Changing of the Guard in Nuclear Pressure Transmitting

Jim Montague is the Executive Editor at Control, Control Design and Industrial Networking magazines. Jim has spent the last 13 years as an editor and brings a wealth of automation and controls knowledge to the position. For the past eight years, Jim worked at Reed Business Information as News Editor for Control Engineering magazine. Jim has a BA in English from Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, and lives in Skokie, Illinois.

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After 14 years of development and testing, Emerson is seamlessly transitioning its legendary, 40-year old Rosemount 1150 Series of nuclear-qualified pressure transmitters to its new 3150 Series.

"Rosemount 3150 Series of nuclear transmitters is the culmination of extensive, continued investments in improving core sensing technology, electronics design and overall transmitter performance," said Chris Victor, marketing engineer for Emerson. "This new 3150 Series upholds a tradition of unmatched product quality in nuclear sensing and leverages the dependability, functionality and performance levels that our customers expect from Rosemount solutions."

Early on, the 1150 Series included only its 1151 model, but it expanded to include three tiers—1152, 1153 and 1154—designed for increasing levels of radiation and different environmental conditions. The series was actually available in the 1960s, but the 1152 was introduced in the 1970s to comply with new U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) regulations and testing requirements. Likewise, the 1153 and 1154 were launched in the 1980s and 1990s to meet technoloy changes and further rules updates, and to serve in even harsher environments.

Despite these upgrades and even though 1150 Series was a critical product for the nuclear power industry, it inevitably became increasingly challenging to support, manufacture and maintain its qualifications, mainly due to the eventual obsolescence and limited availability of a growing list of electrical components. As a result, Emerson started working on its new 3150 Series in 1999 as the replacement for 1150 Series that will eventually be discontinued. Final orders for 1152 will be in April 2014, and last shipments will be in 2015. Final orders for 1153 and 1154 will be in April, and last shipments will be in 2016.

Also Read: Emerson Offers Improved Safety and Performance Solutions with New Series of Nuclear Pressure Transmitters

The new 3150 Series will also include three tiers—3152N, 3153N and 3154N—that are likewise designed for high-radiation and severe environments. Also, because radiation can adversely affect digital equipment, 3150 Series is all analog, which also improves its radiation tolerance, as well as its overall cybersecurity. All three units are now available for ordering and shipping, and a fourth model, the 3159 will be available in December. Designed as "drop-in" replacements for the 1150 Series, the 3150 Series has the same process connection dimensions, electrical connections and mounting-bracket-hole dimensions as its predecessor.

"The 3150 Series provides many performance improvements in the areas of reference accuracy, transmitter drift, temperature effects and static line pressure effects, but most of all it gives us a qualified and available replacement for the obsolete parts in the 1150 Series," added Victor. "The 3150 Series envelops all of the testing profiles and performance of the 1150 Series, but 3150 also meets the requirements of the new third-generation (Gen 3) nuclear reactor designs." Victor adds that the 3150 Series can even be used in non-nuclear settings, such as processes with potentially high levels of seismic activity, or in other applications that require analog devices for better cybersecurity.