Unison Process Solutions launches HEIST – the world’s first automatic integrity testing system for plate heat exchangers

Unison’s new HEIST system is the world’s first and only integrated system that automatically tests pasteurisers and plate heat exchangers (PHEs) daily for cracks or other defects with minimum downtime and maximum accuracy says the company. HEIST also has the capability to conduct automatic holding time verification, diversion valve checks and manage waste product daily.

When it comes to the dairy, beverage, or pharmaceutical industry, product quality and consumer health safety is a key priority and the need for improved systems around plate heat exchanger (PHE) integrity testing has long existed.

The traditional norm of testing PHEs only 1-4 times a year leaves plates vulnerable to cracks and other defects, in between tests, which can cause severe contamination. This can lead to quality issues with products and health problems for consumers along with forcing costly product recalls and damaging manufacturers’ reputations.

Until now, plate failure and other defects were difficult to diagnose without dismantling the equipment – resulting in costly downtime. This time-consuming process also risked significant production downtime and loss of product, along with potential equipment damage.

The team at Unison realised that there had to be a way to tackle this issue and make testing more frequent along with reducing contamination risk, decreasing downtime, lowering testing costs, removing stress, increasing productivity, protecting the environment, and simplifying production management.

HEIST provides daily tests to protect products against contamination:

  • Integrity test: HEIST automatically checks the Heat Exchanger for cracks and defaults daily, ensuring that products are protected from contamination at all times.
  • Diversion valve check: HEIST checks to see if the diversion valve is operating correctly and within the optimal timing, ensuring that there is no cross-contamination between pasteurised and raw product.
  • Holding time verification: HEIST is the most accurate system on the market for holding time verification.
  • Waste product recovery: With HEIST, waste product can be easily controlled for recovery.
    Using conductivity, HEIST automatically recovers and controls waste products for collection rather than sending it to an effluent plant at a high cost. In many cases waste product can be used as an added source of income.

During a recent interview, Paul Sheehan, managing director of Unison Process Solutions, and the creator of HEIST, made these comments, “We are very excited about introducing the HEIST system to the industry. It is a world first and we believe that it will set a new and improved standard for heat exchanger testing across the Dairy industry globally. This system has been a culmination of over 40 years’ experience of manually testing plate heat exchangers with every system out there along with 10 years of R&D at Unison on developing our own system.”

He goes on to say, “With HEIST we have created an extremely accurate and automated system for ensuring the integrity of PHEs every day before going into production. We have continued to improve HEIST to offer increased benefits to users. Added to checking for cracks and defaults, HEIST also conducts a holding time verification test and diversion valves check daily. Along with protecting against contamination, we have also added Waste Product Management to the system so HEIST can ensure that users recover as much of their product as possible rather than paying for it being sent to the effluent plant. We see HEIST as the new standard for Heat Exchanger testing and are very excited to introduce it to the global market.”

Manufacturers need to be accountable and automate their integrity testing. Whether they are in the food, beer, liquid processing or pharmaceutical industry, pasteurizers and PHEs need to be tested more regularly. With HEIST’s innovative, cost-effective system, producers can do exactly that.

For more information, visit: https://unisonprocesssolutions.com/heist/.

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