Control Engineering articles from April 2009

Control Engineering archives from April 2009

DC measurements: voltage vs. current.
April 1, 2009... Charlie Masi, Control Engineering It is generally preferred to make voltage measurements rather than current measurements because, when set up properly, voltage measurements are safer for the equipment being measured. This is particularly...

Sustainability evident in product innovation.
April 1, 2009... David Greenfield, Editorial Director Innovation is often more about developing a new use for an existing technology than it is about creating a new technology or product from scratch. Recently, I've come across two new innovations--both of...

The Transparency of Wireless.
April 1, 2009... Peter Welander, Control Engineering Wireless networking and device manufacturers have gone to great lengths to create products that are secure, easy to work with, and operationally indistinguishable from wired equivalents. Picture an...

When Considering Controllers... Do Operating Systems Matter?
April 1, 2009... Renee Robbins and Barb Axelson, Control Engineering Controller vendors and system integrators weigh in on proprietary vs. open, including Microsoft Windows and Linux, and the importance of interfaces and programming tools. ...

How Communications Help Integration Projects Succeed.
April 1, 2009... Vance J. VanDoren, Ph.D., P.E., Control Engineering System integrators share their experiences about how revealing everything to all stakeholders is a recipe for automation project success. As much as 80% of project problems are due to...

How to Improve ROI with RFID.
April 1, 2009... Mark DiSera, Turck Determine if radio frequency identification (RFID) on the manufacturing production line can improve your return on investment (ROI). Industrial production line use of radio frequency identification (RFID) has become...

Data Collection Leads to Reduced Scrap, Increased Quality.
April 1, 2009... Jeanine Katzel for Control Engineering By focusing on improved information control, Intermet--an automotive cast-metal components company--boosted system efficiency and reduced scrap, in addition to increasing quality, precision,...

24 V dc power with Ethernet specification.
April 1, 2009... Mark T. Hoske, Control Engineering Like a round peg in a square hole, end-users can face incompatibility when designing and deploying 24 V auxiliary power on the factory floor. In response, ODVA is creating a "Power with Ethernet"...

Data Acquisition and Digitizers Advance Medical Imaging.
April 1, 2009... Staff Cancer researchers develop a new optical coherence tomography system using a patented light-source technology, a high-speed data acquisition system, and 32 digitizers to provide 256 simultaneously sampled channels. Reducing...

Lower Cost Medical Devices?
April 1, 2009... Daniel R. Matlis, Axendia Device manufacturers seek more transparency into production information, processes, and resources. Unlocking operational data empowers decision makers to make informed timely decisions. Will the FDA help? Can...

MRI Machine Design Lessons.
April 1, 2009... Peter Welander, Control Engineering Understanding MRI design and how its ability to affect a proton's behavior in a magnetic field has opened a major area in medical diagnostics. If you watch House or other medical shows on TV, you've...

Cut costs with manufacturing IT standards, best practices.
April 1, 2009... Dennis Brandl As every manufacturing company looks for ways to cut costs and save money, there is one place that too many engineers and executives are ignoring. If you had the opportunity to reduce automation project costs or times by over...

Engineering hope.(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... Mark T. Hoske, Editor in Chief Patch broken or damaged nerves and re-establish the brain-muscle-sensory control loop. Detect cancer as it forms. Create a robotic exoskeleton that helps a paraplegic walk. Create a computer with human...

Convert existing gages, transducers, monitors to wireless.
April 1, 2009... Staff Cypress Envirosystems, a subsidiary of Cypress Semiconductor Corp., has recently released several non-invasive sensing and wireless technologies which can be installed on existing automation devices in retrofit applications. ...

Trio of new cybersecurity interviews on SCADA, NERC, more.
April 1, 2009... Staff Control Engineering cybersecurity blogger Matt Luallen conducted a series of interviews with industry experts at the SANS Institute SCADA Summit. The videos explore what manufacturing operations should be doing to protect critical...

Toyota reduces air emissions with bio-oxidation technology.
April 1, 2009... Staff As shown in Toyota's 2008 North America Environmental Report, Toyota's aluminum wheel plant in Delta, British Columbia, recently added a third paint booth to meet growing demand. As a result, VOC emissions were expected to increase....

Economist identifies hazards, opportunities for manufacturing, engineering.
April 1, 2009... Staff Though growth for some regions of the world won't resume until later this year or next, opportunities do exist now. Inherently unstable financial systems have produced about 30 crises since WWII, and in this crisis, many people are...

Reevaluating HMIs via use of best practices.
April 1, 2009... Staff In a Web seminar sponsored by TiPS Inc. - The Alarm Management Company, Ian Nimmo conducted a mini seminar based on his book, "The High Performance HMI Handbook." As a founder and former program director of the Abnormal Situation...

Control and simulation technologies play key role in EcoCAR challenge.
April 1, 2009... Staff National Instruments announced its contribution as a platinum sponsor for EcoCAR: The NeXt Challenge, a new collegiate vehicle engineering competition. In the competition, students will reengineer a 2009 Saturn VUE with advanced...

New Belgium Brewery practices sustainable engineering.
April 1, 2009... Staff Recognized as much for its sustainability efforts as its world-class lagers and ales, New Belgium Brewery is viewed by many as a benchmark example of how being sustainable and profitable are not mutually exclusive. In fact, New...

Industrial automation fair expands to China.
April 1, 2009... Staff Though trade fairs in the U.S. have declined significantly over the past several years, they are still big business in Europe and Asia. Further evidence of trade show popularity overseas can be seen in the expansion of the SPS...

Manufacturer strategies for best-in-class compliance and traceability.
April 1, 2009... Staff Through the analysis of nearly 650 manufacturing executives, a benchmark report by Aberdeen Group, "Compliance and Traceability in Real-Time," has found that best-in-class companies outperform their competition in many critical key...

By The Numbers.
April 1, 2009... Staff 4 points from U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics about machinery manufacturing: 1) High productivity growth is expected to cause employment to decline, but many openings will result from the need to replace workers who retire. 2)...

Enhanced remote data acquisition system.
April 1, 2009... Staff The enhanced ReDAQ software package available from Dataforth Corp. provides an integrated solution for test, measurement, and data acquisition applications when combined with one or more SCM5B isoLynx SLX200 data acquisition hardware...

Redesigned SCADA programming software uses Windows technology.
April 1, 2009... Staff Control Microsystems announced TelePACE Studio, a redesigned programming environment for its SCADAPack controllers. The software adds additional functionality to the product's predecessor, TelePACE 3.x. A customizable workspace...

NEMA Premium efficient motors with aluminum rotors.
April 1, 2009... Staff Siemens Energy & Automation, Inc. announces a new line of NEMA Premium efficient motors with aluminum rotors. These new motors help customers meet the year 2010 mandatory efficiency requirements of the 2007 Energy Independence &...

PC in a drive: ultra-compact, integrated.
April 1, 2009... Staff The plastics, packaging, print, and textile industries can benefit from high efficiency multi-axis machines when using the B&R Industrial Automation Acoposmulti solution. The APC820 -- "the PC in a drive" -- integrates the highest...

Wireless, wired I/O, controllers.
April 1, 2009... Staff Wired Ethernet network options and wireless 802.11a/b/g capabilities now are available on standard Opto 22 Snap PAC controllers and I/O systems. Using wireless for programmable automation controllers and I/O is as easy as it is for...

RISC embedded computer: I/O, MS Windows CE 6.0.
April 1, 2009... Staff Sealevel Systems Relio R9 delivers RISC computing power in a compact, rugged package. Packed with a wealth of I/O features and using the latest embedded software environment, the system is based on the Atmel ARM926EJ-S processor with...

In support of 'Made in America'.
April 1, 2009... Shalli Kumar, AVG Automation While the taxpayer is being asked to fork-up billions of dollars to bail out the automotive industry, the Big 3 continue to waste hundreds of millions of dollars every year on plant automation alone. General...

Greening Coal-Fired Power with Solar.
April 1, 2009... Peter Welander, Control Engineering While environmental groups argue merits of various green energy alternatives, EPRI plans for solar steam to reduce coal consumption. As renewable energy technologies become more commonplace, more...

Simulation Evolves in Power Plants.
April 1, 2009... Gene Abruzere, Emerson Process Management Long a tool for training operators, power plant simulation platforms find a growing role in advancing financial and operational goals. Just as businesses in the manufacturing, retail, and other...

Gas Station Makes its Own Fuel?
April 1, 2009... Peter Welander, Control Engineering Small bioethanol plants supply local customers and consume feedstocks from local food processors, minimizing transport costs. Driving down the street you decide to stop to fill your gas tank. Being...

Safety in hazardous locations, interest in home fuel cells.
April 1, 2009... Staff Re: "Intrinsically safe or Explosion proof," Control Engineering North America edition, October 2008. As a regular user of both IS and EXD equipment for automotive spray applications (Class 1 Div. 1), it was nice to see an...

Large tag count SCADA systems need proper planning.
April 1, 2009... Steve Carson, MultiTrode A lot of SCADA systems involving telemetry, especially in the water/wastewater industry, have a minimal amount of data coming from each site. A wastewater collection system with 100 sites, for example, might have...