Process Observation Solutions: LJ Star Design Capabilities Enable Sight Glass Window Customization
The best process observation window might not be in a catalogue or sitting on a warehouse shelf. It might exist as an idealistic drawing on the back of a napkin. Or the opposite of ideal might be expressed in an email, as mounting frustration related to sight glass windows that repeatedly fail, bringing production to a halt and necessitating continual replacement orders.
The team at LJ Star can help guide the process of designing and fabricating custom orders for sight glass windows to make it easy for you to turn idealistic concepts into viable reality and end your frustrations. We can help analyze your process observation parameters and work collaboratively on a new design that best fits the needs of your operation. Getting started, it helps to understand some of the factors that demand a custom approach and which options can get the sight glass observation port from a sketch into operation.
A recent article in Food Processing highlighted the importance of a master sanitation schedules. Essentially this schedule serves as a “back-up” to your daily maintenance procedures but involves the periodic cleaning and care for equipment and infrastructure inaccessible to daily cleaning activities.
The article covers two essential parts of the master sanitation schedule – the creation of the schedule and validating the procedures outlined in the schedule.
Schedule Creation
The starting point of creating the schedule, according to the article, is identifying where in your process you have contamination risk. Where are parts that could become a risk, either from poor design, material composition, process requirements, or other factors? Once identified, these non-compliance risks should be analyzed, and a set of cleaning requirements determined and added to the master sanitation schedule.
Schedule Validation
The practical application of the schedule requires validation. The article lays out a method that involves disassembly to reach the parts and visual inspection prior to taking samples both before and after the outlined cleaning. In this way, possible contaminants can be identified, and the cleaning procedure’s effectiveness and frequency are ensured.
Sight Glasses – A Window Into Your Master Sanitation Schedule
It stands to reason that the more parts that are a contamination risk and not readily accessible, the longer your master sanitation schedule, and the more production time lost to accessing and cleaning those parts. However, using accessible and hygienically designed equipment can reduce the number of items that could pose a contamination risk and reduce the time and effort needed to address them in the master sanitation schedule.
LJ Star has several products that fit those criteria.
Our sanitary sight glasses let you see more parts of your process, eliminating unknown corners that could become a concern while offering improved hygienic operation. Properly installed sanitary fittings make disassembly easier to perform and are less likely to add to contamination risks. In addition, LJ Star offers flow indicators, sight windows, bubble traps, and other sanitary products designed to meet various hygienic standards, along with the documentation and traceability to ensure they are, when properly maintained, the products that match your precise specifications.
The LJ Star Resource Center has many tools to help you and your company ensure sanitary standards.
Going to the Craft Brewers Conference in Colorado this week? Stop by booth #3838 for your personal demonstration of our new lights:
- Go green with LED technology
- 2x brighter than a traditional 100-watt halogen light
- See your process like never before for finer control
LJ Star is showcasing its entire line of sight windows, LED lighting and sanitary clamps at this year’s PackExpo (booth # SU-7125), September 27-29. You’ll be able to see our products, videos and even talk with our applications specialists about your specific facility.
Can’t go to the shows? Visit our Virtual Trade Show Booth right now! LJ Star has created its own virtual exhibit, filled with information on new products, links to videos and white papers. You can even chat with one of our applications experts when visiting the booth, via online chat.
Lumiglas Explosive LED Lights for Processing Applications
Learn More: Visit www.ljstar.com to see specs, download CAD files and view tutorials
Never Miss a Show Again – LJ Star Launches Interactive Virtual Trade Show Exhibit
Thinking about going to Pack Expo or Interphex but don’t have the time or travel budget? Still want to find out what’s new, or ask questions about new LJ Star technology?
There’s no substitute for face-to-face conversation, of course, but if that’s not possible LJ Star has created the next best thing – its new Virtual Trade Show Exhibit!
In process industries ranging from industrial, chemical, food/beverage or pharmaceuticals, it’s essential that products are processed in the safest environment possible in order to
comply with a wide variety of regulations. Lighting plays a critical role to safety, of course. In order to see critical processes inside your tanks and vessels, you need the most reliable lighting available. And reliability certainly begins with availability – if you can’t find new halogen bulbs to replace your existing halogens, it’s lights out for your process.
Twinsburg, OH – February 22, 2021 –
LJ Star offers a line of Anti-Galling Clamps that are specially designed to prevent the adhesion of materials due to friction and to keep processes running smoothly. The full line of Anti-Gall Clamps is produced to the highest hygienic engineering standards and are constantly being updated based on customer feedback and industry requirements.
“If galling occurs on a sanitary clamp, the nut and bolt fuse together so the operator can’t easily remove the clamp,” explained LJ Star National Sales Manager Jeremy Sheldon. “Quite often, the operator would have to cut off the clamp to remove it. This would
Twinsburg, OH – January 26, 2021 – LJ Star (www.ljstar.com) announces that its patent-pending Clamp Type Sterile Visual Flow Indicator, or CT-SVFI, was awarded one of Processing Magazine’s 2020 Breakthrough Products Awards.
Processing’s annual Breakthrough Products Awards showcase innovate technologies that improve operations in the processing industry. Each year the magazine selects the 10 most significant product developments in the industry, recognized for helping end users better manage tough processing environments, achieve regulatory compliance, reduce unplanned downtime and drive overall profitability.
One of the best sight glass lights just got even better. The LJ Star LumiStar®1000, the world’s brightest compact sight glass luminaire, is now Intertek ETL approved and conforms to UL 2108; in Canada it conforms to CSA C22.2 #250.0.
What is the ETL Listed Mark?
Intertek ETL certifications serve as the benchmark for safety and performance in today’s processing equipment. The ETL Listed Mark indicates that a product has
We’re all living through new experiences these days, and “attending” virtual trade shows is one of them. While we’ll miss seeing everyone in person at PackExpo 2020, LJ Star is preparing a wide range of demos and product highlights to feature our newest products.
Pharmaceutical applications require hygienic environments. Companies involved in pharmaceutical production must ensure tight controls on product purity through every stage of the development process, from manufacturing and quality control to packaging and shipping. Due to the tight restrictions that the FDA and other
Magnetic level gauges use magnetism to link the indicator in a gauge to a float inside of a vessel in order to accurately show the level of fluid within. As the position of the float changes, the indicator moves up or down by the same amount, meaning that the level in the measuring chamber will always be the same as the fluid level in the vessel itself.
We have recently learned that inferior gauge glass, with a historically common industry name, from an overseas supplier has entered the North American market and does not meet accepted standards of safety and performance.
Beer is one of the oldest and the most largely consumed alcoholic beverages in the world. This all-time favorite brew has been a staple at sporting events, social gatherings, and family barbecues for generations. During the past few years, craft beers have created quite a buzz among younger consumers seeking a more unique palette than their parents’ traditional beer. Craft breweries have experienced unprecedented growth by bringing an almost endless variety of beer styles to the market. In fact, the overall global beer market is expected to reach $685 billion by 2025.
While inherently resistant to corrosion, sight glasses can begin to corrode under the right circumstances, particularly if the wrong material is spec’d for the application. If a sight glass happens to corrode, it becomes increasingly vulnerable to sight glass failure. When glass fails, it is often sudden and catastrophic, damaging your system, putting workers at risk, and causing unplanned downtime. That’s why it’s important to understand the dangers of sight glass corrosion and failure so that you can adequately prepare for them… and avoid a costly disaster.
The purpose of a sight glass is to allow plant managers and engineers to look inside of their systems without disrupting the environment within. Often referred to as viewing glasses, they offer you a way to see the levels of liquids or gases that are traveling through a critical point of your design, monitor pressure changes, and virtually anything else that sight glass windows could allow you to do. With their widespread use, sight glasses have become critical to operations such as steam pipelines, chemical processing, pharmaceutical processing, and food processing.
What is a sight flow indicator?
A sight flow indicator provides a window into a process pipeline that allows operators a visual means of verifying liquid flow and flow direction. Simple and low-cost, it also allows operators to observe the color, clarity, consistency, viscosity and other characteristics of process fluids.
The basic description of a sight flow indicator is a glass column or two opposing windows with a means to mount the device to a pipeline. Bodies or heads in a tubular style are usually constructed out of a specific metal. Windows are made from special glass discs in a gasketed assembly, glass windows fused in a metal frame, or tubular glass. Occasionally polymer windows are used.
How does a sight flow indicator work?
A sight flow indicator gives the operator a window to observe how a process fluid moves through the pipeline.
At a basic level, how a sight flow indicator works is simple: just look through the window to observe the flow in a pipeline. Actually, there are complexities in the many types of indication and construction of the equipment. Each style of indicator works a little differently.
Vote for LumiFlo®!
We’re so excited to announce that the LumiFlo® LED light has been nominated for a 2019 Flow Control Innovation Award.
The LumiFlo® LED Light is a first-to-market, exclusive patent pending LJ Star product that is designed to improve the lighting of full view sight flow indicators in process fluid lines. It easily attaches to most inline full view sight flow indicators in process fluid lines, allowing operators to clearly see color, flow and particles moving through the sight glass in order to visually inspect product quality, clarity, viscosity and consistency.
Thanks to all who stopped by to see us at the recent Interphex and Craft Brewing shows. We hope you enjoyed talking to our process observation experts and learned a few things about our products, as well.
Improperly specified, installed or maintained sight glasses can represent the weakest link in a processing system. The wrong glass or materials used will limit observation, require extra maintenance and replacements, and even fail under pressure with catastrophic results – since glass can fracture at 5 miles/second!
Keeping a Firm Grip on Sanitary Clamp Safety
For pharmaceutical and biotech companies, maintaining sterile process control is an ever-increasing challenge – one that can lead to cross-contamination, short term loss of product, long term drug shortages, lawsuits and even loss of life should sterile process be breached.
Keeping an Eye on Sight Glass Safety
If improperly specified, installed or maintained, sight glasses can be the weakest link in a processing system because they can limit observation capabilities, require frequent maintenance or replacement, or make it difficult to illuminate the vessel in which they’re installed.
In our efforts to continually improve our products we are introducing a change to the Domed Hexagon Nut used to tighten our range of clamps. These nuts are used to replace the Wing Nut in certain applications. The existing Domed Hexagon Nut, we currently supply, will become obsolete to be replaced by the new Hexagon Flat Nut.
Aarash Navabi, CPIP, Director of Research + Development, Research Dynamics, Massachusetts Division of L.J. Star, participates on several critical ASME Bioprocessing Equipment (BPE) Committees, the Surface Finish Subcommittee, the Polymers Subcommittee and is leading another Task Group for BPE. At meetings held in San Diego, California in May 2018, Aarash reported on a variety of committee discussions and decisions that drive the processing industry.
Gabe Montgomery, Engineering Manager, Tank Components Industries, an L.J. Star subsidiary located in Springfield, Missouri, is one of several L. J. Star engineers to serve on important ASME Bioprocessing Equipment (BPE) Committees. His work on the committee is part of the company’s contribution to advancing the technologies that shape our industry and to keep our customers informed on changes in the field. BPE held several meetings in San Diego, California in May 2018, and Gabe reports back on what he heard:
Michael Bosley, one of L.J. Star’s Product Support Specialists, took part in ASME Bioprocessing Equipment (BPE) Committee Meetings, held May 7-10, 2018, in San Diego, California. As a leading supplier to the biotechnology industry, we take our responsibility to participate in advancing the industry very seriously. By participating in the work of these committees, we hope to stay on the leading edge of evolving technologies; at the same time, we want to share updates on the topics these committees are weighing with you, so you can stay up to date on industry trends.
A “Light” Recipe for Craft Brewing Success
Halogen lamps were once the standard choice for craft brewers’ vessel sight glass lighting. However, a new generation of LED luminaires is growing in popularity for this application. Consider these questions to decide whether it’s time for your brewery to invest in making the switch to LEDs.
Why METAGLAS® Is Considered the Safest Sight Glass in the World
Since it was developed in the 1970s, METAGLAS® has been known as the safest sight glass in the world. A number of chemical and manufacturing companies collaborated to create METAGLAS, and to establish the standard with which it complies and by which all other sight glass is measured, a standard now called DIN7079.
Using sight glasses is essential in the production of pharmaceuticals, as is maintaining the functionality and cleanliness of those sight glasses. The good news is that a wide variety of sight glass accessories are available to assist pharmaceutical manufacturing personnel in the production of pure, high-quality product in every batch.
For pharmaceutical manufacturers, maintaining the cleanliness of their facilities, especially their stainless-steel process vessels, is Job #1. A UV light for your sight glass can help, as UV light can be used to inspect and verify SIP and CIP procedures have done an adequate job.
Vessels must be cleaned and sterilized thoroughly between each product batch. This is important to prevent contamination from previous batches or residual cleaning agents from adulterating the product. Depending on the type of drug being produced, an inadequately cleaned vessel could potentially force the facility to quality reject millions of dollars’ worth of compromised product.
As hot water passes through ground coffee beans, it extracts flavors, colors, and stimulants that make mornings more livable for many of us. When it comes to pharmaceutical processing, however, extraction can be a bad thing, as leaching from process system surfaces can extract unwanted elemental impurities.
The Chem Show is where engineers, plant managers and other CPI personnel come together to see the latest equipment & technology, meet product experts, and discover new ways to optimize their plant operations. Bringing together more than 5,000 industry professionals and 300 exhibiting companies, the Show is the largest North American event exclusively focused on the processing of fluids, powders and gases. Held every odd year since 1915, the Chem Show has a proven track record of helping the CPI meet the ongoing demand for faster, smarter, cleaner, and more efficient processing facilities.
Don’t forgot to stop by booth 431 while you are there!
The many ratings and standards bodies can be a confusing alphabet soup of acronyms… ATEX, UL, NEC, IEC, IP and NEMA. When is ATEX the right one?
If you are considering an ATEX explosion-proof light for your sight glass, then you already know that a light with an ATEX rating will be safe to operate in a potentially explosive atmosphere.
First, forget about IP and NEMA ratings. Those define housings. For example,
A common question that I hear is, “what is the first-indication flow rate?”
Sight flow indicators are a fail proof means of observing flow within a process pipeline. To make it easier to see the flow, often a mechanical indicator is added behind the window… a spinning rotor for example. What people are asking is, what is the minimum flow needed to move the indicator?
What is a sight glass? Definitions for common sight glass terms.
A sight glass, which can also be referred to as a sight port window or a sight window, is an observation window that allows you to look at fluid stored under high temperatures, extreme pressures, and other extreme environmental conditions. They are typically made of robust glass substrates that are used to analyze conditions in industrial equipment, chemical reactors, and more.
Sight glasses are used in industries ranging from refineries to craft breweries. They allow you to look inside equipment without having to worry about explosions, corrosion, or other types of damage. Perhaps because of their widely-varied applications, sight glasses are called by different names. Broadly speaking, a sight glass is any kind of window on a process vessel
Why Preventing Sanitary Clamp Galling Is Crucial to Product Purity
All makers of pharmaceuticals and biotechnology products have many concerns in common, but none is more critical than maintaining tight control over product purity during manufacturing and packaging. For example, if contamination were to compromise the integrity of a single batch of insulin, it could easily mean a loss of hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars in revenue to the manufacturer.
A sight glass seems pretty straightforward: a fitting with a window installed on the top or side of a vessel that you can look through and see what’s going on. Simple, right?
Not so fast. There is a wrong way to do anything, and choosing the wrong type of glass for a sight glass can have bad
The medicinal use of cannabis is becoming normalized in a growing number of states. Some of the products used include botanical oils. The botanical oil extraction process relies on pressure and solvents generally recognized as safe by the FDA. CO2 and hydrocarbon solvents such as butane or propane are the most common. Systems that use nButane work at relatively low pressures in the range of 80 to 150 psi. CO2 systems operate at higher pressures up to 5000 psi. Obviously, a failure at these pressures can be dangerous to workers, and natural gas products also carry the risk of fire and explosion.
Like other critical components of getting the perfect brew, conical fermenters need to be closely observed. Fermentation is part art, which means you need to involve your senses: seeing, smelling, tasting. It’s also part science, which means that you need a way to confirm that each stage of the process is going according to plan: that the cleaning solution is fully rinsed, that there is no cross batch contamination, etc. In short, you need a sight glass window on your vessel, and a light to illuminate its interior.
Conical fermenter sight glass lights come in various types and configurations. In my post today I’ll review some of your options, so you can choose the optimal light for your situation. By the way, although I’m focusing on fermenters, which may be conical or straight, the same advice will apply to any brewing equipment vessel, including mash lauter tuns, finishing tanks, and the like.[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Food and Beverage ApplicationExperts in the $738 billion food and beverage manufacturing industry know that, for consumers, taste begins with the eyes. This is especially true with beverages, for whom hue, clarity, cloudiness, transparency, opacity and foam are very tightly controlled. Such the domain of the processing engineer, who depends on the sight glass and associated lighting to observe the process media.
How to Size a Sight Glass Light for a Process Vessel?
Ah, the world of lighting used to be so simple. When you needed to illuminate the interior of a process vessel or tank, you selected a halogen light by its watts. Typically you used a 50 watt light because that’s what the manufacturers commonly offered. If that wasn’t bright enough, then you used a 100 watt light. It got hot, but you didn’t have much choice. The decision for your sight glass light was simple.
I have a tank and need a sight glass. What are my options? Although this may seem like an innocuous question… many factors come into play. While the choice is clear for some customers, there are many more for whom this choice is anything but clear.
Sight glasses allow you to safely observe processes inside your tanks, vessels, pipes, and reactors. It is a window that allows operators to inspect the process media, observe reactions, observe the functioning of mixing equipment, verify the presence or absence of media, see liquid level, etc. It consists of metal, glass, and gasket components. In order to ensure optimal performance, a variety of factors need to be considered. Here are 5 critical things to consider when specifying a sight glass for your process.
Let’s get started.
CHEM Show 2015, the trade show dedicated to the Chemical industry, is headed back to the Javits Center in New York City from November 17 through 19. Along with more than 300+ chemical industry professionals, representatives from L.J. Star will be on hand to meet and greet our long-time friends (and prospective friends!) in the chemical industry.
Sight Glass Maintenance Tips from L.J. Star Incorporated
The temperatures are warming up, flowers are blooming and spring is thankfully here! Along with the warmer weather comes the annual task of Spring cleaning – you know, the time to make your windows sparkle again, dust out all the cobwebs, assess any of winter’s damage or just clear out the clutter. Believe it or not there are benefits of a good cleaning – that sense of accomplishment (I love crossing things off my list!), getting rid of the dirt and dust that has collected over time and finally making those repairs before it’s too late. Leaving things unchecked or worse ignored can lead to bigger and messier problems. This holds true for maintaining your sight glasses.
Ready to roll…. The time and effort deciding where and when to show has been a challenge for some time. Making the right choices to promote oneself and stay on top of industry trends, demands and forecasting the needs of customers is critical in any business. So when an opportunity arises you’d be a fool to pass it by. And this week LJ Star, Inc will be taking advantage of such an opportunity by showing at the American Manufacturing Summit, February 29- March 1, 2016.
CHEM Show 2015, the trade show dedicated to the Chemical industry, is headed back to the Javits Center in New York City from November 17 through 19. Along with more than 300+ chemical industry professionals, representatives from L.J. Star will be on hand to meet and greet our long-time friends (and prospective friends!) in the chemical industry.
Any plant operator can tell you that an innocent-looking set of pipes can conceal nasty secrets, some as petrifying as the monster hiding in the plumbing in a Harry Potter movie. A sight flow indicator is a good way to discover what’s lurking within.
These simple, low-cost devices provide a visual means of verifying liquid flow for direction and approximate rate, and also to observe the color and clarity of process fluids. The body of a sight flow indicator is equipped with one or more viewing windows, usually with gaskets, and a way to mount the indicator to the pipeline, such as a flanged, threaded, or sanitary clamp fitting. They are available to fit standard pipe sizes ranging from ¼-inch to 16 inches and carry ANSI pressure ratings.