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Pace Yourself, Podcast

ControlGlobal.com

Keywords: Pace Yourself, Podcast, Jim Montague, PLC and electrical engineer and regenerative thermal oxidizers

Listen to Jim Montague's January 2008 Control Report Column

Pace Yourself
January 2008
By Jim Montague, executive Editor

So the other day, I was riding a shuttle bus from the Houston International Airport’s new rental car lair to one of its main terminals, when I heard a man across the aisle talking on his cell phone. I didn’t pay much attention at first, but I perked up when the fragments of the call I caught seemed to be saying something about getting a PLC programmed with the right software for installation somewhere soon. Now, I don’t hear much control and automation talk outside of work, but I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised to hear it on an airport bus in Houston. However, I was intrigued by the coincidence, and so I buttonholed the caller and asked for a quick interview. And instead of calling security, he agreed to answer a few questions. Okay, so I’m still a nosy reporter.

Anyway, Vitreas Godbey, the man on the cell phone, is a self-employed electrical engineer from Waynesburg, Ky., who helps implement and service regenerative thermal oxidizers. These devices take contaminated air in process settings, clean it by heating it to 1,600 °F, and so recover it for use in chemical production applications and in the ever-multiplying number of U.S. ethanol plants. As you might expect, he’s been pretty busy lately...