ESPI
Assurance Technical Services has always been on the cutting edge of safety in the business of energy. Because of this passion, when Sievers wanted a safety valve test system created, we were their first choice. There were already lift assist devices, such as the AVK automated lift assist device, on the market when we designed the ESPI. Sievers however, wasn't satisfied with the current offerings and chose instead to fund the development of the ESPI.
As we developed the ESPI, we worked closely with field service people and the engineers at Sievers to create a system that was not only functional but filled in the performance gaps other systems on the market had. The first generation of ESPI went into service in 1992 and most, if not all, of these units are still working today.
The ESPI offers several advantages over its competitors. Probably the most important of these, is the ability to create databases of valve behavior. This feature allows potential problems to be caught and dealt with before their failure causes an environmental incident, massive shutdown, or untimely death. The other major advantage is that the ESPI has the fastest set up, test, and break down time of any valve testers on the market.
Currently we are in the process of designing a second generation of ESPI units which will be made for use in nuclear power plants and will probably be Windows based making the databasing function that much easier to use.