Caltrol Inc. donates an Emerson DeltaV Industrial Control System to UCI Clean Energy Institute

On January 28th, 2026, representatives of Caltrol Inc. and University of California Irvine met to see a fully-equipped Emerson DeltaV^TM Distributed Control System Skid take its place as the newest piece of technology available to UC Irvine researchers and students. This donation provides the opportunity for the UCI Clean Energy Institute (CEI) to gain more actionable data from their ongoing experiments, track multiple streams of data, and execute complex automations from a centralized source. Access to this DeltaV unit enables both a significant upgrade to UC Irvine engineering lab capabilities and a way for students to gain hands-on experience with the automation control platform used by some of the largest companies in North America.  
 

Emerson’s DeltaV Distributed Control System is a mainstay across energy industry control systems, allowing incredibly precise control over large and complex facilities. In a world where data is king, DeltaV marshals multiple data streams and makes them immediately readable and actionable through remote monitoring and systems automation. DeltaV is a trusted global solution for various other major industries as well, including power, chemical, life sciences, food and beverage, and more.  

Members of the Caltrol team, UC Irvine faculty champion Professor Jack Brouwer, his students, and Scott Kitcher, President and CEO of Sustain SoCal, unloaded and set up the donated skid in one of UC Irvine’s core engineering labs.  

“This donation is the result of many months of hard work and partnership between Caltrol and UC Irvine,” said Barron Effenberger, the Caltrol employee who championed this donation. “The DeltaV skid is going to be a huge asset to Professor Brouwer’s students, and I think it signifies our strong partnership with the university. We have a cadence planned out to touch base with the student team here and make sure they’re able to utilize the unit to its full potential.”  

Once unloaded, the DeltaV skid was unveiled, emblazoned with custom UCI Clean Energy Institute logos and the UC Irvine Anteater mascot, truly marking it as part of the university. The skid stands just under 6 feet tall with a glass front door panel that allows a look into the interior. It fits well with the other large applications that the lab has been using for experiments. Upon seeing the DeltaV unit, Professor Jack Brouwer, PhD, radiated enthusiasm and excitement for how the technology could elevate the research his students are already conducting.  

“We have a wide variety of experiments that require simultaneous monitoring, operation, and control and a typically varying design of these experiments and facilities over time.  We needed a resource that could accept and monitor multiple diverse input signals with various communication protocols and that could produce control signals with equally diverse signals and protocols.” He said, “We work with a fairly large cross-section of energy conversion and energy storage system companies from all around the world.  We plan to use the DeltaV system in the experiments that they sponsor at the UCI Clean Energy Institute and to show them how we use it in research and development of mutual interest. We are grateful for the collaborative spirit and for the time, creativity, and talent that Caltrol engineers are investing in this partnership.” 

Professor Brouwer is the Director of the UCI Clean Energy Institute and a powerhouse figure in the renewable energy industry of Southern California. He also is a Professor and Chancellor's Fellow of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering , a Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, and a Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Without Professor Brouwer’s support, this donation couldn’t have happened. 

After celebrating the unit’s arrival with a photo session, the donation group was taken on a tour of several of the engineering labs at UC Irvine. From hydrogen blending to the development of improved battery technology, the campus hummed with new possibilities for brighter, cleaner, and more renewable energy. The occasion closed with a few words from Scott Kitcher, President of Sustain SoCal, an organization that has worked closely with CEI for many years to foster connections between educators, governments, companies, and non-profits in the interest in cleantech and sustainability.  

“From the students' POV, access to and experience with the DeltaV skid will put them into a position to immediately impact a future employer's trajectory. For over a decade, Sustain SoCal's Member Organizations and others engaged in sustainable solutions have been concerned with workforce development. As challenges have multiplied and increased, a clear need has arisen to broaden engagement in the future of our workforce; not only academic. Public-private partnerships like this one must blossom to widen the scope of education to include access to the best technology and engagement in real life situations.”  

Caltrol specializes in providing innovative solutions that enhance efficiency, reliability, and sustainability for clients in industrial automation industries. Caltrol has a strong commitment to helping customers achieve their goals through a wide variety of products, services, and solutions. A member of the Emerson Impact Partner Network and serving customers in the Southwest region of the US, Caltrol continues to demonstrate that business success and sustainable practices can indeed go hand in hand.  

www.caltrol.com  

 

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