Bridging the Voice Gaps With Switching Technology

Switching establishes connections between telecommunication network nodes or routes. In the past, switchboard operators manually switched connections so that people were able to communicate through telephone networks. Today, switching technology is highly advances allowing digital voice packets travel between IP addresses within telecommunications networks. Let’s take a look at some of the basics.

Switching Technology Basics

The technology includes local, tandem and transit switches. Telecommunications providers use local switches to support specific areas and tandem switches to connect various switches within a network. Transit switches support long-distance connections. The three main switching types are circuit, packet and message. Here's a little more information about each type.

1. Circuit Switching

One of the most common switching types, circuit switching enables data transmission by establishing a dedicated route between the sender and the receiver. For data transmission to occur, a link must be set up, held and released. The route is set the instant the connection is active, and the connection lasts for the length of the conversation.

2. Packet Switching

As its name implies, packet switching organizes data in packets or blocks. Each packet features a header that includes source, destination and node address details. It then reaches its destination via different routes. This type of independent routing reduces bandwidth load and overcomes transmission interruptions. In some telecommunications networks, such as cellular communications, packet switching incurs a fee per unit of transmitted data.

3. Message Switching

Message switching is the transmission of a message through radio and telecommunications networks. While circuit switching involves a dedicated route between the sender and receiver, message switching does not rely on dedicated routes. Each message has its own destination source address and the network treats it as an independent entity. The network can send it on the most efficient route through a system of intermediate devices until it reaches its destination. Message switching relies on storage and forwarding and is also known as Store and Forward Switching. Email is a prime example of message switching.

Learn More About Switching Technology

Working for a communications system company in the USA, we are required to fully understand digital switching technologies. At a local level, we can configure and install an E1 switch for companies that seek to manage internal telecommunications traffic more effectively. Some clients are seeking more secure voice communications through packet encryption. So we need to install an encryption device that secures conversations before the data packets leaves the private networks of that company.

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Opening and Closing Big Valves Within a Wastewater Treatment Plant

For townships and cities that maintain a central sewer system, it is important to treat the wastewater and make it safe for release back into the environment. The mechanical operations of flow control valves, actuators, circulation tanks and gates help treatment plants manage the flow of wastewater during this process.

Today, more Americans than ever believe in environmental protection. After all, there is no doubt that improper waste management leads to contamination and the spread of diseases. This makes it all the more important for municipalities to ensure they have full control over the flow of all substances in and out of these treatment plants.

Mistakes can be costly and valve failure must be prevented. This is just one of the many reasons so many municipalities rely on electric actuators over hydraulic or pneumatic actuators.

A Brief History of Waste Treatment

In 1948, Congress signed the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to address the contamination of water supply systems. As awareness grew in America, it created enough momentum to pass the 1972 Clean Water Act. Not only do homes and businesses need to abide by the 1972 law, but municipalities need to as well.

Since then, there have been several amendments to strengthen the law and to provide more leeway to the EPA to implement programs aimed at solving pollution problems. Wastewater treatment plays a significant role in this goal.

The Needs of the Treatment Plant

Municipality maintenance crews are beholden to check and maintain the integrity of the rotary actuators for valves and gates that help to manage the flow of water and wastewater sludge. Periodic testing is mandatory to help keep the system stable. The flow of wastewater through primary and secondary clarifiers must not be impeded upon and the cleaning of debris and grit screens daily ids a must. The chlorination process works best when the majority of heavy particulates are removed before chlorination. Often the controls for butterfly valves is what impedes water flow, especially if older hydraulic equipment is not well maintained. These pages do a good job defining what is a hydraulic actuator and what is a pneumatic actuator.

Each treatment plant is different and should be evaluated as an independent unit. However, all treatment plants prioritize the release of safe substances back into the environment well after the dichlorination process and final filtering with sodium bisulfate. Problems occur when there is faulty equipment in the flow of water and sludge water. This flow requires the use of heavy-duty valves built to handle wastewater that may also hold suspended solids and reliable actuators for wastewater treatment applications. The valves, in turn, need the right controls to ensure maximum precision.

The Importance of Precision

When it comes to wastewater management, engineers and operators must be able to maintain the controls for these butterfly valves and wastewater gates. Selecting a good valve actuator manufacturer to evaluate the needs before selecting the right equipment can help. Opening and closing these big valves requires not just the right equipment from a reputable valve actuator manufacturer to stand behind their equipment.

Even a small glitch can wreak havoc. For shut off valves that workers may control manually, opening and closing at the wrong time may not only lead to contamination but valve damage.

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How To Create Your Dream Tuscan Country Kitchen

Have you always dreamed of living in an Italian countryside with sweeping fields of lavender and olive groves? Many of the Tuscan villas I have seen feature rustic kitchens filled with old world metals, cut stone countertops and fresh produce lining the chef’s workspace. This article is about bringing a bit of old-world decor to your kitchen here in the states. Below are some tips for giving your home a classic Tuscan feel.

Start With the Foundation

To create a warm and inviting country kitchen, you need to start with some basics. Pick out some classic and elegant Tuscan features such as wood clad Mediterranean style windows and perhaps consider doing at least 1 wall with traditional plaster. Almost every Tuscan villa has healthy live plants hanging from a wall sconce or two. You can then add any customized elements that you and your family needs such as rustic wood shelving for china plates or small appliances. Exposed brick or stone work for a wall can be an attractive feature.

Mix Brown With Colorful Patterns

Choose a warm brown color stains for most of your kitchen cabinets, tables and chairs. Be sure to allow for the natural wood grain to show through. You can pick a variety of shades such as a light walnut for the cabinets and a darker chestnut for the table and chairs to keep the look consistent while avoiding monotony. If you do want to keep the same hue throughout, try adding some pops of colored ceramic tiles on the walls or or behind the countertops.

Don’t Forget the Details

Designing your dream kitchen is all about the details. For Tuscan kitchens, that means choosing a variety of textures. For the stove, consider combining a heavy range hood made of black painted metal with a backsplash that features earthy painted tiles. Exposed beams and brushed bronze ceiling lights also add to the classic country look.

Choose Living Finishes

Metal finishes usually are coated with a sealer to limit oxidation over time.  However, old world country kitchens actually show off the untreated metal. This lets them develop a gorgeous patina as they age. These living finishes look especially great on light fixtures, cabinet hardware and faucets. Best of all, every finish ages differently, so your Italian kitchen design will be unique.

Apply Aged Stone and Weathered Wood

To add a classic feel to your renovations, choose burled wood that features plenty of mottling.  You should also look for wood that has slight color changes. This also gives tables and cabinets a weathered appearance.

Similarly, a good Tuscan kitchen design includes other materials with worn looks. Stone with a distressed finish works particularly well in a rustic-themed space.

You may also want to consider strategically displaying copper cookware and ceramic pitchers on shelves and hanging from wall hooks. Terra-cotta tiles look great on the floor, as well.

Take advantage of your local kitchen and bath renovations professionals to turn your ordinary home into a gorgeous Italian villa. Combine old-fashioned materials with classic Italian kitchen design features, and your house will be the talk of the neighborhood.

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Industrial Linear Actuators that work best in Hazardous Situations

It is understood that precision and reliability are the primary reasons why mechanical engineers prefer using electric linear actuators over fluid power actuators in critical powertrain applications. But what about in high temperature environments and combustible situations? Some electric linear actuator manufacturers have developed solutions that you may find interesting.

Pneumatic actuators have been the standard for design engineers in hazardous environments due to the lack of an electrical power source. But they are often prone to air leaks, they tend to be larger in size and the stop point precision is not as exacting as their electronic cousins. When precise reliable linear motion is required, electric linear actuation offers some very compelling benefits. Since maintenance and repairs of pneumatic actuators needs to be included into the equation, electric actuators tend to be more durable over time and therefore more economical over the long term.

Making Hazardous Situations More Tolerable

Several manufacturers of explosion proof valve actuators are using NEMA class VII enclosures for the exterior metal castings for certain actuators. This classification of material improves its ability to withstand high impact explosions and prevent penetration from toxic liquids. Flexible designs allow the digital control module, circuitry and critical wiring to be separated from the gear train and mechanical operations of the actuator and therefore can be positioned a safer distance from high temperatures. The most common concerns for analysis include explosions, fire, and shock hazards. Combustible materials such as acetylene, liquefied petroleum gas, hydrogen, methane, propane, alkali metals, magnesium metal, and metallic hydrides, all fall into the hazardous materials category. Today a 120 V linear actuator can be made impenetrable to these hazardous materials and made more compact than the clunkier pneumatic actuators that do similar tasks.

What is Pneumatic Actuation

These types of actuators operate using compressed gas. The compressed gas then generates force and induces motion of a piston. The air compressor serves as the power source of pneumatic actuators. They tend to be simple and durable, and good for high-speed operations. Use of a pneumatic actuator with modern controls typically requires an analog converter for delivering a control signal setpoint. This is a primary drawback since technology developments in the past 10 years has gone beyond this older methodology.

Conclusion

Both pneumatic and electric rotary actuators work best in hazardous situations where there are large air flow dampers involved. A 120 V linear actuator that has been built to NEMA VII specifications and has a flexible electronics compartment is often a wise choice to tight locations were precision and reliability are of utmost importance. There are several electric actuator manufacturers in the USA that are making high quality industrial actuators that are designed specifically for hazardous environments.

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Any IP Network Can Be Used With RoIP Technology

There is nothing new about Voice over IP, the technology was originally developed back in 1973 but not commercially embraced until the year 2000 when companies like Cisco, 3Com and Lucent Technologies began making hardware to allow for the digitization of analog voice and data into packets. Early adopters were using the public internet to transport these data packets although the clarity and integrity of these voice packets were often of a poor quality that consumers were willing to pay for. Today all the major IP Telephony players like Verizon, Comcast and AT&T have invested heavily in building out IP networks and have engineered high quality digital switching solutions that has revolutionized the way we communicate. Businesses, municipalities and government institutions of all sizes have built public and private network gateways to the internet and these access points can be found virtually everywhere. Radio over IP takes advantage of these IP gateways.

How do RoIP works?

Much like VoIP technology, RoIP digitizes and transmits radio signals from one IP address to another by converting analog voice and data signals into data packets but it uses slightly different engineering methodologies.

Traditional analog radio sends voice data using transmission towers or copper lines using a specific frequency along the radio spectrums of VF, VHF & UHF. There is a need for an expensive hardware infrastructure to send and receive these signals.

Today, radio over IP is delivered as digital packets via existing internet pathways using an existing infrastructure, we just need access to those networks. Wi-Fi, LAN and WAN networks provide that access but there still needs to be a bridge. These radio IP gateways as we call them is the bridge you need to gain access. This IP gateway often requires a vocoder to convert analog signals to digital packets and seek out local and wide area networks that we can use to gain access to the internet. This page here explains what is radio over IP in greater detail.

What are the benefits of RoIP?

It is cost-effective

Most organizations that rely of two way radio communications have invested in analog hardware and have been using that equipment successfully for years. Upgrading to digital mobile radio solutions throughout the organization can get too expensive to undertake all at once. Radio over IP solutions deployed by a legitimate communications systems provider in PA can configure radio IP gateways and vocoders for 4 and 8 units at a time at a fraction of the cost to purchase new radio hardware. This solution can be rolled out in increments rather than an all in one solution. The IP networks used for transport already exist so there is no new investment required for the transportation of signals and power requirements for radio signal transport are minimal.

Enhanced interoperability and flexibility

RoIP allows for enhanced interoperability and flexibility with SIP phones, VoIP phones and cellular networks since it has the ability to connect various information systems or applications in a coordinated manner, Your provider of radio communications hardware should be able to pre-program your radio control system for the different platforms that your users will be interacting with. Each organization is different in how they will employ radio over IP. Using a radio over IP interface that is customized to your specific needs will help your organization leverage improved radio communication technologies more cost effectively.

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Young People Prefer Kitchen Designs With Clean Lines

What is chic in one part of the country will be different than what is fashionable in another part of the country. Trendy urban kitchen designs for young professionals in New York City will differ from younger trendsetters in Miami or Houston. The minimalist movement is sweeping the country but geography and what your local friends are doing in their kitchens has a big influence on the decisions younger homeowners are making. Young adults are gravitating toward living by the “less is more” principle. We are seeing evidence of the minimalistic preferences by the popularity of cabinetry with sharp clean lines, lacquered finishes and an industrial appearance found in kitchen magazines and Pinterest boards.

Why Clean Lines?

Clean lines are popular with young people because of a rebellious spirit to move from traditional styles. First, they stand out sharply with their geometric edges and simplicity. Clean lines in cabinetry are an easy way to make a bold statement that moves away from the ornateness a parent’s kitchen design preferences. On the other hand, they can also easily fall into the background and allow another part of the kitchen to shine through, such as a new stainless-steel chef-style cooking range or an elaborate backsplash. At one point not to long ago, custom crafted kitchen cabinetry was the star of a new kitchen.

The creation of more open space continues to be on the rise too. Stark neutrals such as glossy black, matte finishes for whites, and dark gray are common color choices due to their contrast with stainless steel and bold accent colors.

In addition to improving the kitchen’s look, the sleek style also offers more practical use of cooking space. Clean lines provide a better fit, maximizing available space and allowing for more functional countertop space. This layout encourages you to keep the area tidy so that you’ll want to show off your modern kitchen instead of keeping it hidden due to clutter.

Where Should Clean Lines Be?

The easiest and most effective way to establish clean lines is through sleek kitchen cabinet styles. Cabinetry takes up the most surface area of any kitchen. Even if the kitchen island designs has stools around curved countertops, the clean lines of the cabinets will still make the minimalizing statement.
You can match the minimalist cabinets with other décor that will complete the clean design, such as counter-depth refrigerators that don’t stick out as far as traditional fridges do and polished countertops made of elegant granite.

On the other hand, you can mix modern kitchen cabinetry for minimalists pendant lighting accents and décor to create a transitional feel. Here is a modern kitchen photo gallery that shares several styles of kitchen cabinetry blended with pops of color. This entails combining traditional and modern styles for a truly unique appearance.

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Selecting the Right Automation Solutions for Valves

Create a customized solution for your valve automation today. Whether you’re looking to update your current equipment or installing a brand-new valve that requires automation, compare these essential components for valve actuation and other automation solutions designed to streamline your process and improve your overall efficiency.

Linear Vs. Rotary Actuators

One of the most important factors in selecting the right automation is choosing between linear and rotary actuators. Linear actuators operate with pinch, gate and globe valves to create an efficient automated valve operation. Each of these options require movement in a straight line, so a linear actuator manipulates the valve in this pattern.

A rotary actuator works with different types of motor operated valves. These actuators produce more traditional rotational movements. Choose a rotary actuator if you need automation for your plug, ball or butterfly valves.

Comparing Power Sources

Once you’ve selected the ideal actuator movement, your controllers and positioners require a specific power source. Whether you’ve chosen linear or rotary actuators, select one of these reliable sources of power:

• Electric
• Hydraulic
• Pneumatic

Electric is a popular option for custom linear actuators. It allows you to control your actuator with precision, requires a cost-effective maintenance schedule and is flexible enough to be used for a variety of industrial valves. However, heavy-duty valves require stronger electric motors, pneumatic power or hydraulic pressure for proper use.

Selecting Accessories

Finally, your valve actuator requires a series of accessories for precision performance. Pneumatic actuators in particular require solenoid valves, positioners and limit switches for safe and effective operation.

Solenoid valves are used as a pilot valve for your heavy duty linear actuator and other pneumatic rotary actuator designs. These control devices control the air pressure through either manual manipulation or electrical signal. When connected with the latest computer software, your solenoid valve will automatically adjust the pressure and timing of your pneumatic actuator for precision control of your valve.

A positioner is essential for throttling your air flow. Be sure your pneumatic positioner allows you the level of control and maximum air flow you need to operate your valve and accurately adjust the flow rate as necessary.

Finally, a limit switch is necessary for accurate control of your valve. Similar to an electrical actuator, a pneumatic actuator requires a limit switch to signal when you’ve reached the appropriate rotational point on your valve.

Automate Your Valves Today

Discover how you can select the ideal automation solution using the proper flow control valve actuators in order to achieve precision results and improve your industrial performance. Discuss your options with a respected flow control automation engineer and select the actuator that controls your valves and produces proven results today.

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