Control Engineering articles from January 2009

Control Engineering archives from January 2009

Hybrid approach to system design.
January 1, 2009... C.G. Masi, Control Engineering The age-old debate among system designers and their managers is whether to use top-down or bottom-up design techniques. Experience shows that a hybrid approach works best. Top down To use the...

Practical energy efficiency.
January 1, 2009... David Greenfield, Editorial Director It's ante up time. By clearly stating that we had an education agenda in mind when initiating regular coverage of sustainable engineering in November, Control Engineering made a commitment to provide...

Energy Management: First Steps Toward Greater Efficiency.
January 1, 2009... David Greenfield, Control Engineering This article series provides specific examples of how engineers can identify and address--at relatively little or no cost--the principal sources of energy waste in their production facilities. Part one...

Cyber Security Hits Home.
January 1, 2009... Peter Welander, Control Engineering If you've been wondering if and when you might be forced to address cyber security issues with your process control or SCADA systems, watch efforts with electric utilities. Implementations going on now...

Speaking In Tongues: Understanding The IEC61131-3 Programming Languages.
January 1, 2009... Ted Thayer, Bosch Rexroth Electric Drives and Controls The IEC standard provides five different controller-programming languages, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. The basics are detailed here, with more online. Long...

Why HMIs Are Everywhere.(human machine interfaces)
January 1, 2009... Jeanine Katzel for Control Engineering Displays, touchscreens, terminals--those human-machine interfaces are quite literally everywhere. Little more than pushbuttons and switches a mere decade ago, these devices have grown in...

To See and Control.
January 1, 2009... Renee Robbins, Control Engineering Industrial video is quickly moving beyond its use as a surveillance tool. Control engineers are discovering video over IP, which combines Ethernet ease of use with video processing technology to enhance...

Asia industry banks on process.(Association of Process Industry)
January 1, 2009... Bob Gill, Control Engineering Asia While some sectors of the Asian economy are slowing down, Asia's process industries remain in relatively fine shape--overtaking one country's electronics sector as the highest contributor to manufacturing...

Analyzing Critical Flow Measurements.(DPH Focus Engineering Inc.)
January 1, 2009... Jim Ralston and Scott Monton, ProSoft Technology Part 2: Custody transfer of fuel products demands sophisticated flow analysis beyond volume readings. Two users discuss their applications. In November, we discussed the special needs of...

Is Automated PID Tuning Dependable?(Proportional Integral Derivative)
January 1, 2009... Greg Baker, Watlow Why do so many PID loops run in manual? One reason could be that automated tuning is no guarantee of success. It is surprising that more than 30% of all factory PID control loops are operating in manual rather than...

Ground Loops.
January 1, 2009... Peter Welander, Control Engineering Tutorial: What causes these analog aggravations, and how to get rid of them. A technology refresher from Process Instrumentation & Sensors Monthly eNewsletter. Analog wiring from a sensor to I/O...

Doing more with open-source and recycled systems.
January 1, 2009... Dennis Brandl In times of economic stress, all companies and departments are challenged to do more with less, and this includes manufacturing IT departments. On a regular basis, manufacturing IT has to address new user requirements,...

Standards, more or less.
January 1, 2009... Mark T. Hoske, Editor in Chief Do standards serve people or do people serve the standards? A standard is an officially sanctioned way of designing products or processes. A de facto standard is one that so many people use that it is, more...

New patent addresses maglev stability.
January 1, 2009... Staff MagneMotion Inc., a developer and manufacturer of linear synchronous motor (LSM) products and systems used in assembly automation, material handling and transportation applications, has been awarded U.S. Patent No. 7,448,327 related...

Human-machine interface in Arctic Circle conditions.
January 1, 2009... Staff Geotechnical company Hayward Baker uses QSI QTerm-G70 for applications in Peribonka, Quebec, Canada, where temperatures range from -20 to 24 [degrees]C (-4 to 75 [degrees]F). Other challenges to the hardware include snow, rain, wind...

Engineers can't light a light bulb?(Brief article)
January 1, 2009... Staff In one of Peter Welander's recent "Pillar to Post" blogs, he mentions a video showing a group of MIT engineering graduates unable to figure out how to solve a basic electrical challenge: Given a D-cell battery, a flashlight bulb, and...

Offshore wind farms sparked by HVDC.
January 1, 2009... Staff A unit of E.ON, Germany's largest utility, is working on a project to link the world's largest offshore wind farm to the German power grid at minimal impact to the environment. The 400-megawatt (MW) wind farm, located 130...

System integration advice.
January 1, 2009... Staff Interviews were conducted with each of the three winners of this year's Control Engineering System Integrator of the Year Award--representing small, medium and large system integration businesses. The interviews reveal insights on...

ODVA announces new editions of CIP network specifications and testing of Ethernet/IP products.
January 1, 2009... Staff At the SPS/IPC/Drives show in Nuremberg, Germany, ODVA announced that it has published new editions of the specifications for the family of CIP Networks, enhancing the EtherNet/IP, DeviceNet, CompoNet, ControlNet and CIP Safety...

Engineers spend significant time on manual CAD repair.
January 1, 2009... Staff Through a recent survey of 538 discrete manufacturing professionals, Longview Advisors finds persistent inefficiencies in design data handling, even though effective solutions are available. The "2008 Collaboration & Interoperability...

ISA creates working group for wireless factory automation standard.
January 1, 2009... Staff Work on ISA's wireless family of standards reached another milestone, bringing the factory automation community one step closer to having an industry-wide standard for wireless interconnection of automated machines. The 68...

Dow Corning evaluates waste reduction efforts; reports 80% cut in process scrap.
January 1, 2009... Staff Dow Corning has reported significant progress in waste reduction, including a cut of up to 80% in process scrap at one of its manufacturing sites. The reductions have been achieved in part through the company's materials...

Sustainable engineering.
January 1, 2009... Staff A series of podcasts detailing the energy efficiency tips described in the January and February 2009 Energy Management articles are available for download and streaming. The podcasts address facility and machine power use as well as...

Cybersecurity bloggers discuss industry issues.
January 1, 2009... Staff Control Engineering 's cyber-security bloggers Matt Luallen and Steve Hamburg discuss their experience in the development of today's cybersecurity practices and how current developments are impacting the lives of engineers in the...

Ethernet drives industrial network growth.
January 1, 2009... Staff In its newly released "Supply Side Analysis Reports," part of its annual "Industrial Networking Global Market Intelligence Service," VDC Research reports that the worldwide market for industrial infrastructure wireline networking...

By the Numbers.
January 1, 2009... Staff 4 amazingly fluid engineering projects in the Festo Bionic Learning Network are the AquaJelly, AirJelly, AirArm, and YoYo. See how mesmerizing engineering can be by watching and learning about a mechanical jellyfish or a...

Comm module transmits up to 100 m.
January 1, 2009... Staff The Industrial Automation Group of Advantech has introduced ADAM-5202, a 2-ring AMONet module with up to 128 communication slaves and support of distance communication up to 100 meters. It has an operating temperature range of 0 to...

Remote monitoring of process instruments.
January 1, 2009... Staff LinkBus Remote Instrument Monitoring System (RIMS) from Ametek Process Instruments provides users of Ametek process analyzers and instruments with 24/7 access through their PC Web browser, FieldBus, or ModBus protocol-based...

Wall-mount power supply for high shock.
January 1, 2009... Staff Siemens Energy & Automation has released the SITOP Wall Mount 24 V dc/10 A power supply designed to operate in high-shock and -vibration conditions. Wall-mount design said to eliminate danger from spring effect of a DIN-rail clip....

Global modular 22 mm IEC pushbutton line.
January 1, 2009... Staff The new line of Eaton M22 pushbuttons establishes a new level of versatility, safety and reliability, the company says. The line includes pushbuttons, selector switches, pilot lights, mushroom operators and e-stops, as well as new...

Software cuts equipment downtime, adds OEE.
January 1, 2009... Staff Wonderware, a business unit of Invensys, announces the release of Performance Software 3.5, the newest evolution of its equipment downtime and overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) software, and an integrated module of the Wonderware...

Process Automation Systems.
January 1, 2009... Renee Robbins, Control Engineering Process control systems contain diverse features and capabilities; though some of these features never get used, others are the impetus for upgrades and migrations. Reed Research Group surveyed...

Factory floor visualization.
January 1, 2009... Andy Balderson and Brent Meranda, Parker Electromechanical Automation Division When it comes to sharing information, the factory floor has simply not kept pace with the rest of the business world. There have been vast improvements in HMIs...

Bit by bit: Why use serial communications?
January 1, 2009... Mark T. Hoske, Control Engineering In this day and age, why use serial communications, such as RS-232, RS-422, and RS-485? Digital industrial networks, fieldbuses, device- and sensor- level networks (also USB) all support many vendors'...