODUCTS
ICP Electronics Australia presents iEi’s Mustang-200 computing accelerator ICP Australia is proud to introduce iEi’s Mustang-200, which is an affordable and scalable advanced computing accelerator for speeding up computations, calculations, and applications. Equipped with 2 Intel Core i5/i7 processors, 32GB (4 x 8GB) RAM, and 1TB (2 x 512GB) Intel NVMe SSDs, this PCIe card can be used with your existing system, enabling highperformance computing without costing a fortune. You can install multiple Mustang-200 to further boost your computing capabilities, and assign tasks to any of these units as needed. Mustang-200 can easily process high-definition 360° surround videos, and can help creative professionals streamline their workflows and accelerate their processes The Mustang-200 can pre-process data generated within your organisation or across your devices on-premise, to filter out irrelevant information and only keep valuable insights, and then further utilise them by sending or uploading to cloud platforms. Furthermore, with the Mustang-200 every additional CPU works independently, so one can assign tasks to any nodes of your choice, and have real-time control over how every node works. Likewise, the Mustang200 can be immediately installed into your existing system. If you need to perform additional calculations, you can add additional Mustang-200 as they work independently from each other. Lastly, no matter what kind of software is used, it can be hosted inside the Mustang-200, allowing you to achieve more applications such as artificial intelligence, academic research, and simulations.
Key features: • Intel Core i7-7567U; • intel iris plus Graphics 650 (GT3e); • dual fan; • video transcoding and streaming; and • fog computing. Company: ICP Electronics Australia Phone: (02) 9457 6011 Web: www.icp-australia.com.au
Effective on-line condition monitoring for industrial machinery The vibration sensor of the VV family is a real-time vibration sensor specifically designed to monitor industrial machines under difficult operating conditions. The type VV sensor can detect and alert you to problems before they affect your production availability. The IO-Link technology simplifies the setup and automates monitoring using the industrial network of your plant being either Ethernet, Profinet, Modbus or EtherCat. The continuous monitoring is realised in four categories of machine failure: impact, fatigue, friction and temperature. With the vibration sensor VV you increase the equipment availability, decrease the maintenance costs and ensure the quality of the machine. Raw signal capture for real-time advanced analytics or simple indicators for automated alerts. Industrial grade machine protection integrates directly into your existing control platform without the need for control cabinets or extensive wiring thanks to IO-Link. This allows the timely and predictable scheduling of maintenance before major damage or failure and production downtime. Machines are continuously and permanently protected unlike intermittent monitoring systems. The industrial proven IO-Link system simplifies integrating Industry 4.0 technology directly into your existing control platform. Expensive secondary networks, gateways, and IT support is not needed. IO-Link masters send status signals to the controls and has the ability to send calculated and raw vibration signals to higher level systems for advanced analytics. The vibration sensor internally acquires and analyses various process values that are used to detect machine errors. Critical points such as: • v-RMS (Machine looseness conditions) Effective value of the vibration velocity, identifies component fatigue. • a-RMS (Machine friction conditions) Effective value of the acceleration, identifies mechanical rubbing. • a-Peak (Machine impact conditions)
Maximum acceleration, identifies mechanical impacts. • Crest-Factor a -Peak/a-RMS, is one of the important measures of overall machine condition. • Temperature I dentifies a rising temperature caused by excessive friction or other effects (e.g. electrical causes). • Raw data F or detailed analysis or cause analysis in case of damage, the sensor also provides raw data of the acceleration recording. These are issued on request as a BLOB (Binary Large Object) and transmitted using IO-Link. The system can record the operating condition at 4 second intervals and transmit the data during several minutes to higher level systems. ifm efector 1300 365 088 www.ifm.com/au/en
AUGUST 2021 www.pacetoday.com.au 15
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