Parker Sporlan's new web-based product selection program, Virtual Engineer, allows the user to size, select and fully...
Parker Sporlan's new web-based product selection program, Virtual Engineer, allows the user to size, select and fully configure products for Air Conditioning and Refrigeration applications. Virtual Engineer features quick selection of single or multiple components by template. An innovative dashboard and project system make saving, editing, and sharing projects easy.
Virtual Engineer replaces Parker Sporlan’s legacy Selection Program. The legacy Selection Program was originally created to perform distributor calculations for internal purposes. Over the years, its use expanded to include many of the products Parker Sporlan offers and became an industry standard tool for selecting products in HVACR applications.
By using Virtual Engineer, OEMs, Wholesalers, and Contractors can select the latest Parker Sporlan products with the most up-to-date refrigerants available on the market today. Users can select and size easily while out on the job site, in the equipment room or from their office. Parker Sporlan is committed to serving the HVACR industry with new and updated innovative tools to help users get the job done quickly and efficiently.
Virtual Engineer highlights 17 product areas with a basic template layout.
Product areas:
Distributors
Expansion Valves
Solenoid Valves – Discharge, Suction, Liquid
Catch-Alls® – Liquid, Suction
Suction Filters
Discharge Bypass Valves
Evaporator Pressure Regulators
Discharge MTW Valves
Head Pressure Control Valves
Differential Pressure Regulators
Temperature Responsive Valves
3-Way Hot Gas Defrost Valves
Condenser Split Solenoid Valves
3-Way Heat Reclaim Valves
Secondary Coolant Valves
Liquid, Discharge and Suction Line Sizing
Flash Gas Bypass and Gas Cooler Valves
Getting started - Background and the basics
With the use of an interactive template, all product areas are represented on the Dashboard when the user accesses the login page. The user can toggle from part to part from within the different categories, then is prompted to enter specific information when the part is chosen. Once a part is chosen, the Sizing and Configuration tools for each product appears. This feature is particularly valuable in systems such as cooling loops in which the optimal sizing and selection path is not intuitive. First-time users can now complete sizing and selection with minimal assistance.
Virtual Engineer allows refrigerant and product updates to become available as they are released. The web-based aspect of it ensures users are working with the latest version of the program. The HTML5 interface makes it scalable to the screen size being used. NIST Refrprop 10.0 is used for the refrigerant properties.
Popular system features from the previous Selection Program such as line sizing and thermodynamic reports have been carried over to Virtual Engineer. Thermodynamic reports have been expanded to include Pressure-Enthalpy, Pressure-Temperature and Enthalpy-Temperature graphs.
“We are excited about several new tools in the Virtual Engineer package, including the ability to size electric valves and mechanical valves in the same tool allowing for side-by-side loading analysis. The new software also allows for sizing of a wider range of electric valves including the Modulating 3-Way Valves, electric head pressure control valves, and Transcritical CO2 products. The new tools build on Parker Sporlan’s legacy of supporting the HVACR industry and providing new, innovative tools that help users get the job done.”
Dustin Searcy, division marketing manager, Sporlan Division
Your step-by-step guide to using Virtual Engineer
Save design engineering time with these simple steps:
Step 1: Click to access Parker Sporlan's Virtual Engineer.
Step 2: Choose your product category using the interactive interface.
Step 3: Size, select and compare products that meet the requirements of your application.
Step 4: Find a wholesaler, create your personal account, share your project, and/or download files.
Step 1: Access Parker Sporlan's Virtual Engineer
This is what you'll see.
Use the grey arrows to toggle forward and backward to find your product category.
Once you've identified your product category, click the image to load the sizing tool.
Step 3: Size, select and compare products that meet the requirements of your application.
In this example, the Expansion Valve sizing tool is chosen, located in the Expansion Devices section.
The Product Info icon takes you to the Expansion Valve's product page. Each product page is specific to that product family. This page will include a product overview, specifications, literature and other product support materials.
Enter your system information in the required red field boxes. Virtual Engineer will alert you if an incorrect value is entered. As information is entered, the available products will be filtered on the right side of the screen.
You can also Save Progress and Reset Parameters using the tools in the upper right column. Saving your progress will require you to create a free account with Virtual Engineer.
After entering your parameters, click the Compare button at the top right of the screen. All available options are included in the compare table by default. You can deselect these as necessary. The Compare button will bring up the Compare Table.
Step 4: Find a wholesaler, create your personal account, share your project, and/or download files.
Add your part to an existing project, or create a new one. Next create a system inside your project. There is no limit to the number of projects or systems you have.
Article contributed by Jason Forshee, application engineer, Sporlan Division of Parker Hannifin
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For some applications, a critical component of selecting a seal material is a phenomenon known as “outgassing”. However, even within the elastomer community, outgassing is not something that is commonly considered. Which begs the questions: what is outgassing and why is it important? Outgassing is usually most relevant in vacuum applications, where the vacuum causes the elastomer to release constituent material. The constituent material could include water vapor, plasticizers, oils, byproducts of the cure reaction, or other additives used in the seal material. Outgassing becomes a problem if a thin film of those chemicals condenses and is deposited on nearby surfaces. Such a film poses major challenges in highly sensitive applications, such as optics or electronics, where cleanliness is of utmost importance. A seal material with low outgassing is essential because it shows the seal material does not emit volatile constituents under vacuum conditions.
Outgassing is most often characterized by weight loss of the seal material. The ASTM test method E595 is one way to quantify outgassing by measuring Total Mass Loss (TML %), Collected Volatile Condensable Materials (CVCM %) and a reported value for Water Vapor Regain (WVR %). Measurements are taken following a 24 hour exposure to vacuum of 5x10-5 torr at a temperature of 257°F.
Taken together, these three parameters tell a complete story. The TML is reported as the percent of the specimen’s initial weight that is lost during the test; under standard criteria, the result must be less than 1.00% mass loss. Obviously, minimizing TML is a good thing, but it is not the only important factor. Collected volatile condensable material (CVCM) is the amount of outgassed matter from a specimen that condenses onto a collector during the maintained time and temperature. CVCM is of particular concern because any material that readily condenses in the test is likely to condense on and contaminate nearby surfaces during use. To pass the standard CVCM requirement, the amount collected relative to the initial mass of the specimen must be less than 0.10%. The final measurement, WVR, is the mass of the water vapor absorbed by the specimen after a 24-hour stabilization at 23°C in a 50% relative humidity atmosphere. There is seldom a pass/fail limit for WVR; instead this result is merely reported. In many applications, the small amount of water vapor lost by a seal may not be of concern, particularly if the application already includes a means of controlling moisture. Further, any WVR is presumed to be equal to the portion of original TML that was water vapor. The difference between TML and WVR is therefore presumed to be volatile organic material that has evaporated out of the material (only some of which condenses in the CVCM test), so minimizing the difference between TML and WVR is also of considerable importance.
To illustrate, we can look at the most recent outgassing data completed on a few popular low temperature fluorocarbon materials. Table 1 contains the results from a 3rd party laboratory to measure the outgassing properties of VM125-75 and VX065-75. Both had undetectable amounts of CVCM and very small differences between TML and WVR. VX065-75 in particular displayed remarkably little outgassing as well as a low WVR.
table { font-family: arial, sans-serif; border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%; } td, th { border: 1px solid #dddddd; text-align: center; padding: 8px; } tr:nth-child(even) { background-color: #ffb91d; } Limit VM125 VX065 Total Mass Loss (TML, %) 1.00 % max 0.48 0.15 Collected Volatile Condensable Material (CVCM, %) 0.10% max <0.01 <0.01 Water Vapor Regain (WVR, %) Report 0.39 0.17There are a few additional resources detailing seal materials that are known for having low weight loss. The O-Ring Handbook ORD 5700, Table 3-19 (page 65 of the pdf), has a few legacy materials with weight loss percent after a two-week exposure to 1 x 10-6 torr vacuum level, at room temperature. Additionally, non-Parker resources such as the NASA website contain an interesting summary of a much broader range of materials.
For more information on low outgassing seal materials, please contact a Parker Application Engineer at OESmailbox@Parker.com or 859-335-5101.
This article was contributed by Dorothy Kern, applications engineering manager, Parker O-Ring & Engineered Seals Division.
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ISO 14001 is recognized as the international standard for environmental management systems and provides organizations/businesses with criteria to follow, which will identify, control, and reduce their environmental impact. Becoming ISO 14001 certified has numerous benefits to businesses, sectors, and activities large or small. ISO 14001 is a voluntary standard that hundreds of thousands of companies worldwide have chosen to become certified in, uniting them in a global goal to reduce the environmental impacts created by companies and businesses, to preserve the natural Earth for future generations.
ISO 14001: was recently updated to ISO 14001: 2015, which introduces a few requirements to a universally beneficial certification. Key benefits of ISO 14001: 2015 include:
Reducing environmental impact
When becoming ISO 14001:2015 certified, Precision Fluidics Division of Parker Hannifin was getting two trash and one recycling pickup each week. The goal was to reverse those numbers. It was achieved in 18 months by training, raising awareness to all employees, increasing recycling bins throughout the facility with signs/labeling, and constant monitoring. Goals of this magnitude take time and planning, but the environmental rewards are immense.
Helping our customers and our team
Precision Fluidics is a great example of an organization set on reducing its environmental impact. A goal was set to improve the durability of product packaging and eliminate landfill waste at a customer location by introducing recyclable materials. A few simple adjustments were made such as using recyclable trays instead of bubble wrap, bubble bags, and foam inside each shipping container. The change resulted in energy savings, trash reduction, and reduction in the weight production needed of each box. The total result was almost 64,000 pieces of foam a year eliminated from landfill, 100% percent recyclable packaging, and a simpler tray packaging system.
Transitioning to a tray system reduced the weight the production team needs to handle when transporting from the production cell to shipping, providing a much-appreciated safety and ergonomic improvement. Another exciting feature of the new packaging is that our product is even more secure during shipment. Following the ISTA (International Safe Transit Association) test procedure, Precision Fluidics validated the new packaging to be an improvement over the non-recycled foam — reducing the risk of shipping damage and increasing the product quality when it's received at our customers' locations.
Reduce, reuse and recycle
Another simple adjustment Precision Fluidics has made is utilizing reusable packaging for component parts from repeat vendors.
Precision Fluidics reuses trays from various vendors when possible (see image left). After the trays are empty, they are shipped back to the vendor and reused. This is a great example of a very simple way to reduce, reuse and recycle.
Precision Fluidics is an ISO 14001: 2015 certified company that has set both large and small goals that have been beneficial to the company as a whole, customers, and best of all, the environment. The above examples show how ambitious yet simple goals can have great impacts. The main objective in ISO-14001: 2015 is having continuous improvement and never being content with what you have achieved.
Becoming certified
The first step in becoming ISO 14001:2015 certified is to define your objective. What does your company want to achieve by getting this certification? Make sure you have the support of senior management. Take the time to review any existing processes and systems pertinent to environmental impact. If desired, third-party certifications are available that will conduct audits of your practices against the requirements standards. ISO does not perform certification. For more information about the certification process, visit www.iso.org.
To learn more about Parker Precision Fluidics Division, visit our website or call 603-595-1500 to speak with an engineer.
Article contributed by Jamie Campbell, pump product manager, Parker Precision Fluidics Division, Mooresville, NC. Jamie is constantly looking for new ways to reduce and recycle at the Mooresville location.
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Parker’s 2018 Sustainability Report Highlights Commitment to Social Responsibility
ISO 14001 is recognized as the international standard for environmental management systems and provides organizations/businesses with criteria to follow, which will identify, control, and reduce their environmental impact. Becoming ISO 14001 certified has numerous benefits to businesses, sectors, and activities large or small. ISO 14001 is a voluntary standard that hundreds of thousands of companies worldwide have chosen to become certified in, uniting them in a global goal to reduce the environmental impacts created by companies and businesses, to preserve the natural Earth for future generations.
ISO 14001: was recently updated to ISO 14001: 2015, which introduces a few requirements to a universally beneficial certification. Key benefits of ISO 14001: 2015 include:
Reducing environmental impact
When becoming ISO 14001:2015 certified, Precision Fluidics Division of Parker Hannifin was getting two trash and one recycling pickup each week. The goal was to reverse those numbers. It was achieved in 18 months by training, raising awareness to all employees, increasing recycling bins throughout the facility with signs/labeling, and constant monitoring. Goals of this magnitude take time and planning, but the environmental rewards are immense.
Helping our customers and our team
Precision Fluidics is a great example of an organization set on reducing its environmental impact. A goal was set to improve the durability of product packaging and eliminate landfill waste at a customer location by introducing recyclable materials. A few simple adjustments were made such as using recyclable trays instead of bubble wrap, bubble bags, and foam inside each shipping container. The change resulted in energy savings, trash reduction, and reduction in the weight production needed of each box. The total result was almost 64,000 pieces of foam a year eliminated from landfill, 100% percent recyclable packaging, and a simpler tray packaging system.
Transitioning to a tray system reduced the weight the production team needs to handle when transporting from the production cell to shipping, providing a much-appreciated safety and ergonomic improvement. Another exciting feature of the new packaging is that our product is even more secure during shipment. Following the ISTA (International Safe Transit Association) test procedure, Precision Fluidics validated the new packaging to be an improvement over the non-recycled foam — reducing the risk of shipping damage and increasing the product quality when it's received at our customers' locations.
Reduce, reuse and recycle
Another simple adjustment Precision Fluidics has made is utilizing reusable packaging for component parts from repeat vendors.
Precision Fluidics reuses trays from various vendors when possible (see image left). After the trays are empty, they are shipped back to the vendor and reused. This is a great example of a very simple way to reduce, reuse and recycle.
Precision Fluidics is an ISO 14001: 2015 certified company that has set both large and small goals that have been beneficial to the company as a whole, customers, and best of all, the environment. The above examples show how ambitious yet simple goals can have great impacts. The main objective in ISO-14001: 2015 is having continuous improvement and never being content with what you have achieved.
Becoming certified
The first step in becoming ISO 14001:2015 certified is to define your objective. What does your company want to achieve by getting this certification? Make sure you have the support of senior management. Take the time to review any existing processes and systems pertinent to environmental impact. If desired, third-party certifications are available that will conduct audits of your practices against the requirements standards. ISO does not perform certification. For more information about the certification process, visit www.iso.org.
To learn more about Parker Precision Fluidics Division, visit our website or call 603-595-1500 to speak with an engineer.
Article contributed by Jamie Campbell, pump product manager, Parker Precision Fluidics Division, Mooresville, NC. Jamie is constantly looking for new ways to reduce and recycle at the Mooresville location.
Related content
Parker’s 2018 Sustainability Report Highlights Commitment to Social Responsibility
Parker Global publishes news from inside the company that focuses on our efforts to be a good corporate citizen around the world and illustrate our commitment to deliver on our brand promise to partner with our customers to increase their productivity and profitability.
ParkerStore MRO Authority is your resource for the Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul space. Our goal is to improve your productivity and profitability with information on ParkerStore Service Points nearest you, Parker product and Technology Centers (Hydraulic, Pneumatic, Seal) updates, expert tips, troubleshooting, how-to articles and the latest industry news. We're ready to help you; not just with critical replacement parts, but solutions. And it's important those solutions are available where you are - onsite and off. If you know us already, you know that getting you back to work is our "thing". If you're not working with your local Distributor and ParkerStore, please read more.
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