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Bently Nevada Announces All-New Sensor Network for Low-Cost Online Condition Monitoring

For more information:
Steve Sabin
Marketing Communications Manager
Bently Nevada
1631 Bently Parkway South
Minden, Nevada, USA 89423
Phone: 775-215-2291
Fax: 775-215-2864
E-mail: steve.sabin@bently.com







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contact tannis.causey@bently.com.
MINDEN, 14 FEBRUARY 2003 - Bently Nevada today announced the release of Trendmaster® Pro, an innovative and cost-effective condition monitoring system that links thousands of condition assessment sensors together via wired and wireless networks. First introduced in 1989, the Trendmaster platform is aimed at providing online condition monitoring measurements on general-purpose machinery and mechanical equipment that cannot justify the expense of traditional rack-based continuous monitoring systems. By utilizing a special sensor-bus network and low-cost data acquisition modules that can scan thousands of connected sensors, the system delivers quasi-continuous condition monitoring, typically scanning each point several times per hour. Its architecture lowers the cost-per-monitored-point closer to levels historically associated with condition monitoring programs relying on manual data collection with a portable data collection instrument.

Trendmaster Pro builds on the success of its predecessor, the Trendmaster 2000 system, by introducing redesigned data acquisition hardware supporting wired and wireless Ethernet. It also introduces improved interface modules that link each sensor to its corresponding sensor-bus cabling. And, the system is now fully compatible with the company’s System 1™ Plant Asset Management software, which supports Trendmaster hardware, portable data collectors, continuous machinery protection systems, and a host of other asset data sources. These enhanced system components improve performance, introduce wireless capabilities for selected segments of the network, and lower total installed costs, an important consideration when evaluating cost/benefit for an online system. They also make the system compliant with stringent new CE and ATEX requirements of European countries.

Vibration, temperature, seal leak, speed, pressure, flow, level, power, and a variety of other sensor types are supported by the system. Of particular importance is the system’s compatibility with hazardous area requirements, such as found in chemical and refining plants. Special design features allow dozens of sensors to share a single intrinsic safety device, dramatically reducing costs when used in hazardous areas. The Trendmaster system has been successfully deployed in nearly 1000 industrial facilities globally, including cement manufacturing, oil refining, steel mill, power generation, pharmaceutical, semi-conductor fabrication, and HVAC (heating/ventilation/air conditioning) applications. Benefits in lower maintenance costs and reduced process interruptions exceeding $1.5 MM per year and ROIs exceeding 400% in less than a year have been realized and documented through use of the system.



Bently Nevada (www.bently.com), The Plant Asset Management CompanySM, is a leading global supplier of products and services for assessing and ensuring the mechanical and thermodynamic health of industrial equipment. The company maintains nearly 100 offices in the principal industrial centers of 43 countries around the globe, serving a broad base of more than 25,000 customers in the power generation, petrochemical, and numerous other industries. Bently Nevada is a GE Power Systems business (www.gepower.com).

System 1 is a trademark and Trendmaster is a registered trademark of Bently Nevada, LLC in the United States and other countries.

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