Winners of the 5th annual LEAP Awards (Leadership in Engineering Achievement Program) were announced during a virtual celebration to recognize innovation and engineering achievements. This year, our top-notch independent judging panel selected 44 gold, silver, and bronze winners and honorable mentions across 14 categories.

The 2022 Pneumatics category winners are:

Gold

Norgren
Excelon Plus Integrated Electronic Pressure Sensor (IEPS)

The judges commented: “Love the space savings, and the addition of the pressure sensor is an excellent idea.”

The Excelon Plus IEPS represents the latest generation of pneumatic air preparation equipment with its fully integrated design. It improves monitoring through a digital visual display and IO-Link functionality. The visual display provides secondary pressure readings when the system is at or above the pressure setting (green), when the secondary pressure is below the setting (red), and when there is a system fault (yellow). The IO-Link mode operates via the PLC/automation system and provides real-time process data. Pressure sensor calibrations can be adjusted for offset and span correction, while built-in diagnostics, self-testing, and fault reporting present an accurate measure of gauge status.

The new design evolved from bolt-on type pressure sensors, which extend the footprint of the assembly, are prone to mechanical damage, and can require additional installation time. With a compact, lightweight design, the IEPS maximizes machine real estate and protects against corrosion with micro fog and oil fog lubrication. It can achieve up to 98% of water extraction and features a flush-fitting integrated gauge to reduce damage. It also has a unique, double-safety bowl lock, so the bowl cannot be removed when the sensor is in use.

The IEPS conforms to standard environmental tests for temperature, humidity (ETSI 300 019-2-3), and shock and vibration (BS EN 60068-2-6), and the sensor can withstand 1.5 times overpressure without compromising accuracy. It has electrical protection against overvoltage, reverse polarity, and short circuits on signal lines. An electrophoretic coating protects it from water in the airline.

Norgren’s IEPS is a standard option for Excelon Plus 84 regulators, filter/regulators, combo units, or a stand-alone pressure sensor unit.

Learn more: Excelon Plus

Silver

Emerson
AV/AES Valve System with integrated OPC UA

Emerson’s Aventics Series Advanced Valve (AV) valve system with Advanced Electronic System (AES) Profinet and Ethernet/IP is the first valve system with preinstalled Open Platform Communications United Architecture (OPC UA) functionality. The AES helps users solve interoperability challenges and access data more efficiently, and integrating the digital twin can improve productivity and efficiency.

The AV/AES valve system simplifies communication by allowing direct access to valve system data and analytics without going through a gateway. This can result in cost savings since receiving analytics from a valve system without OPC UA is more complex and expensive.

The system also provides easy integration for new or existing applications and machines and has increased flexibility due to simplified connectivity to edge computing and cloud systems. Instead of dealing with bits and bytes, the product’s structure includes self-describing and tagging. The digital twin with OPC UA provides actual data via valves, analog signals, and digital signals, in addition to system info and a digital nameplate. Digital twin add-ons can include additional analytics, such as valve switching counters, time measurements, and sensor statistics.

OPC UA functionality also expands the valve systems’ capabilities, making it easier for industries like automotive, food and beverage, packaging, and pulp and paper to digitally transform. The AV/AES valve system can be used for any pneumatics application that uses data for analytics or predictive maintenance.

Learn more: Aventics Series EAS