ABB also picked up the “Manufacturer of the Year” award for its ground-breaking work in producing vital instrumentation, even on a giant scale. Earlier this year, ABB delivered what is believed to be the world's largest electromagnetic flowmeter to help address water scarcity in Saudi Arabia. ABB’s modern instrumentation manufacturing factory in Shanghai, China, completed production, calibration, and shipping of this mammoth device. With an inside diameter of 3 meters, the enormous new DN3000 flowmeter is proof of ABB’s impressive engineering, manufacturing, and calibration capabilities.
The ABB team also took home the “Test and Measurement Product of the Year” award, which recognizes a product that demonstrates exceptional performance and innovation. The prize was awarded for NINVA, ABB’s non-invasive temperature sensor that could consign the thermowell to history. Typically, process industries, such as oil and gas, measure temperature by drilling a hole in a pipe, putting a thermowell in, and inserting a temperature sensor inside the thermowell. But the invasive nature of thermowells can lead to all sorts of problems and unplanned costs, including the potential release of hazardous material.
ABB’s clamp-on solution uses the same sensor and transmitter technology that is used in thermowell installations, but with digital models replacing the thermowell itself. Using a double sensor tip, the sensor can also be used to predict the true process temperature.