Control Engineering articles from July 2006

Control Engineering archives from July 2006

Industrial Networks.
July 1, 2006... Mark T. Hoske, Control Engineering Top network-related purchases are I/O devices and connectors, wire and cable, and network infrastructure (bridges, switched, routers), say subscribers. Ethernet TCP/IP, RS-232, and 4-20 mA lead among means...

Blurring the Lines Between Automation and Safety.
July 1, 2006... Hank Hogan for Control Engineering Real-world applications show that integration of automation and safety systems can deliver cost savings, greater productivity, and even increased safety. Thanks to changes in standards and laws,...

Form Factors Facilitate Fit, Function, Features.
July 1, 2006... Frank J. Bartos, P.E. Control Engineering Standard formats streamline board developers' design and layout tasks, while machine builders and their customers benefit from long-term availability of board products. The term "form factor"...

The Amazing World of Nanotechnology.
July 1, 2006... Jeanine Katzel, Control Engineering Everyone knows a 'nano' is tiny, but it is the enhanced properties achieved through molecular manipulation that hold the promise of dramatically different materials, processes, and products. The body...

Sarbanes-Oxley audits: coming soon.
July 1, 2006... Robert Fallwell U.S. Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) requires companies to establish and maintain internal controls to ensure the accuracy of reported data. Soon you will be ushered into a conference room and told that you have to prove...

Feedback loops control discrete, continuous processes.
July 1, 2006... Vance J. VanDoren Arguably, the most basic tool of the control engineering profession is the feedback loop, shown below. It consists of five fundamental elements: The process to be controlled. A sensor (or instrument) that...

Finding time.(Editorial)
July 1, 2006... Mark T. Hoske, Editor-in-Chief We're well into summer. Year's more than half over. The long list of want-to-get-done things in 2006 is longer than it was in January, despite having crossed off scores of accomplishments and a few more now...

Payback in one day?(Editorial)
July 1, 2006... Renee Robbins, Editorial Director Right now, plant floor people and systems "may be doing all the right things, but they don't look like it," said Peter Martin, vice president and general manager of Performance Management for Invensys....

Intelligent Safety Networks.
July 1, 2006... By Ed Nabrotzky, Woodhead Industries Intelligent Safety Networks (ISNs) for manufacturing are intelligent in more ways than one. These adaptable and fully programmable systems do a better job of ensuring safe machine operations than...

Proving Control System Performance.
July 1, 2006... Lew Gordon Identifying methods of measuring system performance against project goals can be as important as identifying the goals themselves. It used to be straightforward. When new instrumentation or automatic control applications...

The Link Between Automation and Enterprise KPIs.(key-performance indicator )
July 1, 2006... John Gerry, P.E., and George Buckbee, P.E. From chemicals and paper to petroleum, fast results generate big cost savings. Long-term, enterprise key-performance indicator (KPI) goals are directly correlated to short-term,...

Better Heat for Oil Sands Extraction.(Bantrel Co.)
July 1, 2006... Staff Canadian engineering and oil-sands companies modify motor control centers for electric, heat-trace monitoring and control. Petroleum and petrochemical processes are inherently complex, particularly if you're in northern Canada...

AJAX cleans up HMI performance.
July 1, 2006... Dennis Brandl, BR&L Consulting Human machine interfaces (HMIs) have been in place for more than 20 years, but some basic rules have not changed. If you want a responsive system, you have to install specialty software on the operator...

Strong spring '06.
July 1, 2006... Mark Koznarek Through spring things were looking decidedly green for automation and control companies. In 1Q06, the Control Engineering share price index gained 18%, very healthy performance compared to the 4% gain for the S&P 500 and the...

IMTS: Machine technologists get ready.(International Manufacturing Technology Show )
July 1, 2006... Staff Chicago, IL--Machine technology providers and others intent on sharing knowledge are preparing for "The Americas' largest manufacturing show." According to organizers, the International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS) is one of...

Wireless in '07: unified, scalable, secure.
July 1, 2006... Staff Phoenix, AZ--Honeywell unveiled an industrial wireless roadmap for customers at its annual Users Group Symposium on June 12. Starting with wireless technologies in 2002, the map leads to a 2007 next-generation technology: one,...

Roundup of wireless, RFID activity.
July 1, 2006... Staff Radio-frequency identification (RFID) and other wireless technologies continue to expand in several separate developments. Datalogic Group, with headquarters in Bologna, Italy, through acquisition of PSC Inc., has become a member...

NEMA, UL expand in Asia.(National Electrical Manufacturers Association)(Underwriters Laboratories Inc. )
July 1, 2006... Staff National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) and Underwriters Laboratories Inc. (UL) each announced growth in Asia; NEMA also updated panel and switchboard standards. NEMA is organizing U.S.-led training and cooperation...

Mergers in vision, brewing, instrumentation.
July 1, 2006... Staff In recent merger and acquisition activities, Cognex acquired an in-vehicle vision firm; GEA purchased Huppmann; and Thermo Electric and Fisher Scientific agreed to combine. Cognex Corp. moves into the emerging in-vehicle...

Expansions: Valve testing to network use.
July 1, 2006... Staff A range of recent industry expansions and agreements included greater reach for partial-stroke valve testing, tank gauging, flat-panels, robotics, machine vision, and wider use of Ethernet in automotive facilities. ABB Inc . and...

Feedback on what to teach in process control.(Letter to the editor)
July 1, 2006... Staff I read with great interest the Academic Viewpoint column "Process controls: what to teach" (CE , May 2006, p. 26). While I am not a chemical engineer, I have worked in the process control field (instrumentation R&D and design) for...

By the Numbers.
July 1, 2006... Staff 2 main plastic categories are thermosets (the polymer sets irreversibly when heated) and thermoplastics (can be heated, melted, and reshaped countless times), as explained at Fantastic Plastics Works, a companion site to The Society...

Programmable MEMS gyroscope.
July 1, 2006... Staff ADIS16250 gyroscope is the newest addition to the i Sensor family of highly integrated intelligent sensors. Low-power, highly programmable device contains the embedded calibration, tuning, and control functionality required to detect...

RoHS-compliant step motors, drivers.
July 1, 2006... Staff CRK-M family of high-resolution 5-phase step motors and drivers are RoHS compliant and offer a basic step angle of 0.368. The CRK 5-phase basic step angle can be quickly adjusted to achieve any 2-phase step motor step angles. A...

Power management software for Linux.
July 1, 2006... Staff Personal Solution Pac 3.0 software for Linux is a UPS power management system based on open source code. Designed for local PC and server applications, it provides information on a variety of parameters, including power consumption...

Interactive machine vision.
July 1, 2006... Staff VisionPro machine visions systems now have interactive tools said to make it fast and easy to evaluate, implement, and deploy multi-camera applications without programming. Set includes QuickBuild environment to define image...

IR cameras for demanding use.
July 1, 2006... Staff Ti50 and Ti55 FlexCam thermal imagers are said to offer 320 x 240 pixel resolution, leading thermal sensitivity, and a 5-in.-high, bright LCD. Suitable for demanding infrared environments where superior resolution and thermal...

Wireless sensor networking.
July 1, 2006... Staff Smart-Mesh XT wireless sensor networking system is designed to enable OEMs to deliver wireless products that meet industrial requirements for reliability, low power, and ease of installation. Product line consists of motes and...

Modular operator panel.
July 1, 2006... Staff Automation Panel 800 is equipped with a 15-in. XGA display with touchscreen and includes individual expansions for function keys, electromechanical keys, and the E-stop function. Flat panel can be attached virtually anywhere on a...

Low-profile motors.
July 1, 2006... Staff LARC Series motors achieve custom arc shapes and zero cogging in an extremely low profile package. Motors are applicable to any integrated mechanical system requiring limited angle of rotation at large diameters. With a 360* magnet...

Touch panels achieve high transmissivity.
July 1, 2006... Staff Highly transmissive circular polarizer touch panels deliver high levels of visibility through the sputtering of an indium tin oxide (ITO) low-reflective layer. Process isolates incoming light rays and converts them into circular...

Servo controller includes Ethernet, CAN.
July 1, 2006... Staff SilverDust IG8 single-axis controller/driver is said to provide low-cost network support. Multi-channel architecture allows a network of field devices using CAN to work simultaneously with a supervisory network using RS-232, RS-485,...

Rotary torque sensors for automotive uses.
July 1, 2006... Staff Torkdisc rotary torque sensor system is designed for automotive driveline and powertrain dynamometers and torque measurement applications that require a robust torque transducer. It features a telemetry system consisting of an...

Signal conditioner IC has on-chip diagnostics.
July 1, 2006... Staff ZMD31015 signal conditioner IC with on-chip diagnostics from can be used with nearly all piezo-resistive bridge sensors. CMOS semiconductor device is the newest member of ZMD's family of resistive bridge (RBic-Lite) signal...

Exclusive: Stackable Ethernet I/O blocks.
July 1, 2006... Staff ES2113 is the first model to be released in Acromag's EtherStax line of rugged, high-density Ethernet I/O blocks for distributed I/O and SCADA applications. Device processes 96 channels of discrete input or output signals with Modbus...

Exclusive: Servo drive adds asynchronous control.(Advanced CAE Technology Inc.)(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... Staff Model 940 PositionServo drive with asynchronous control from AC Technology is a simple, yet robust motion controller that can operate ac servo motors and ac induction motors. Latest addition to this line reportedly lets users...

Ethernet switch reliability: Temperature vs. moving parts.
July 1, 2006... Frank Madren Common wisdom says that in industrial high-temperature environments, free convection cooling (via heat sinks and other passive means) is the obvious choice for electronic equipment, such as Ethernet switches. In the words of...