Control Engineering articles from June 2007

Control Engineering archives from June 2007

Software minimizes design time.
June 1, 2007... Staff Version 1.8 of Eplan Electric P8 from Eplan Software & Services continues to focus on minimizing design time. New features include in-place editing to speed and simplify the incorporation of modifications arising during machine build...

Database centralizes security.
June 1, 2007... Staff Industrial Defender 3.0 from Industrial Defender (formerly Verano Inc.) helps enhance operational efficiency and cyber security by centralizing critical security and performance information. Information from all Industrial Defender...

Using Flowmeters.(flowmeter technologies and applications)
June 1, 2007... Dick Johnson, Control Engineering Accuracy, repeatability, economy top list of 'most wanted' features for flowmeter technologies and applications. Users share views and opinions. Beyond just manufacturing and process control, are...

High-resolution monitoring speeds bearing press-fitting.
June 1, 2007... C.G. Masi, Control Engineering A transmission, transfer case or differential may contain four to six bearings that are press fit into place on assembly lines turning out as many as 3,000 transmissions a day, so the problem of automatically...

Stop the scrap, track the problems.
June 1, 2007... Phil Aponte, Siemens Energy & Automation When Greg Richards joined the Quadrant Engineering Plastics Products (EPP) Reading, PA, plant in 1999, he was a man on a mission. The controls engineer and maintenance manager found losses from...

Upgrade without downtime.
June 1, 2007... Renee Robbins, Control Engineering As a subsidiary of CSM, a global player in the food-ingredients industry, Purac is a leading producer of lactic acid-based biochemicals used in foods, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and other products. The...

Safety networks achieve better machine-control performance.
June 1, 2007... Helge Hornis, Ph.D., Pepperl+Fuchs Designing and implementing traditional hardwired safety solutions is complex, time consuming, and allows many errors. Once a system has been wired up, limited diagnostics add significant burden as well....

Who Puts the 'Industrial' in Ethernet?
June 1, 2007... Mark T. Hoske, Control Engineering Switches, routers, hubs, gateways, connectors, and other Ethernet hardware have been industrially hardened to take what manufacturing can dish out. Industrial Ethernet hardware can take plant-floor...

Condition Monitoring Gets Sophisticated.
June 1, 2007... Peter Cleaveland for Control Engineering New ways to gather information, including wireless, plus integration of information from top to bottom is helping users cut costs and avoid costly downtime. Careful balancing of reactive,...

Choosing Level Sensors.
June 1, 2007... Peter Welander, Control Engineering Selecting a level sensing technology, like any process instrumentation, begins with an analysis of the application to determine the best approach. Measuring the amount of a substance, either liquid...

Brushless PM Torque Motors.
June 1, 2007... Frank J. Bartos, P.E., Control Engineering Powerful and efficient, these permanent-magnet synchronous motors eliminate extra power transmission elements and include advanced design for very high levels of torque. Electric motors come...

Ethernet down to device-level.(ethernet-based solutions for industrial plant networking)
June 1, 2007... Helge Hornis, Ph.D., Pepperl+Fuchs Industrial Ethernet-based solutions are now established and gaining popularity for plant networking. Ethernet is preferred by many engineers for automation applications for the simple reason that it allows...

Mechatronics Resolves Design Challenges.
June 1, 2007... Nipun Mathur, National Instruments Faster, better, and cheaper is the name of the game for machine builders, via streamlined design and smarter applications of automation. Intense global competition is putting pressure on machine...

Preferred Suppliers Speed Integration.
June 1, 2007... C.G. Masi, Control Engineering One challenge for system integrator Wright Industries was staying on top of fast-changing technology. Its preferred supplier program shortened development time for its customers. Serving customers in...

LTF Technology Simplifies Light Sensing.(light-to-frequency converter)
June 1, 2007... Ray King, TAOS What is a light-to-frequency converter and how does it work? A light-to-frequency (LTF) converter measures light intensity and produces a square wave signal with frequency directly proportional to the light intensity....

Equipped for the Future.
June 1, 2007... Joe Kraus, Kuka Robotics When a housewares manufacturer modernized its manufacturing process, it gained an automated grinding and polishing system based on four robotic cells. WMF AG (Worttemberg Metal-goods Factory), headquartered in...

A software patchwork quilt.
June 1, 2007... Dennis Brandl Computer system patching is in the news again as numerous attacks target unpatched operating systems and applications. Software patches are an unfortunate common practice with any major O/S, database, or system service...

Design efficient manufacturing.
June 1, 2007... Mark T. Hoske, editor-in-chief With so many in manufacturing operations concerned about efficiency, why weren't more people at the WBF 2007 conference in May? Some attendees wondered that out loud during the Baltimore meeting. Many...

Awards: Congress' support of technology recognized.(Nancy Pelosi and Lamar Alexander received an award)
June 1, 2007... Staff Two members of the U.S. Congress were rewarded last month for support of engineering and technology, according to IEEE-USA. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) received the 2007 George E....

Taking the show on the road: Rockwell marks 100th manufacturing event.(Rockwell Automation Inc.)(Brief article)
June 1, 2007... Staff The Rockwell Automation Complete Automation on the Move show (CAOTM) celebrated a milestone in Las Vegas recently by marking its 100th show in the United States. The educational event, which features hands-on labs, technical...

IBM and austriamicrosystems partner for high-voltage CMOS technology.
June 1, 2007... Staff IBM and austriamicrosystems say they will enhance IBM's 180-nm radio frequency (RF) CMOS process technology with austriamicrosystems' proprietary high-voltage module. The HV module is currently in volume production as part of...

RFID: Freescale tracks wafer locations through shop floor.
June 1, 2007... Staff Locating wafer lots in a factory is often time consuming. Hundreds of semiconductor wafer lots are stored and staged throughout processing areas at the Freescale facility in Austin, TX. A lot is a container holding wafers worth...

Simatic PCS 7: V.7 tackles DCS barriers.
June 1, 2007... Staff The latest release (version 7) of Simatic PCS 7 Process Automation System from Siemens Energy & Automation Inc. reportedly gives plant operators new ways to minimize cost of ownership, protect automation assets, increase plant...

Changing of the guard: New CEO takes reins at Siemens E&A.
June 1, 2007... Staff Siemens Energy and Automation Inc. (SE&A) has a new leader. The company announced recently that Dennis Sadlowski, 46, will take over as president and chief executive officer of the company on July 1, 2007. Sadlowski succeeds Aubert...

Process Standards: Groundbreaking savings expected at Bristol-Myers Squibb Devens plant.
June 1, 2007... Staff In new and existing installations, case studies charting actual implementations show that savings from ISA-88 extend way beyond its original use for batch control systems. At a new Bristol-Myers Squibb Devens, MA, facility, which...

Phoenix Contact: Customer technology center opens in Houston.
June 1, 2007... Staff Phoenix Contact opened its new Customer Technology Center in Houston on May 2, a move said to bring the company closer to its customers, especially those in the process control and energy industries. Top company officials from the...

Motion, vision: DARPA Challenge teams advance; June safety assessment.
June 1, 2007... Staff Continuing to advance control engineering technologies such as motors, motion control, machine vision, advanced sensing, and networking, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) says 53 of the initial 89 teams will move...

Encoders: Kübler by Turck now U.S. assembled.
June 1, 2007... Staff Turck Inc. announced that 'Kubler by Turck' 2 in. encoders are assembled in Minneapolis to shorten lead times, now less than one week for encoders with 1,024 pulses per revolution or less. These die-cast aluminum encoders are...

By the Numbers.
June 1, 2007... Staff 1 liter, three cylinder, 71 hp engine with a five-speed automated manual transmission will power DaimlerChrysler's Smart Fortwo two-seater automobile, for sale in the U.S. in 2008. It's on tour in more than 50 cities, May-November...

Big names show range at Hannover Fair 2007.
June 1, 2007... Staff Like a giant department store of innovation, Hannover Fair 2007 displayed aisle after aisle of automation products and technological advances. When this 'world meeting place for industry and business' closed on April 20, it had...

Flow, level, temperature, pressure.(Brief article)
June 1, 2007... Staff Endress+Hauser's large exhibit focused on demonstrating competence in process automation for various industries, such as pharmaceuticals, food processing, and storage tank systems. E+H focuses on complete solutions that integrate...

High efficiency induction motor.
June 1, 2007... Staff SEW-Eurodrive also stressed energy-efficiency. Its new higher efficiency DR Series induction motor comes with optional die-cast copper rotor, which the company claims to have introduced five years ago and a choice of up three modular...

Chip power for industrial PCs.
June 1, 2007... Staff Silicon chip power was on display at some fair exhibits. Several new board-level and computer products from Kontron AG featured the latest multi-core microprocessors. Intel (www.intel.com ) Core Duo processor powers Kontron's compact...

Energy: 2 MW generator.(Brief article)
June 1, 2007... Staff The Energy sector-one of 12 trade shows in one at Hannover Fair 2007-assembled some 880 companies to display their developments and innovations for efficient production and transmission of renewable and conventional energy. In wind...

Micro motor drive for OEMs.(original equipment manufacturer)(Brief article)
June 1, 2007... Staff Danfoss displayed recently introduced electric drives. VLT Micro Drive is intended for OEM usage such as small machine tools and industrial laundries. VLT Automation Drive in the 11-75 kW power range with IP20 sealing now offers...

PC-based logic, puzzle-solving robotics.
June 1, 2007... Staff Bosch Rexroth displayed a robotic system to solve Rubik's Cube puzzles-demonstrating the prowess of its NYCe compact PC-based control. Repetitive puzzle solutions took less than 2 minutes. Software programming of the robot was...

Sewing up pockets of automation.
June 1, 2007... Renee Robbins, Editorial Director I am reading a fascinating book: Stumbling on Happiness , by Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert. In addition to enjoying Gilbert's logical mind and witty writing, I am exploring new ideas about how the...

PepsiAmericas Quenches Thirst for Plant-Floor Information.
June 1, 2007... Paul Moylan, Rockwell Automation Des Moines soft drink bottling facility improves efficiency, saves $120,000 annually with business intelligence. Today's factories and their control systems can generate incredible amounts of raw data...

Design Production for Automation.(Company overview)
June 1, 2007... Tim Black, Siemens Energy & Automation Flavor formulator designs new plant around automation concepts from outset. Results are large scale manufacturing with laboratory precision. Maximizing savings from automation requires thinking...

Manufacturing Gels Around Automation.(Real Time Systems)
June 1, 2007... Vance VanDoren Ph.D., P.E., Control Engineering Greenfield gelatin plant creates state-of-the-art manufacturing and automation systems for food and pharmaceutical grade products. When the company set out to build its new Fayetteville...

Textual computation models.
June 1, 2007... Wendy-Kay Logan, National Instruments Early computer systems were manually programmed using physical switches to configure the address, data and control lines of the machine. To enter data into memory, each instruction was converted into...