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U.S. firm Emerson Process Management has confirmed the release of its new product, the Micro Motion Heavy Fuel Viscosity Meter (HFVM) Viscomaster, which is developed from the earlier Micro Motion 7829 Viscomaster direct insertion viscosity and density meter.

The product uses the same tuning fork design as the company's earlier viscosity meters while incorporating an added low friction diamond-like carbon (DLC) coating, which Emerson claims is "ideal for tackling the most demanding of process applications such as marine heavy fuel oil (HFO) combustion control, marine gas oil (MGO) viscosity control and land-based fired heaters".

Emerson says the head-mounted transmitter is "hazardous area approved and has the flexibility to connect to control systems via a wide range of digital and analog protocols". The company believes that the ability to easily communicate over different protocols including HART, Wireless HART and Modbus could mean that "startup commissioning costs are significantly reduced".

The new product is also designed to accept and processes external signals from other field instruments such as mass/volumetric flow and temperature devices. Emerson asserts that this allows the meter to "calculate and output enhanced process measurements while minimizing installation and cabling costs".

Andrew Sgro, Micro Motion density and viscosity product line manager at Emerson, suggested the product could address several common problems. "We designed the HFVM Viscomaster to help solve problems that our customers face on a daily basis such as maximizing engine power output irrespective of fuel quality variations, optimizing HFO/MGO cut-over times and reducing fiscal exposure through improved NOx/SOx management."

The HFVM includes a new diagnostic that checks the meter for measurement alarm conditions, sensor integrity and the presence of coating, erosion or corrosion. Emerson believes this could result in "significant" reductions in maintenance costs and cycle time.

Emerson is an electrical equipment manufacturer headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. The company's marine industry product line focuses on control and monitoring systems including integrated control and alarm monitoring, ballast and service tank level gauging, cargo monitoring, fuel management, and valve remote control systems.