Tony O’Keeffe has been appointed as Q8Oils’ energy specialist with responsibility for the UK’s numerous landfill, biomass and renewables sites as well as the increasing number of energy-from-waste facilities.

Tony, a degree qualified economist, has wide experience in the energy sector, including engineering works for Drax, Didcot and Ferrybridge power stations and involvement with major companies such as British Nuclear Fuels, BICC and Alcoa. His engineering experience includes working for water treatment and environmental services companies. In addition he also owned and operated AOK Oils – a reseller of Mobil industrial lubricants –where he gained experience of CHP projects within the National Health Service, including the supply of energy lubrication services for the Pontefract NHS Trust.

Commenting on his appointment, Tony says: “I have always prided myself on working for companies where I can provide products and services based on their benefits to the customer rather than just on price, so Q8Oils is an ideal career opportunity for me.”

For further information call Q8Oils on +44 (0)113 235 0555 or email Marketing@Q8Oils.com. 

Monodraught has supplied and installed twelve of its Windcatcher X-Air systems to provide natural ventilation for the 82,500 square foot sales area of Tesco’s newest and largest Eco Store, which opened in Corby, Northamptonshire in January 2013.  

The tried and tested Monodraught Windcatcher X-Air systems are on the Tesco approved list for its Eco Stores and have been specified previously on successful installations by architects Woods Hardwick, the project’s master planners and designers.

The Eco Store was built by developer Mulberry to Tesco’s specification on the St. James Industrial Estate, and is the largest Eco Store built to date. The 7.8 hectare site, which is located on one of the primary approaches to the town, has been landscaped and includes cycle routes and displays of public art. It also features a special, dynamically-designed canopy for its petrol station. 

The site is also within Corby’s existing ecology zone, so rather than disrupt the natural habitat of the indigenous wildlife, the site plans were adapted to include an ecology zone adjacent to the store, which also extends into an ecology corridor leading into the town centre.

Commenting for Woods Hardwick, commercial director Karl Myhill says that in response to updated building regulations Tesco has included energy saving and sustainable initiatives to go beyond the standard requirement of 50% carbon reduction and ensure that the store is as sustainable and energy efficient as possible.

As one of the key suppliers, Monodraught was involved early in the planning stage, later supplying twelve oval Windcatcher X-Air systems aerodynamically-designed to deliver the optimum ventilation rate to extract warm, stale air from the vast main sales area of the store and introduce fresh, naturally-ventilated air.

Defining features of the Windcatcher X-Air include distinctive styling and patented LED architectural lighting, which create a unique presence on the roof of a building – day and night. For the Corby store, Monodraught also designed a unique terminal, which is now a distinctive feature of new Eco Stores and an integral part of the corporate image of the buildings.

Complementing the distinctive design are other innovative features that significantly improve the Windcatcher X-Air’s performance and create a new standard in natural ventilation systems. These include Monodraught’s Activlouvremodulating aerofoil technology featuring specially-designed louvre blades to minimise resistance and maximise airflow while providing significantly smoother internal airflow. Together they optimise ventilation control and ultimate weather protection. The X-Air units, which are constructed from fully-recyclable materials, are also fitted with composite insulated upstands to achieve low U-values and high air tightness. They also make installation much quicker and easier.

Other significant environmental features of the building include a timber frame, sustainable cladding and a rain water harvesting system.

Summing up, Karl Myhill says: “We were proud to have designed-in such sustainable features at the start and worked with Corby Council, which was involved in enhancing the environmental credentials of Tesco’s largest environmental-format store, providing electric car charging points and a number of other initiatives.” He adds that the practice is also proud that the building has achieved a BREEAM ‘Very Good’ rating without having to resort to retro-fit solutions such as photovoltaic cells and wind turbines.

Commenting for Monodraught, business development director Robbert Alsem says the company is delighted to have been involved in such a prestigious and pioneering retail project and, while it is too early to assess its ultimate performance, it will be interesting to learn in future how environmentally-friendly and energy-efficient the store is.

The Corby Eco Store is expected to become a benchmark for future Tesco Eco Stores.

Windcatcher X-Air and Activlouvre are registered trademarks owned by Monodraught Limited.

Ends

For further information contact: 
Marketing Department, Monodraught Limited 
Halifax House, Cressex Business Park, High Wycombe, Bucks, HP12 3SE 
Phone: 44 (0)1494 897700, Fax: 44 (0)1494 532465 
Email: info@monodraught.com Web: www.monodraught.com

In the current climate of soaring energy prices and the fear of global warming, increasing attention is being focused on Monodraught’s natural ventilation, natural daylighting and natural cooling product ranges.  

Monodraught has always sought to invent, explore and develop innovative technologies that harness the wind and sun. Products include Windcatchers, Sunpipes, Suncatchers, Sola-Vents, Sola-Boosts and Cool-Phase.

Curtiss-Wright Corporation (NYSE: CW) today announced that its Industrial division – with regional support from Italian distributor Leane International S.r.l. – has supplied Penny + Giles joystick controllers and rotary position sensors to Brescia Antincendi International S.r.l. (BAI) for use on the company’s second generation tunnel fire fighting and rescue vehicle, which has been designed for use in the thousands of kilometres of tunnels found in Italy and especially by the French/Italian Mont Blanc tunnel Fire Brigade.

Following the devastating fire that ripped through the Mont Blanc tunnel in 1999, BAI tirelessly researched and developed a vehicle that could quickly and easily access and retreat from tunnels. The result was the company’s first generation Janus 4000 Bifronte, a unique dual-faced, double-direction fire and rescue vehicle which, thanks to its all-wheel-drive transmission and automatic gearbox, was capable of driving in either direction at speeds in excess of 120 km/h. Additional all-wheel counter steering capabilities meant the Janus 4000 was also able to turn in very limited spaces when the rear wheels were turned in the opposite direction to those on the front and even move in an almost sideways ‘crab-like’ manner when they were turned in the same direction.

For Curtiss-Wright, the project started when BAI were looking for a friction-hold joystick to control the fire-fighting equipment installed on its second-generation fire fighting and rescue vehicle, the VSAT 13000 S, which has been specifically designed for high-temperature fire fighting operations in isolated and low visibility tunnel environments.

The new VSAT 13000 S features updated fire fighting equipment including roof- and bumper mounted fire monitors (water canons), each operated by its own Penny + Giles JC1500 friction hold joystick controller installed within the vehicle’s command cabin. The up/down function of each water canon is operated using the joystick’s X axis, with the rotational function being provided by a Penny + Giles NRH280DP rotary position sensor fitted to the bottom of each joystick. For both roof- and bumper-mounted water canon applications, the JC1500s are also used to operate water spray or jet functions, lighting, reach and direction.

To ensure that the water canons can be operated under all conditions, even if the cabin is overcome with smoke, the position of each canon can be easily identified by looking at the position of the joystick on the command cabin’s control panel. 

Commenting on the reason for specifying a friction hold joystick, BAI’s Enrico Callura says: “Feedback from users of the Janus 4000 stated that, without having to refer to the control panel’s display, they wanted to easily identify the position of the joystick. The decision to specify Penny + Giles was based on BAI’s requirement for a joystick that was completely compatible with the rotary sensor and featured a low-profile design so the sensor could be fitted to its base – and with an under-panel depth of just 53mm, the JC1500 was ideal.”

BAI also stipulated that prototypes be manufactured and delivered quickly and the Industrial division’s rapid-prototyping facility was able to meet the very short lead time.

The Penny + Giles JC1500 single-axis, Hall-effect joystick controller is designed for heavy duty applications such as specialist on- and off-highway vehicles, where maintaining smooth proportional control is essential. Standard features include an IP69K rating on the sensor assembly; spring-to-centre or friction-hold lever action; lock and detent features; 5Vdc or 9-30Vdc supply; dual-channel output with optional ramp directions; analogue (Vdc) or digital (PWM) outputs; and an operating range from -40°C to +85°C.

The company’s non-contact NRH280DP Hall-effect rotary position sensor is provided with a housing activated by a separate magnet, allowing a small 6.5mm profile.  The NRH280DP is designed for operation in extreme temperatures and is factory configured to provide OEMs with a wide selection of parameter options including measurement range and clockwise or anticlockwise direction output. This flexibility provides a greater amount of control to configure the sensor to best suit the needs of OEMs and achieve maximum performance. For example, the sensor can be configured so that one signal can be used in a control function while the other is used for position monitoring or display purposes.

Curtiss-Wright’s Industrial division is a recognized leader in the production of critical controls and assemblies for specialty vehicles, including sensors, electronic throttle controls and joysticks. For further information about Penny + Giles products and other innovative solutions available from Curtiss-Wright’s Industrial division, please visit www.cw-industrial.com or call +44 (0)1425 271444. 

Optimum Oils, Q8Oils’ Strategic Partner for the UK bus and coach market, is supplying the vast mix of buses and locomotives in Go-Ahead Group’s UK operations with Q8 lubricants and Optimum antifreeze.

Optimum offers a second tier management service for specialist lubricants specified primarily by OEMs during the initial bus and locomotive warranty periods.

Q8Oils and Optimum closely monitor the requirements for performance lubricants, which are driven by OEM’s specifications to ensure that where possible, Q8Oils’ grades not only meet but exceed the specification. The benefit to Go-Ahead is the “One Stop Shop Approach” that helps to reduce the number of suppliers Go-Ahead has to deal with, which in turn, makes Go-Ahead more efficient.

Frank Darch, Technical Support Manager for Go-Ahead London stresses the importance of not merely supplying lubricants and antifreeze at the right cost; but also ensuring that lubricant grades comply with the latest edition of the ever changing OEM specifications. He adds that drain periods in particular, are monitored closely in London’s aggressive transport environment where operational hours are predominant rather than kilometres travelled.

Based in Go-Ahead’s Merton office, Frank says the eighteen garages in south, south west, south east, and north London are responsible for servicing over 2,000 vehicles involving all major engines, gearboxes and axles and, as part of the service, identifying reasons for failures. This involves aspects such as oil monitoring and analysis. He writes the servicing requirements for all Go-Ahead bus types, which are numerous due to mergers, takeovers and acquisitions over the years. These documents are then passed to each of the garages to ensure that every vehicle in the Go-Ahead fleet is serviced to the same high standards and is signed off on a service check sheet. The service documents record and define the length of time that oils and lubricants for engines, gearboxes and axles stay in the units between services, to ensure that Go-Ahead achieves the best possible service life.

Says Frank: “We have used other suppliers and oils over the years but for the past nine years we have been very happy with the Optimum and Q8Oils strategic partnership.”

Optimum provides the most effective Q8 oil for each application, carries out monitoring and oil analysis regularly and recommends and carries out trials on new products where appropriate. They also help to ensure that Go-Ahead maintains the prescribed oil change intervals, especially in engines where optimising oil change intervals is vital to optimising engine life. Optimum and Q8Oils also provide updates on new products and arrange trails if they believe a new product will help to improve the performance of the Go-Ahead fleet. Says Frank: “We are currently running trials of a new grease specifically designed to repel water washout during chassis washes. It is typical of the way Go-Ahead and Optimum work very well together to get the absolute best out of the Q8 oils and lubricants, and in all the years we have been using Q8Oils products we have never had an issue, despite having engines that are twelve years old. I think that proves the efficiency of the Q8Oils products.” 

Oil monitoring and analysis is one of the main services Optimum undertakes for Go-Ahead and from the data received the service intervals are worked out for each bus. This is a key function in the relationship and Frank believes it results in the excellent engine life Go-Ahead achieves for its fleet. Whilst engines themselves have changed dramatically in the 25 years since Frank began his job, and modern engines are now so good, he insists that they still need the best oils to keep them operating and in the best condition. Optimum will deal with specific issues within a garage or on an individual engine, gearbox or axle and this is where their service is vital, providing expertise and oil analysis to solve problems for the eighteen Go-Ahead garages. And as Frank explains: “Whilst oil has a finite life we rely on Optimum and Q8Oils to give us the best advice and ensure that the technology within the Q8 oils we use, helps us achieve the best balance of performance and operational life.”

Go-Ahead is using Q8 T750 in most of its London garages and whilst all Go-Ahead buses are serviced every four weeks, oil change intervals for engines, gearboxes and axles/differentials are carried out to different schedules according to mileage, route, age, etc. Some gearboxes may need oil changes once or twice a year and others, especially the newer gearboxes, will have much longer intervals. But with so many different vehicles, operating schedules and routes, it is vital that schedules and the oil change intervals are strictly maintained.

In the Go-Ahead operation an annual oil change for 2,000 vehicles just isn’t an option so the service teams rely on their own experts, working with Optimum, to schedule when individual vehicles and even individual engines, gearboxes and axles, need oil changes. Because it is a partnership, Optimum and Q8Oils work closely with Go-Ahead to decide as a team when oil changes need to be carried out.

What also influences the schedules are the significant variations in the routes and mileages of vehicles. Even within individual garages in London the differences are extraordinary. Whilst this is understandable with transmissions, for engines the hours they are actually running on their routes need to be monitored as well as mileage. The impact of all these factors can be identified during oil analysis programmes and the data received definitely helps Go-Ahead to achieve the very best from the Q8 oils, from their engines and transmissions and therefore, their vehicles. And it does work. The Go-Ahead quality system can interrogate individual vehicle schedules and the figures are impressive – some of the change intervals of the Q8 oils, especially on the more modern vehicles, are running for incredible intervals between oil changes.

With new vehicles, where engine and transmission life can now reach fifteen years and more, service intervals are initially determined by the warranty, but once that expires, oil analysis is undertaken to set benchmarks for future service intervals, dependant on performance during warranty and with input from Optimum and Q8Oils.

Summing up, Frank Darch says “Everything we work on together is very focused and specific to achieving our needs, which is why the relationship with Optimum and Q8Oils is so successful and has lasted as long as it has.”

- ENDS -

For further information contact: 
Naomi Holden, Q8Oils 
Knowsthorpe Gate, Leeds, LS9 0NP, UK 
Tel: 44 (0)113 235 0555 Fax: 44 (0)113 248 5026 
E-mail: Naomi.Holden@Q8Oils.com Web: www.Q8Oils.co.uk   

For press information contact: 
Simon Cantillion, Cantillion King Advertising 
16 The Cornhill, Stroud,Gloucestershire,GL5 2JT,UK 
Tel: 44 (0)1453 755551 Fax: 44 (0)1453 751525 
E-mail: simon@cka.co.uk Web: www.cka.co.uk

Note to Editors: 
Q8Oils has a unique, innovative and progressive approach when it comes to producing some of the World’s finest quality lubricants. Manufactured in its plant in Leeds, Q8Oils represent the very best and latest in lubricant technology and delivers this direct to customers across the Industrial and Automotive sectors.

For Q8Oils sales phone: 44 (0)113 236 5204 or email: Marketing@Q8Oils.com

Q8 Oils offers a comprehensive lubrication solutions range in the following products: 
• Passenger car engine oils 
• Commercial vehicle engine oils 
• Marine engine oils 
• Outboard engine oils 
• Motorcycle engine oils 
• Automotive transmission and axle oils 
• Universal transmission oils 
• Gas engine oils 
• Food grade lubricants and greases 
• Hydraulic fluids 
• Plant maintenance oils 
• Demoulding oils 
• Quenching oils 
• Process oils 
• Neat cutting oils 
• Neat forming fluids 
• Soluble metal working fluids 
• Heat transfer fluids 
• Greases 
• Extensive range of ancillary products

Specialist weld engineering company Arc Energy Resources is pleased to announce the appointment of David Hodges as Welding Engineer.

David began his welding career as an apprentice, where he gained experience in both sheet metalwork and welding. He progressed into design, quality and manufacturing for specialist automotive and rail products manufacturer Johnson Security, before achieving the role of senior production engineer and welding specialist, working between factories in both the UK and China.

In his role as senior welding process engineer with his previous company IMI, David successfully established two new product lines, whilst supporting and improving current production on products for the nuclear industry.

Welcoming David to the Arc Energy Resources team to focus on weld engineering within the oil and gas industry, managing director Alan Robinson says his previous experience in senior roles and his in-depth knowledge of welding, make him a valuable asset.

David lives with his partner and their daughter in Cheltenham and in his spare time enjoys singing and playing in his band, building and riding classic motorcycles, and watching motorsport.

For further information contact: 
Alan Robinson, Arc Energy Resources 
Unit 12 Eastington Industrial Estate, Meadow Mill, Eastington, Gloucestershire GL10 3RZ 
Tel: 44 (0)1453 823523 Fax: 44 (0)1453 823623 
E-mail: sales@arcenergy.co.uk Web: www.arcenergy.co.uk

For press information contact: 
Dennis Cantillion, Cantillion King Advertising 
16 The Cornhill, Stroud, Gloucestershire GL5 2JT 
Tel: 44 (0)1453 755551 Fax: 44 (0)1453 751525 E-mail: dennis@cka.co.uk

Arc Energy Resources is one of the UK’s leading specialists in weld overlay cladding and fabrication for the oil & gas industry. The company’s expertise provides protection against corrosion and wear for a variety of process and pipeline equipment for use in any hostile environment.  

The company recently made a major investment in two new Rotating Head welding machines costing £500,000. This has increased productivity and extended the size and scope of work it can handle, which now includes complicated component geometries for the full or partial cladding and fabrication of a huge range of component sizes weighing up to 15 tonnes. The company’s in-house designed cladding workstations feature state-of-the-art control systems developed to suit its customer’s specialised engineering requirements, and can clad bores up to four metres diameter and areas of restricted access within bores as small as 20mm diameter. Arc Energy also offers in-house test weld, heat treatment, PMI and NDT facilities.  

Industry certifications include ISO 9001:2008 quality management, ISO 3834-2 fusion welding of metallic materials, and the internationally renowned ASME U and R Stamps, as well as ISO 14001:2004 environment management, Investors in People and OHSAS 18001:2007 Health & Safety management system.