Fulton will be using its stand at ISH2017 to launch its SRT Series steam boiler onto the European market and promote the company as a Global provider of heat transfer solutions.
“Fulton’s all-new SRT Series is the most radical change to vertical steam boiler design since the company pioneered the vertical tubeless boiler in 1949,” says Carl Knight, managing director of Fulton Ltd.
By adopting a system engineering approach to design, and using its own ‘PURE’ Technology, Fulton’s SRT Series challenges the traditional heat transfer and mechanical design principles of vertical steam boilers. The SRT boasts industry-leading performance with an 84.5% Gross (93.5% Net) thermal efficiency from a fully-water-backed design with no refractory.
“With 30+ worldwide patents pending, the boiler’s spiral-rib tubeless design is a world first and creates a compact boiler with the industry’s smallest footprint.” says Knight. “In fact, compared to Fulton’s equivalent 30hp models, the SRT is an impressive 40% smaller.”
Using in-house modelling with CFD and finite element analysis, the SRT’s ‘PURE Optimised’ architecture makes it durable and reliable, with up to 6:1 turndown through its fully-modulating burner.
The SRT is CE marked and complies with anticipated EU regulations, with its combustion technology being reconfigured and the mesh burner and furnace designed as a single component, resulting in NOx emissions of less than 40mg/kWh.
With manufacturing facilities in the United States, Great Britain and China, Fulton is a global manufacturer of steam, hydronic and thermal fluid heat transfer systems. Backed by over 60 years of research, innovation and experience, Fulton is building on a tradition of success and is focused on improving life through heat transfer solutions. The company also provides sales and application advice, with full commissioning and after sales service, to a growing customer base in numerous sectors including pharmaceutical, process, petrochemical, healthcare, food & beverage, processing, etc.
For further information on Fulton or its all-new SRT Series, call the European headquarters on +44 (0)117 972 3322, email sales@fulton.co.uk or visit www.fulton.co.uk.
Fulton Limited has celebrated 50 years of manufacturing heat transfer solutions in the UK by hosting a ceremony and party at the M-Shed in Bristol for distributors, dignitaries and employees past and present.
Established in Bristol in 1966 and initially manufacturing a range of vertical tubeless steam boilers primarily for the laundry and dry cleaning market, Fulton Limited is today an important manufacturing base in the corporation’s global network that also includes production facilities in the USA, Canada and China.
Ronald and Bramley Palm (the son and grandson of Lewis Palm, Fulton’s founder) from Fulton’s parent company in the USA flew in to attend the celebrations and, amongst others, were joined by former managing director and co-founder of Fulton Boiler Works, Ian Davidson, and former sales and marketing director Gordon Bareham, who were both asked to take to the floor and give speeches.
Congratulating employees past and present on their achievements over the past 50 years, Fulton Limited’s managing director Carl Knight says the company’s Bristol-based manufacturing and design facility makes it possible to design, engineer and manufacture products more efficiently and assemble completed units for whenever and wherever they are needed for domestic and export customers.
The achievements were echoed by Bramley Palm, CEO of the Fulton Group, who added that, with a pride in workmanship that is second-to-none, Fulton’s UK facility has been responsible for designing and manufacturing some of the corporation’s highest quality steam boilers and heat transfer systems. “The company has a solid reputation with great products and many more on the way,” says Bramley “and we’re looking forward to our future with the UK facility!”
During his speech on the day, former sales and marketing director Gordon Bareham says: “I joined Fulton in the early 1990s as the company was going through major changes in every department and further centralising its operations in Bristol. This meant building a new office block and investing in plant, machinery and an extensive mezzanine floor for storage and production offices at the former Broomhill Road facility. This was real proof of the owners’ commitment to the future of Fulton in the UK; and was quickly followed by the adoption of the ISO9001 Quality Assurance standard, with the British Standards Institute rating Fulton as an excellent example of a specialist manufacturer following and meeting the standard.
“However, perhaps the most progressive change for Fulton at that time – and a first for any UK-based steam boiler manufacturer – was the company’s move from simply manufacturing steam boilers, to designing and building skid-mounted and pre-fabricated packaged plant room heat transfer solutions, some of which didn’t even feature a Fulton boiler! While a steep learning curve for every department, Fulton succeeded and I’m proud to have played a part in what was a very important transition for the company.” says Gordon
For the company’s dignitaries, distributors and former employees, the celebrations started with a tour of the current Bristol manufacturing facility which, on the day, housed Fulton Limited’s largest ever plant room build featuring two of the company’s fuel-fired FB horizontal boilers.
Summarising, Gordon Bareham goes on to say that ten years ago, he organised the 40th Anniversary celebrations at the old facility in Broomhill Road and has fond memories of that day. “Today, when I see the magnificent new facility and the ‘monster’ plant room in build, together with the lavish celebrations, it is clear that Fulton has made great progress in the last ten years!”
Opened in September 2015, the £81m Diamond building is the University of Sheffield’s largest ever investment in learning and teaching. It is home to students from its Faculty of Engineering and over its six floors, provides teaching facilities, library and IT services and state-of-the-art specialist engineering laboratories, including a clean room, a virtual reality suite and a project workshop.
The Diamond is a multi-disciplinary engineering teaching space, utilised by all seven departments and three interdisciplinary programme areas. Of the many disciplines taught at The Diamond – from materials science and aerospace to traditional mechanical engineering – the University’s bio-engineering degree is an innovative and technology-driven subject that uses engineering techniques to analyse and solve some of the most important questions in biology and medicine today.
For this undertaking, the bio-engineering department required a source of low- and high-pressure steam and, having looked at numerous solutions and manufacturers from the UK and Europe, approached Fulton for advice and a solution.
Low and high pressure steam is used by the department for process control in the laboratory-scale Solaris bio fermenters. These are used to produce a variety of single-cell organisms that are used to break down cells, extract DNA and look at protein extraction and expression. High pressure steam is used for vessel sterilisation to ensure that both the vessels are bacteria-free and ready for the next broth batch.
Commenting for the University of Sheffield, The Diamond’s technical operations manager, Dr Stephen Mason says: “A method of raising steam wasn’t considered as part of the building’s original specification so we started looking at laboratory steam generators, but couldn’t find a solution to provide the mass flow rate required for the faculty. It therefore became obvious that we needed some fairly serious steam-raising equipment and started looking at alternative boiler systems.”
Having dismissed steam generators, Stephen and his team looked at fuel-fired steam boilers but, with their requirement for ancillary equipment, these ‘traditional’ systems would have taken up too much of the laboratory’s valuable space and also weren’t deemed compatible with the building’s existing infrastructure. Additionally, with steam load only being required during teaching sessions, it was essential that a system could be powered-up and operational with 30 minutes and shut down again within just a few hours.
So, the University’s operations team started looking at numerous alternatives from manufacturers in the UK and Europe and eventually opted for a bespoke, skid-mounted EFS electric steam boiler system from Bristol-based Fulton Limited.
“With the search for a suitable source of steam for the bio-engineering laboratory having taken longer than we had hoped, our principal performance requirement had moved from output and size, to lead time.” says Stephen. “And having opened discussions with manufacturers in early December, Fulton was the only supplier able to survey, design, deliver and install a bespoke system within the three-month timescale required of the University.”
To make The Diamond an integral part of the city centre and allow visitors to watch students studying, a large proportion of the building façade is glass and the plant room (pilot plant) within it also surrounded by a glass partition. Because the Fulton EFS electric flash steam boiler was placed within the laboratory and therefore on display to students and visitors alike, the system was skid-mounted with a blowdown vessel that was housed in an identical cabinet to the boiler. The system was then delivered to site and installed within the self-contained, glass-fronted pilot plant, which also housed the Solaris fermenter.
With the boiler system installed on the ground floor and located almost at the point-of-use for the laboratory, all safety and planning aspects were discussed with, and solved by Fulton, with excess steam from the system being vented to roof-level via convoluted risers.
Having successfully resolved the planning and health and safety aspects of the installation, Fulton was also tasked with discussing the fermenter’s requirements for process steam with Solaris, the Italian manufacturer.
“Having no first-hand knowledge of fermenters or steam raising equipment, the University was delighted when Fulton took the lead on discussing its conceptual and detailed designs with Solaris, as the two companies were able to ensure that its systems worked seamlessly together.” says Stephen.
Fulton’s four-model EFS range has been designed specifically to deliver the short period/high demand steam loads that are typical of laboratory applications. The fully-automatic and self-contained steam boiler range incorporates an integrated feed water tank and feed water pump and provides short duration steam pulses at steady pressures. The EFS is able to meet fluctuations in steam loads and meets short-term peak flow rates of a typical steriliser cycle.
EFS boilers are designed to reduce entrainment of water droplets to a minimum and, as a result, produce high quality, contaminant-free steam. They are also quiet, clean and efficient and are protected with a fail-safe control system to ensure trouble-free operation in medical environments.
Working from a 400V 3ph 50Hz electrical supply, the University of Sheffield’s boiler system was designed by Fulton to BS1894 Class 2 and PED EC/97/23/EC and included an EFS54 automatic carbon steel electric flash steam boiler, rated at 86kg/h (F&A 100°C). This was skid-mounted with a Fulton model BDV2 blowdown vessel was constructed and certified to BS5500 Cat. 3.
Bristol, UK - Tuesday, 08 October 2013 - Heat transfer specialist Fulton celebrated its move to a new £3.5 million, 43,000 sq. ft. Bristol-based headquarters recently and was joined by over 60 customers, suppliers and dignitaries, including US-based owners Ronald and Bram Palm and Honorary President of the Combustion Engineers Association (CEA) – and lover of all things steam – Pete Waterman. In his speech, Pete Waterman welcomed Fulton’s decision to bring the manufacturing of its larger boiler pressure vessels for UK and Export markets from Fulton’s facility in China to Bristol, at a time when many manufacturers are doing the opposite. Despite the many local, national and international obstacles Fulton faced, he also praised the company for maintaining its presence in Bristol and protecting the jobs of local people. Guests were given guided-tours of Fulton’s new facility and a demonstration of its state-of-the-art plasma cutter and, following speeches from Bram Palm and Pete Waterman, the company was presented with a commemorative plaque from the CEA. Commenting on the move, Fulton UK’s managing director Paul Richards says: “The move to the new facility has helped us to manage current demand and plan for the future. Being a much larger facility, it has also helped to boost morale amongst the Fulton team as the offices and manufacturing areas are lighter, brighter and a nicer environment in which to work.” Fulton’s new UK headquarters creates a centre of excellence for the company’s heat transfer products and provides comprehensive customer support, from applications advice and sales processing, through to delivery. Because Fulton stayed within the Bristol area and hasn’t lost a single employee because of the relocation, the same experienced teams are available to help with enquiries for the company’s range of thermal fluid, fuel-fired and electric steam boilers, hot water boilers and ancillary products. The site also accommodates new training and seminar facilities created to enable qualified staff to keep customers up-to-date with the latest products and applications; and host the company’s recently announced City & Guild certified training courses, which offer a mix of theoretical and practical operational assignments. For further information call Fulton on +44 (0)117 972 3322, email uk.sales.office@fulton.com or visit www.fulton.co.uk. For further information contact Carl Knight Fulton Limited, Fernhurst Road, Bristol, BS5 7FG Tel: 0117 972 3322 Fax: 0117 972 3358 E-mail: carl.knight@fulton.com Web: www.fulton.co.uk For press information contact Simon Cantillion Cantillion King Advertising, 16 The Cornhill, Stroud,Gloucestershire,GL5 2JT Tel: 01453 755551 Fax: 01453 751525 E-mail: simon@cka.co.uk Web: www.cka.co.uk Editors Notes With manufacturing facilities in the United States, Great Britainand China, Fultonis a global manufacturer of steam, hydronic and thermal fluid heat transfer systems. Backed by over 75 years of research, innovation and experience, Fulton is building on a tradition of success and is focused on improving life through heat transfer solutions. For additional information about Fulton, please visit www.fulton.co.uk .
