Additional Hardware And Software For GE’s Versatile Kaye RF ValProbe

Now With Multi-Channel Logging and Even More Comprehensive, Graphing and Reporting Capabilities.
Pforzheim, Germany 12 June 2009.

GE Sensing & Inspection Technologies has added major hardware options and a new suite of supporting software to its already highly versatile Kaye RF ValProbe thermal validation system. The new software enables support for 2-channel and 5-channel RF temperature loggers, reducing the total number of loggers which need to be installed. It also provides a number of innovative features, including historical graphing, RF mapping, auto calibration and alarming, as well as offering a powerful reporting utility. These new features greatly extend the functionality of the Kaye RF ValProbe for real time validation in stability chambers, freezers, warehouses and in steam in place applications, throughout the pharmaceutical, dairy, beverage and biotechnology industries.

Kranthi Tata, Product manager for RF ValProbe comments, “RF ValProbe , with its 2-channel and 5-channel temperature loggers and its comprehensive software provides an extremely economical solution to real time wireless validation and is the only wireless system currently available for steam-in-place applications. It also enjoys the global service capabilities of GE Sensing and Inspection Technologies, ranging from on-site installation and commissioning and operator training to on-going maintenance agreements.”

The Kaye RF ValProbe® 1.5 integrates powerful RF Mesh networking with temperature and pressure measuring capability to provide a complete, real time, wireless validation system. It can be easily retrofitted, as existing customer temperature sensors can be simply connected to the new 2-channel or 5-channel data loggers. Up to 100 distributed sensor nodes can be connected in a seamless, reliable network and the nodes communicate with a base station and each other, correcting for weak RF links. The base station also provides data storage, with historical graphing capability on real time graphs. As a result, users can disconnect their laptop or PC in the middle of a study, without having to stop the study, and then return at a later date to retrieve all data from the base station. The new 1.5 software allows for self-figuring of the mesh network and users can view the local RF signal strengths to ensure optimum positioning of the loggers, without the need for specialist RF knowledge.

Auto calibration is also possible with the new system, significantly reducing set-up and installation times. When used with GE Kaye IRTD and GE Kaye temperature baths, it is simply a matter of selecting the set points and allowing the software to run. Powerful reporting is another important feature of the new system and reports, ranging from verification reports to document validation, are generated from secure data files that can be read only by the system software, in compliance with FDA 21 CFR Part 11. The reporting software can be used with other systems in the GE Kaye range.

About GE Measurement and Control Solutions
GE Measurement & Control Solutions is a leading innovator in advanced, sensor-based measurement, non-destructive testing (NDT) and inspection and condition monitoring, delivering accuracy, productivity and safety to a wide range of industries, including oil & gas, power generation, aerospace, transportation and healthcare. It has over 40 facilities in 25 countries and is part of GE Energy Services, which provides cleaner, smarter, more efficient solutions for its customers.