DALLAS, March 31, 2005 -- Flowserve Corp., a global provider of fluid motion and control products and services, announces the successful completion of valve automation installations at two Defense Energy Supply Center (DESC) fuel depots in Jacksonville, Fla.
The work was managed by the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center (SPAWARSYSCEN), of Charleston, S.C.. The depots, which implemented a total of 136 flagship MX "smart" multi-turn electric actuators with integral Modbus DDC field units and four Master Station II network control units from Flowserve Limitorque Actuation Systems, transfer bulk aviation and marine diesel fuel to other stations and refuel Navy and other Department of Defense (DOD) aircraft, ships, assault vehicles and trucks.
Of the total set of equipment installed in Jacksonville, 94 MX actuators and three Master Station II units were installed at the Northside Fuel Depot, the larger of the two facilities, while 42 MX actuators and one Master Station II unit were installed at the Mayport Fuel Depot. The actuators at each site are connected to the Master Station II units over an existing Ethernet network, a capability that was a major factor in ENGlobal Design Group, Inc., the primary design engineering and installation contractor, selecting Limitorque for the project. The Jacksonville installations follow three successful Limitorque SPAWARSYSCEN Charleston fueling station projects in Yorktown and Craney Island, Va., and in Pensacola, Fla.
The Jacksonville project, which began in 2003, was implemented to help DESC automate their fuel depot valves, pumps and piping. The automation project is an extension of the DOD's Automated Fuel Handling Equipment (AFHE) system, a DOD System Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA)-based platform for advanced facility control and monitoring. The AFHE system enables DESC to achieve greater accountability in the fueling process and to safely manage its facilities.
"We were working with a system that originally required just tons of cabling and wiring for each valve," says Tim Haines, construction superintendent, ENGlobal Design Group, who worked on the project. "We wanted a network system where the valves could be controlled with only two wires. We wound up having to rip out all of the existing actuators. The Flowserve Limitorque systems we installed are robust and dynamic, and allowed us to design as we like to design."
The success of the Jacksonville installations has led ENGlobal Design Group to select Flowserve Limitorque as a preferred provider of actuators and network control units for future projects. "Flowserve Limitorque came in and worked with us to expeditiously install the MX actuators and get the system up and rolling on time," adds Haines.
"Flowserve Limitorque engineers were tenacious in their pursuit of making it work. They went head and shoulders above what they had to contractually do. Their support was there whenever we had any problems, even when the problems turned out to be on our side. Help has always been just a call away."
Based in Dallas, Flowserve Corp. (www.flowserve.com) is one of the world's leading providers of fluid motion and control products and services. Operating in 56 countries, the company produces engineered and industrial pumps, seals and valves as well as a range of related flow management services.
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