SIERRA CLEAN ENERGY GUIDE

CLEAN ENERGY Alternative Energy The Promise of Geothermal Power Bringing New Efficiencies to Solar Photovoltaic Manufacturing Generating Thermal Energy from the Sun Research on Climate Change Unlocking our Carbon History in Antarctic Ice Investigating the Impact of Ocean Acidification on Marine Life Reducing the Carbon Soot that Threatens Clean and Breathable Air Green House Gas Emissions Clean Coal Challenges in a Growing China Reducing the Cost of Engine Emissions Testing New Green House Gas (GHG) Reporting Rule Affects a Wide Variety of Industries Using Multipoint Systems to Measure Flare...

Think Ahead It’s predicted that the clean energy industry will be the third largest global industrial sector by 2020. Sierra is passionately committed to supporting the visionaries that will make that happen. A global leader in flow measurement and control for over 35 years, Sierra Instruments designs and manufactures high performance flow instrumentation for gas, liquid and steam applications commonly found in the environmental, scientific research, energy, semiconductor, petrochemical, aerospace, and general manufacturing industries. With over 150 offices in 50 countries, Sierra is uniquely...

Sierra’s Innova-Mass® 241 in a steam line 5 Here’s what makes Sierra’s Innova-Mass® 241 an ideal choice: » Sierra was first to introduce multivariable mass vortex to the market in mid-1990’s » Measures five variables (mass flow, volumetric flow, temperature, pressure and density) with a single installation point for accurate direct mass flow measurement » With no moving parts to replace and no ports exposed to the process, clogging is eliminated and maintenance costs are significantly reduced » 30-to-1 turndown ratio improves power-generation turbine control by maintaining specified accuracy...

SIERRA’S SOLUTION With an installed base of 100,000 instruments worldwide, Sierra’s Smart-Trak®2 with CompodTM are also bringing precise measurement to the PVD process. Unlike traditional differential pressure (dP) devices, Sierra's Smart-Trak®2 with Compod™ operates accurately in the high vacuum PVD environment, automatically compensating for changes in system pressure (vacuum pump fluctuations) or loss of pressure from the gas source (cylinder depletion). Since the layers deposited by PVD processes can, in many cases, be only molecules thick, very precise delivery methods of the doping gases...

SIERRA’S SOLUTION In California, a national brand of wheat snack chips is embracing solar thermal energy as an efficient and viable energy source for its factory. The installation of Sierra’s Innova-Mass® 241 Multivariable Mass Vortex meters has greatly increased the efficiency of their thermal energy production, proving that investing in renewable energy directly impacts the bottom line. The solar collector field at the chip manufacturing plant is comprised of a huge array of concave mirrors. These mirrors track the position of the sun throughout the day, focusing the sun’s energy on a black...

SIERRA’S SOLUTION With just days left before Stanford researcher David Mucciarone was to leave for Antarctica, the mass flow controller in his carbon analyzer failed. His instrumentation supplier recommended that he make the transition to Sierra. Heeding that advice, he purchased a Sierra Smart-Trak®2Digital Mass Flow Controller just prior to boarding ship. He installed it on the trip down to Antarctica, and it worked...perfectly. But fierce trials lay ahead as the icebreaker Mucciarone was travelling on plunged through hundreds of miles of thick ice before delivering him to one of the most severe...

SIERRA’S SOLUTION Intrigued by the Sierra Smark-Trak®2’s unique Pilot Module with Dial-a-Gas® capabilities, Dr. Barry and his team made a switch to Sierra flow meters in 2005. With the stroke of a button on the Pilot Module, Dr. Barry was able to change his CO2, N2 and O2 flow rates instantly and remotely, creating many varieties of oceanic atmospheres in his tanks with the same set of conditions—same water, temperature, and animals. Now he was able to simply plug his remote handheld Pilot Module into any one of his nine Smart-Trak®2’s, makes a change in the gas flow rate (thus creating another...

Sierra’s Top-Trak® 15 R E S E A R C H O N C L I M A T E C H A N G E Reducing the Carbon Soot that Threatens Clean and Breathable Air The U.S. government now recognizes that black carbon soot is the number two cause of climate change and the most important component of air pollution affecting our public health. This soot, caused mainly by the burning of fossil fuels and firewood, is often found in huge smog-like plumes known as “atmospheric brown clouds.” According to a report commissioned by the U.N. Environment Program, this emissions mix of carbon dioxide and other gases are the newest threat...

SIERRA’S SOLUTION The Hunan Electric Power Design Institute’s state-of-the-art coal-fired plant design for their 2008 Yiyang City installation provides a dramatic example of how Sierra is helping fill the demand for a cleaner process. Building on the strengths of Yiyang I, built in 2001, Yiyang II required 16 high-precision mass flow meters for the measurement of combustion airflow to the boilers. After extensive testing of a wide variety of flow meters, the design engineers settled on Sierra’s Steel- Mass™ 640S meter. Almost immediately upon installation, YiYang II demonstrated increased accuracy...

SIERRA’S SOLUTION Rob Graze, Senior Engineering Specialist at Caterpillar, contacted Sierra in 1991 with a proposition. Familiar with the successful relationship Sierra had forged with Caterpillar in the 1980’s, Graze suggested a new exclusive instrument development partnership based on his new patented Partial Flow Dilution Tunnel design. With a strong background in particulate measurement and flow, Sierra saw great potential. Within twelve months, the new BG®1, a highly efficient and accurate Partial Flow Sampling System (PFSS) no larger than a household refrigerator, was testing non-road engines...