Fike Corp. senior test engineer Tom Farrell has earned the prestigious William H. Doyle award, which will be presented at the Loss Prevention Symposium during the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Global Congress on Process Safety, March 30-April 3, 2014 in in New Orleans.
 
Presented annually since 1984, the William H. Doyle award recognizes the best paper presented at the previous year's Loss Prevention Symposium. Information contained in the submission must have applicability to the chemical industry and add substantial knowledge to the field of loss prevention. The submitted papers are reviewed, selected and voted upon by the members of the Loss Prevention Symposium Committee.
 
The winning paper, “Dust Flame Propagation in Industrial Scale Piping, Part I: Empirical Study in a Conveying Vessel-Pipeline System,” was presented orally by Fike senior test engineer, Tom Farrell, at last year's conference in San Antonio. In addition to Farrell, Fike’s Jim Vingerhoets, Jef Snoeys, and John Going were primary authors of the research paper.

Many of the tests and information presented in the paper were conducted at Fike's unique, state-of-the-art, comprehensive combustion and research testing facility, located at its global headquarters in Blue Springs, MO. All tests were in compliance with ASTM and CEN standards assuring proper execution and interpretation methods were taken while conducting the studies.
 
"This paper represents a significant multi-year research effort conducted by Fike's global explosion protection research team, to gain significant understanding of flame propagation in flowing pipes on an industrial scale, correlate CFD simulations with experimental results, and connect isolation and venting system design," said Farrell.
 
"I am proud to be a part of a company that invests its time and energy into constantly improving its products, is committed to setting the course for future safety technologies, and is dedicated to improving industrial safety as a world global leader in process safety solutions," Farrell added.
 
In its tenth year, the Global Congress on Process Safety is the world's largest gathering of process safety professionals. Organized by AIChE's Center for Chemical Process Safety (CCPS) and safety and Health Div., the GCPS invites participants to join an ongoing dialogue devoted to exploring new ways to avoid incidents, manage risk, ensure plant safety, and strengthen process-safety-management (PSM) programs.
 
Fike Corp. was founded in 1945, and currently has more than 1000 employees worldwide. Its global headquarters are located in Blue Springs, MO, and it has operations in 13 countries.

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