News

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Jam busters drive hire service set to take off

Control and automation specialist SoftStart UK has build a fleet of variable speed drive control cabinets that it is making available for hire, to address a growing need across many sectors of industry. The company’s managing director Stuart Harvey says that in recent times there has been an increasing demand for prompt solutions to immediate

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NEWS-ATEX

Understanding ATEX equipment protection concepts

Control panels built for use in hazardous areas have to be designed to meet the specific risks of the installation site. Panel builders need both a sound understanding of the safety principles and expertise based on broad experience. Stuart Harvey, managing director of Softstart UK, looks at the recognised concepts of explosion protection for electrical

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SABSCO

Cleanliness is critical for reliability in steam lines

The smallest of dirt particles can do substantial damage to the blades of a steam turbine. For this reason a thorough cleaning of the high pressure steam lines feeding the turbine is imperative before a new installation is commissioned. This is achieved by blowing and thermally cycling the steam lines with superheated steam which cleans

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VARCO Oil Platform

Eliminating Transformer Inrush Current

The two powerful drill drivers of the ENSCO 8500 series drill rig are each fed by a 6.5MVA transformer with taps at +7.5° and -7.5°. Every transformer, when connected to the grid / generator has a high inrush current (20-30 In), especially this phase shift transformer. Such inrush current will trip the mains /generator protection

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hazard-ex-awards

HazardEx 2009 – Award winner for Technical Innovation

At the HazardEx 2009 exhibition and conference held in Harrogate, Softstart UK was an award winner for technical innovation for their HRVS-EX medium voltage soft-starter. The HRVS-EX is the world’s first medium voltage soft-starter certified for use with explosion-proof motors. This award follows hard on the heels of Softstart UK gaining the UK Chamber of

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panel

Softstart UK Hammers Starter Costs For EdF

When EdF (Cottam Power) needed a starter for the MV drive fitted to a hammer mill at its Nottingham site, most suppliers claimed that only a costly variable speed drive would be suitable. Softstart UK, however, with its wide experience of similarly demanding applications, was confident in offering instead a much more cost-effective MV soft

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