Featured learning to inspire engineers

Sanitary Sensors & 3‑A Standards

Sanitary sensors are purpose-built measurement devices designed for applications where preventing contamination is as critical as maintaining measurement accuracy. Unlike general industrial sensors, they must meet additional hygienic requirements to support cleanability, regulatory compliance, and product safety in food and beverage, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic processes. Standards such as 3‑A Sanitary Standards provide guidance on sensor design, materials, and installation practices to help reduce contamination risk and protect the integrity of sanitary production systems.

Why is Air Balancing HVAC Systems Important?

Air balancing ensures an HVAC system delivers the correct airflow to each zone, room, and terminal as intended by the original design. By measuring, adjusting, and verifying airflow, proper balancing improves comfort, indoor air quality, energy efficiency, and equipment reliability. This article explains common airflow measurement techniques, including flow hoods and duct traverse methods, and compares traditional proportional balancing with predictive balancing. It highlights how predictive balancing reduces iteration, improves accuracy, and saves time, especially in complex or mission-critical HVAC systems such as hospitals, laboratories, clean rooms, and data centers.

Understanding U.S. and International Threaded Connection Standards

Love is in the (Conditioned & Ventilated) Air

This article highlights a series of HVAC and industrial “power couples” that demonstrate why certain devices are designed to work together. Using a Valentine’s Day theme, it shows how pairing complementary sensors, controls, and protection devices improves system reliability, reduces downtime, and prevents damage. Featured pairings include level switches with leak detectors for layered protection, RTD probes with thermowells for accurate and protected temperature measurement, flowmeters with controllers for measurement-driven control, flexible heaters with thermostats for controlled heating, and thermocouple wire with matched connectors for signal integrity.