Control Engineering articles from March 2004

Control Engineering archives from March 2004

Convergence of purpose.(Control Engineering)
March 1, 2004... For the past several years now, I have attended annual ARC Advisory Group meetings in Boston and Orlando. At the Orlando show in January an interesting convergence occurred, a parallel that some people may have missed. Those who have been to...

50, 25, 10 years ago: this page offers a look back on a variety of interesting items from Control Engineering's past issues, highlighting content from 50, 25, and 10 years ago.
March 1, 2004... November 1954 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] October 1954 Prospects Are Bright For Smell That's Right How can you apply feedback control to something you can't measure? You can't. That's what disturbs engineers in the food industry,...

Hannover Fair 2004 widens scope, adds Interkama.(News)
March 1, 2004... Hannover, Germany -- Each year, Hannover Industrial Fair brings together multiple tradeshows covering a gamut of automation technologies. In 2004, the fair widens its scope by adding well-known process automation show Interkam[a.sup.+] to its...

CE announces first Engineers' Choice Award winners.(News)
March 1, 2004... Chicago, IL -- Control Engineering (CE) announced its first eight Engineers' Choice Award winners on Feb. 24 at the magazine's 17th annual awards reception, during National Manufacturing Week 2004. CE's North American subscribers were asked...

Innovations ignite National Manufacturing Week 2004.(News)
March 1, 2004... Chicago, IL -- Numerous useful solutions and products from exhibitors highlighted National Manufacturing Week 2004, Feb. 23-26, at McCormick Place. Here are some of the show's most significant releases and exhibits: * Cincinnati Tests...

TUV approves Fieldbus Foundation's FF-SIS concept.(News)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Austin, TX -- The Fieldbus Foundation (FF) has announced that TUV Anlagentechnik GmbH recently approved its Safety Instrumented Systems (FF-SIS) system concept. The FF-SIS project was initiated by end-users and approved by FF's board of...

'electronicaUSA with the ESC' just around the corner.(News)
March 1, 2004... San Francisco, CA -- Billed as the "most comprehensive systems design educational forum in North America," "electronicaUSA with the Embedded Systems Conference" (ESC) will run March 29 to April 1 at the Moscone Convention Center. Organizers...

EC rules, demand for efficiency fuel flowmeter adoption.(News)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... San Antonio, TX -- Increasing conformance with new European Commission (EC) rules and growing demand for improved efficiency in the process industries are increasing adoption of flowmeters, according to recent research by Frost & Sullivan. The...

Correction.(Correction Notice)
March 1, 2004... An incorrect website was listed for Omnex Control Systems in the cover story, "The Wireless I/O World," Control Engineering, Feb.'04, p. 32. The correct website for Omnex is www.omnexcontrols.com.

Sulzer's chief to be named ABB's CEO.(News)(ABB Group reports that Fred Kindle will be its next CEO)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Zurich, Switzerland -- ABB Group reports that Fred Kindle will be its next CEO. He will join ABB on Sept. 1, 2004, and will formally replace Jurgen Dormann as CEO in January 2005. Kindle is presently CEO of Sulzer AG, a Switzerland-based...

Users want more tablet PCs.(News)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Wellingborough, U.K. -- Users of rugged mobile computers expect their consumption of tablet PCs to significantly increase over the next three years, according to a new study by IMS Research. The firm's most recent survey confirms the trend that...

Global distribution of process engineering: long practiced in discrete manufacturing where items are produced in numerous locations for final assembly elsewhere, the globalizing effects of distributed manufacturing are increasingly being explored in the process industries.(Market Update)
March 1, 2004... Product proliferation and internationalization, along with demands and costs for shipping, maintenance, upgrades, and enhancements, will continue to encourage wider geographical distribution of manufacturing activities. In fact, many companies...

Automate or export jobs.(Editorial)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... All right, of course it's not as simple as "Automate or export jobs." Perhaps the headline should read: "Get more aggressive about smart application of automation or update your resume, because your North American facility is unlikely to remain...

Pile on the savings: combining expertise of controls and predictive maintenance technologies rather than reacting to events can save your facility a bundle. Here's why buyers and specifiers in these two areas cannot afford not to cooperate.
March 1, 2004... Measurements from automation and control sensors and attached equipment--such as pressure, temperature, vibration, and acoustic and fluid levels--have been collected on clipboards for years to help schedule maintenance. With enough analysis,...

Intel says predictive maintenance is key to uptime.
March 1, 2004... For Intel, a few hours of downtime can result in millions of dollars in losses. Incorporating predictive maintenance as a key component of its uptime strategy, the company's 24 manufacturing, testing, and assembly sites have collectively...

Better by design: toolholder extends life.
March 1, 2004... Upgrades can reduce downtime and maintenance simply by better designs. Mapal Head Fitting System (HFS) toolholder line, is an example said to increase tool life up to three times with a design that reduces runout. Concentricity inaccuracies can...

Are you satisfied? More than a popularity contest, Control Engineering's customer satisfaction study quantifies user comfort, or lack thereof, with 92 control and instrumentation manufacturers across 16 product categories, related software, and services.(Customer Satisfaction Survey)
March 1, 2004... Determining which control and automation companies provide the best products and services is a lot like trying to "win big" in Las Vegas. Just when you think you have a system that's working, something (or everything) changes and the house wins...

Best products and services.(Customer Satisfaction Survey)
March 1, 2004... Which control and automation manufacturers provide the best products, repair services, software upgrades, technical support, and factory recalibration services? The envelopes, please! In December 2003, Control Engineering subscribers completed...

How can a direct company offer such great service?(AutomationDirect)(Advertisement)
March 1, 2004... Founded in 1994 as PLCDirect, AutomationDirect has quickly grown to be a well-recognized name in industrial automation. We were the first company to offer direct sales of programmable controllers, products that were considered too "complex" to...

Have HMI, will travel: increased power, quality graphics, and greater reliability found in today's handheld interfaces are taking plant-floor interaction farther afield.(PDAs for HMIs)
March 1, 2004... PADs--personal digital assistants--you see them almost everywhere these days. And their increased application in the automation and controls environment is no exception. Use of PDAs as human-machine interfaces (HMIs) is growing remarkably, and...

Solidifying gains; diversifying methods.(Focus Industrial Networking)
March 1, 2004... Networks are continuing to move beyond traditional communications into all areas of control and automation, mostly due to adding networking and intelligence to devices, migrating toward digital communications, and tying plant-floor to...

A new coat of automation.(The Voice of Experience)
March 1, 2004... Engineers at Kemet Electronics Corp. (Greenville, SC) have developed a process over the last 18 months that involves the growing of polymers on a capacitor anode using an electrochemical process. The company is ramping up this new coating...

It's not only the technology.(Insight IT & Engineering)
March 1, 2004... Sometimes integration between business systems and manufacturing systems seems harder now than in the past. This is not because the problem is harder; in fact, current industrial standards and XML integration schemas are making integration...

Rugged SBC.(Products & Software)
March 1, 2004... PowerEngine7 single-board computer comes in two rugged versions: air-cooled (RA) and conduction-cooled (RC). Both combine high performance with low power dissipation, making them well suited for data processing applications in harsh-environment...

Heater destroys bacteria.(Products & Software)
March 1, 2004... Constantemp heater destroys Legionella bacteria that can grow in hot water systems. Steam water heater, available in single and double wall, has a feedforward system that heats water to 200 [degrees]F and then blends fresh cold water to achieve...

Large diameter butterfly valves.(Products & Software)
March 1, 2004... Series 35/36 heavy-duty, large-diameter, resilient seated butterfly valves are full-flanged versions rated at 75 and 150 psi, respectively. Line is available in sizes of 60, 66, and 72 in. and has many design features and benefits of smaller...

Integated step motion control.(Products & Software)
March 1, 2004... Simple Step 17 -- an integrated 1.8[degrees] step motor, driver and controller system--provides trajectory motion, 2 digital I/O channels, 2 fixed I/O channels, preset motor winding current levels, and safety stop commands. Motion commands can...

Geometric pattern finding.(Products & Software)
March 1, 2004... PatFlex is the newest member of the PatMax family of geometric pattern finding technologies. Software tool enables a vision system to locate an object, feature, or pattern whose perspective has changed or whose surface is curved, warped,...

Canned-rotor resolver.(Products & Software)
March 1, 2004... Canned-rotor magnetic resolver eliminates the shaft seal for rotary feedback sensors in hydraulic actuators. Resolver design permits the rotor to operate directly in hydraulic fluid or in liquid hydrogen. Resolver operates at pressures up to...

Quick-disconnect encoder.(Products & Software)
March 1, 2004... Profibus-DP programmable multi-turn absolute encoders are now available with M12 eurofast quick disconnects and overmolded mating cordsets. Devices are available in shaft and large-bore-hollowshaft construction with a Class 2 Profibus-DP field...

Proximity sensors shine on the shop floor.(Back to Basics)
March 1, 2004... Sensing the presence or absence of objects, liquid levels in clear containers, or counting cans moving down a conveyor pose everyday tasks for discrete sensors on the factory floor. Noncontact proximity sensors form one branch of discrete...