Work-related accidents occur across all industries, from minor strains or slips to less common and much more serious injuries. Health and safety is now a priority for all businesses, where businesses in recent years have implemented strict health and safety guidelines and legislations to ensure their workplace and staff remain as safe as possible. Regular health and safety sessions, workshops and even assessments are seen in many workplaces across the UK.
The frequency and severity of work-related accidents highly depends on the industry. There are industries that have lower accident rates than others, often those that are less physical and more office-based. Industries with physically-demanding roles and workplaces that consist of machinery and industrial equipment have a greater number of accidents. Agriculture, forestry and fishing have the most non-fatal, work-related injuries, with injuries in construction and manufacturing also occurring more often when compared to other industries.
Non-fatal accidents and injuries occur daily in the construction and manufacturing industries. The nature of these industries is being hands-on with potentially dangerous equipment when used incorrectly or serviced poorly. Accidents in engineering and manufacturing workshops often originate with tooling, where the constant use of hand tools on a daily basis can lead to malfunctions or lapses in concentration. The prior of these, malfunctions, occurs after significant periods of wear-and-tear. At Elmelin, we create mica-based insulation solutions that help to extend their useful life and improve their safety.
Over the past decades we have had to manage and cope with increasing population growth and demand for resources. This demand has meant there has been significant volumes of natural resources being extracted from the Earth, consequently applying staggering amounts of pressure on our global environment and exacerbating global warming.
Human activities that have impacted the environment considerably include deforestation, agriculture and industrialisation, where the use of fossil fuels has resulted in the dangerous levels of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere that we see today. The consequences of human activities and steep rise in greenhouse gas emissions has led us to the current global climate crisis.
The climate crisis is now an issue that affects everybody, where climate change has been responsible for flooding, droughts and extreme weather events impacting millions of lives. Certain countries have been affected by climate change more than others, and the same applies for regions within countries such as coastal areas undergoing flooding due to rising sea levels.
Silicate minerals are made up of silicate groups, and play major roles in the formation of rocks within the Earth. These minerals are actually the largest class of minerals, making up approximately 90% of the Earth’s crust. Silica, SiO2, is found naturally as the mineral quartz and its polymorphs which allow it to crystallise into different crystalline forms. These different forms represent a wide range of combinations, as various silicate minerals occur as the result of different processes taking place over billions of years.
The anions in silicate minerals predominantly consist of silicon and oxygen atoms, and these anions are used to determine the major silicate mineral groups. These groups include Nesosilicates, Sorosilicates, Cyclosilicates, Tectosilicates and our focus for this article, Phyllosilicates. Formed by sheets of silicate tetrahedra, phyllosilicates are highly abundant and include the likes of clay minerals, serpentine, chlorite and mica.
Mica is the key component within many of our high temperature insulation products and solutions at Elmelin. It has a variety of beneficial physical and chemical properties that make it ideal for insulation, and over the years we have continued to develop highly effective mica-based insulation solutions for a range of industrial applications. So, when considering why silicate minerals are used as a thermal insulator, our experience and expertise with mica will be used as a prime example.
Within electric vehicles are numerous processes and mechanisms that take place in order for them to reach their target performance. The most energy-dense part of an electric vehicle is the battery itself, with most functioning in the 400-800 voltage range. Due to the high volumes of energy that are being produced during normal operation of an electric vehicle, significant safety measures that have to be present so that the risks of malfunction, damage or at worse, harm to the driver and passengers, are minimal.
At Elmelin, we specialise in high temperature insulation for a range of industries, most notably for automotive. The shift toward electric vehicles has been a result of both the improvement and greater accessibility of electric vehicles, as well as cultural changes as people are becoming more environmentally conscious and seeking alternatives to fossil fuels. We pride ourselves on being able to provide sustainable, high quality thermal management solutions for electric vehicles.
As a business, we thrive on learning, adapting and developing innovative solutions to support industries on their journey to net zero. Over the past quarter, we have experienced a substantial amount of change within the business. New personnel, reacting to external challenges and beginning multiple exciting projects have meant the past 3 months has been a positive and invigorating phase for Elmelin.
There has been a significant trend in the number of electric vehicles being both manufactured and purchased on a daily basis. Many people were originally sceptical about electric vehicles for a variety of reasons; the high upfront costs and concerns over their safety and performance were common causes for people resisting the transition from petroleum-based vehicles to electric.
These apprehensions are now fading away as a result of greater environmental awareness and media coverage, as well as improved affordability and accessibility tied with owning an electric vehicle. Plug-in electric vehicles are becoming easier to charge thanks to more charging stations being installed across the UK and home charging becoming much more affordable. EV batteries also have larger capacities allowing for longer journeys between charging, as well as improved safety and greater lifespans.
For many, the benefits of owning an electric vehicle are now outweighing any disadvantages. They’re being purchased by individuals for personal use, by businesses providing them to employees as company vehicles and also for public transportation services such as Uber. While there are many key components involved in the performance and safety of an EV, the battery is at the core of their functionality and caring for them is important for ensuring they remain efficient. Here we discuss 3 key factors affecting the battery life of electric vehicles.…
In recent years, the emphasis on renewable energy has increased dramatically as environmental awareness has shifted and the scale of the climate crisis has been recognised globally. The transition to renewable clean energy has been a direct response to our over-reliance on fossil fuels and the plethora of environmental impacts that have resulted from this dependency. The uptake of renewable energy has increased and it is becoming more accessible, however there are still large steps to take before we can truly become reliant on renewable energy.
There are many forms of research taking place in order to develop the most efficient and dependable renewable energy sources in regards to its production and generation. Developments in solar energy, wind power, hydropower, geothermal, biofuel and hydrogen are taking place, with new solutions being tested with the hope of them becoming viable for mass use.
As well as technologies to sustainably generate renewable energy, there is also a focus on the storage of this energy. Energy storage technologies are becoming more efficient and less intimidating from a financial standpoint, both for large-scale sites and residential storage. As we move our attention towards a renewable future, it’s worth asking ourselves, how can energy storage technologies help to ease the transition and enhance the capabilities of renewable energy? However, we first need to consider the current state of our fuel usage and the global impact it’s having.
Industrial furnaces are core to the foundry and steel industry. There are numerous factors that influence the overall output of a foundry; the number of staff, the raw materials available, and most notably furnace performance. The furnaces used in foundries need to be efficient and safe with extended lifespans. Due to the extremely high temperatures that exist for long periods of time each day, furnaces undergo intense pressure and can be at increased risk of damage and malfunctions. The useful life is required to be maximised in order to ensure long-term and cost-effective operations within a foundry.
Foundry and steel is crucial for many other industries. The castings produced are vital components of manufacturing supply chains, as well as high-demand sectors such as automotive and construction. The global scale of the foundry and steel industry is colossal, and it continues to be put under pressure due to increasing demand. Therefore at Elmelin, we believe its key to offer our support by providing outstanding high temperature insulation solutions for the variety of furnaces used within the industry.
The safety of electric vehicle batteries is a grand challenge of modern automotive engineering. Over the past few years we have seen a sharp increase in the number of electric vehicles on our roads. This has been for numerous reasons; better technology, cheaper running costs, increased accessibility to charging stations and increasingly at the forefront of people’s minds, cleaner emissions and reduced pollution.
Car manufacturers and consumers are recognising the importance of reducing both harmful emissions and our dependence on fossil fuels. Each day, we are reminded of climate change, ecosystem disruption and irreversible damage to the environment. There has been a shift in environmental awareness and people are beginning to switch to electric vehicles and moving away from petroleum-based vehicles.
At Elmelin, we have certain core values that we abide by and apply into our products. Sustainability is one of these values, and we’re passionate about the development of safe, reliable, and sustainable EV batteries. One of our key products is Elmelin’s Compression Pads Plus, a solution for EV batteries that improves the safety, performance and lifespan of a battery by helping to maintain suitable pressure on the battery pack whilst simultaneously providing thermal and electrical insulation.
