The Spero Group (www.spero.co.za) was established in 1998 by some ex-defence industry engineers, and is currently located in premises in the Highveld Techno Park in Centurion. The Group today is comprised of three companies. Sperotek (system design and manufacturing), Sperosens (environmental and process instrumentation), and Sperolon (environmental monitoring and control systems). Its main focus is the mining industry but it has recently entered the commercial and possible defence markets with some innovative new products.
One of the group's earliest products was the Toxalarm, a cap lamp-mounted CO warning device. Released in 1993, more than 15 000 of these units have been sold and it is still selling.
The mining industry remains the major focus of the group and this led to the development of the SL 2000 harsh terrain telemetry system. Originally developed as a fire detection system it is now installed for a multitude of applications, including fire detection, environmental and utility (eg, compressed air and pumps), and for monitoring the operation of ancillary equipment such as coal conveyer belts. One major gold-mining group has standardised on the SL 2000 for its rugged domain data communications (using the Lonworks protocol) and because of its robustness and modular design, other mines are sure to follow this lead.
Another relatively early product development (1995) was the MM100 mechanical miner monitoring system. Fully approved by SABS in terms of intrinsic safety, there are more than 70 of these products currently installed. The extended range of on-board systems now includes the MMA200 system, which provides realtime remote machine status monitoring. The recent MM100/C now also offers on-board methane sensors and a water flow and water pressure switch. The MM100 can be linked to the surface using the SL2000 telemetry system and it can now also use this network technology for reliable long distance communications (20 km+) The MMA200 monitoring system is an entirely indigenous development, and although offered as an optional extra on new vehicles, Spero's main focus has been the retrofitting of existing mine equipment where integration is simple. Current users of this technology include major gold, platinum and coal mines.
Spero introduced the MM100 methane sensor in 1995 and since then more than 150 systems have been installed. The system has SABS approval for use in underground hazardous areas.
In terms of the mining industry Spero sees its highlights as follows:
* 1993: Together with First National Battery the cap-lamp mounted Toxalarm and Flamalarm monitors were developed for the detection of carbon monoxide and methane gas respectively.
* 1995: The MM100 mechanical miner monitoring system was developed for the coal mining industry.
* 1995: Supplied the monitoring system for the SANAE IV base in Antarctica for both scientific and facility monitoring. The output can be monitored from Pretoria. The system has 120 channels and measures parameters such as wind speed, air temperature, door open/close and lateral building movement.
* 1998: Introduced the SL2000 telemetry system which has been under continual development and improvement since then.
One of the new technologies that Spero is developing is the use of LEDs. The performance of these devices has increased dramatically over the last few years, and common applications today include their use in torches and tail light clusters on cars. Spero locally has taken up this niche product and has developed the LEDGUARD series of traffic lights. It has in their development taken into account the need for operation in the local environment (eg, higher ambient temperatures). This product is certified by the SABS.
LEDGUARD has been designed as a drop-in replacement for the existing (conventional bulb) South African product with either a 230 V or 10 V connection, and fitting is as simple as connecting two wires. With existing traffic lights, the bulbs are routinely replaced on typically a three month cycle. The life of LEDs on the other hand is in excess of 10 years. LEDGUARD has a cluster of 85 LEDs which are powered in three different sectors. Complete loss of one of these sectors would only see a one third loss in intensity and as the blacked-out LEDs are distributed randomly over the globe, the light will still be clearly visible. A further advantage of LEDs is that they can be dimmed at night thus eliminating annoying glare.
Pilot schemes are in operation in Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and Pretoria. The ROI is calculated as being three years but after that, the municipalities benefit significantly as the LEDGUARD has a mere 8 W power consumption per complete lamp, has virtually zero maintenance and the saving on the cost of new traditional light bulbs will be significant.
Spero has also introduced LED products for underground use with green and red LEDs indicating safe or warning signals. A utility lamp using a bright white LED has also been developed.
Spero recently entered into a joint development with another local company called Zeroblaze. Zeroblaze is a newly established company with a very unique range of fire suppression systems. An outstanding feature of the Zeroblaze Extreme range is its ultra fast response time, using triple infrared detectors. This product can stop a gas explosion in less than 10 milliseconds from its inception and the product range complements the mining industry focus of Spero and the fire detection ability of the SL 2000.
The Spero Group was recently certified to ISO 9001:2000, the latest internationally-recognised quality management system.
| Tel: | +27 12 665 0317 |
| Email: | [email protected] |
| www: | www.spero.co.za |
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