Evolve or Perish through System Monitoring

By Dr. Otto Fest, President and Founder of Otek

For decades now the ability to monitor systems to avoid a catastrophic failure has led the Engineers at OTEK Corporation to build solutions that modernize the infrastructure of the past. It is not uncommon for meters decades old to be abandoned by the original manufacturer leaving the displays and metering a “time bomb” waiting to fail. The idea is simple, to build solutions that are retrofitted to existing needs through form fit and finish, and yet do so with modern and reliable UI. The company has been dedicated for more than 48 years to eliminating the “Stuck Needle” syndrome with high-quality, fault-tolerant metering solutions.

“Simplicity is the most difficult goal to reach”

The capital expenditure for building nuclear power plants for example, and the regulatory oversite required to do any significant change challenges their owners to find an alternative solution. Having started in the energy market, OTEK understood that other market segments could benefit from its expertise in building plug-and-play solutions that meet their demands. The goal was to employ a current loop transmitter between 4-20mA to offer a fault-tolerant low-cost metering solution. By using a patented Powerless technology, OTEK can build solutions that are direct replacements for an original part or upgrade to a more modern digital solution.

The bigger the Capital Expenditure, the more critical time becomes. When losses are calculated in dollars per second, it is impossible to wait weeks or even months for a solution. This has focused OTEK on the real-world needs of the industry. The goal is to have a low-cost me- ter, that is not subject to cyber security threats, fits into the existing panel with no rewiring required, and can be had in real-time through a spares program. The prohibitive costs associated with the introduction of a meter requiring significant changes and alterations make the elegance of a retrofit solution from OTEK perfect. No recertification, no entry point for unauthorized third parties, and decades of future use.

The vast product offering of OTEK includes digital panel meters, controllers, batch counters, process loggers, and bar graph indicators. OTEK is focused on finding solutions in support of nuclear and fossil power plants, water and wastewater utilities, military contractors, aerospace, maritime, oil and gas, chemical, pulp, and paper, and the automotive industries. The idea is to work closely with the clients to determine the course of action that best meets their instrumentation and control needs and then supply a product that exceeds every prerequisite and requirement. Simply put, the OTEK goal is to replace the millions of analog and digital meters that are aging with high-quality replacements with no change to the underlying system.

In the early 1980s, OTEK was commissioned by the United States Airforce to build the first

MIL-SPEC Meter to replace a meter used extensively throughout several airframes. Notable was the C-135 Stratotanker, still flown today after many variants. This rich history of addressing advances in space, within the space shuttle, and advances in nuclear energy are supported by numerous patents and a knowledge that critical system monitoring can never be compromised. After decades the library of direct replacement SKUs for industry-standard meters is in the hundreds with the number of variants now well beyond comprehension.

Critical Mission Time Between Failures or CMTBF has been calculated to be more than 40 years. Combined with the plug-n-play, nothing to change installation, OTEK has reduced the need for high volumes of costly spares inventory. Typically a meter can be replaced within 3 to 5 minutes with no special expertise. Maintenance and calibration can also occur in less than 5 minutes. Through incorporating numerous open and MIL standards, OTEK has extensive applicational knowledge in support of the end use of their meters – from space to maritime and everywhere in between.

By employing the latest in LED technologies, OTEK can offer a wide array of displays that tie into existing panels and yet offer advanced displays that can better convey informational thresholds or limits. This can be done through several digital displays that represent the data in varied ways. Displays can be selected to offer digital or analog gauges; they can be bar graphs with alarms or meters. Or you can request a drop-in replacement for many of the popular discontinued gauges.

Through decades of experience, the Engineers at OTEK have continued to evolve their solutions and have recently released their NTM product line that includes advanced digital solutions. This third-generation metering solution are designed to be a digital replacement for analog metering. OTEK employed its patented loop-power technology to allow for a 2-wire compatible analog meter replacement with no external power required. Having already addressed many end-of-Life concerns (EOL), the breadth and width of products in this class of products is impressive and will continue to evolve as client needs are translated into offthe-shelf solutions.

Through decades of research, design, and a suite of intellectual property, OTEK can create solutions from the perspective of the client. It may be that you are replacing an OEM part and want an equivalent product that won’t trigger a re-certification, you may wish to have a meter that can deal with specific input signals, or you may want to modernize the meter altogether. The OTEK product library and experienced application team can approach the desired solution in whatever way is needed.

OTEK has established itself throught the decades as a premiere metering company in critical applications where accurate monitoring is a prerequisite for safe operation.