"Davisco pushed us, quite honestly," allows Jack Jordan, president of Sudmo. "Somebody had to sit down and redesign a valve to handle particulate, and that''s a big challenge. But the ability to handle particulate up to 1.5 inches opens up complete new markets for us." Fruit for yogurt, soups and pet foods are among the processing segments evaluating the technology.Another innovation that must pass sanitary muster before it can find wide application in food processing is the constant flow (CF) valve from GATE LLC. The valve was developed by John Newton, a Florida inventor and founder of Grand Banks Yachts, at the request of E.I. DuPont de Nemours to improve the accuracy of chemical spraying in agriculture. Accurate depositing is easy to achieve if pressure is constant, but that is not always the case. The CF valve offers a simplified design and preset calibration to precisely dispense liquids or gases.

"The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and other environmental agencies have determined that land spreading of contaminated soil is more acceptable," says Bob Broz, water quality specialist at the University of Missouri."Previously, farmers might have had to have soil from these sites transported to a hazardous waste incinerator. In most cases, they now can dig out petroleum-stained soil and spread it thinly across their fields, where natural biological activity breaks contaminants down," he says.

Duty-Cycle RatingPower-supply rating depends on the type and thickness of the workpiece and the length of time it takes to deposit the longest weld on the thickest material. Duty cycle is the key factor to consider when selecting a power source. Once the engineer has determined the current and voltage needed to accomplish the weld, he then reviews duty cycle requirements.Duty cycle rating is the percentage of time during a 10-minute period a power supply can operate at rated output amperage without overheating. A 300 A machine at 60-percent-duty cycle can weld for six minutes at 300. A during a 10-minute period. Alter six minutes, the welder must rest the machine for the next four minutes to avoid overheating the unit.

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