May , 2024

Most of us working in industrial fields are endlessly impressed by large scale fluid applications, especially those that seem too complex or massive to comprehend. Intercontinental pipelines, hydroelectric dams, and municipal water treatment plants are just a few examples that come to mind. As impressive as these monstrous systems can be, there's ample reason to be equally inspired by applications on the opposite end of the spectrum, where miniscule amounts of fluids can be pumped accurately down to a fraction of a raindrop in volume. These are referred to as metering or dosing pump applications, and are found throughout industrial processes where they inject, transfer, and blend fluids with extreme, infinitesimal precision. Along these same lines, a premium national manufacturer of metering pumps reached out to Whitman Controls looking to add pressure and vacuum protection to their line of dosing pump systems, which made us think of a new twist on an old phrase: "go small or go home!"

As with so many modern technology trends, the concept and the reality of cleantech are often two different things. There is ample discussion out in the world about the aspirations of cleantech, but not nearly enough detail on how cleantech principles can be directly applied in practice. This is particularly true in industrial automation and process control arenas, a fact that we here at Whitman Controls see firsthand. From our vantage point, we see ample potential for cleantech-inspired process automation developments in the years to come, starting with applying customized process instrumentation towards cleantech goals.