Control Engineering articles from March 2007

Control Engineering archives from March 2007

By the Numbers.(recent events in control equipment industry)
March 1, 2007... Staff 18 inductees for the National Inventors Hall of Fame 2007 will be honored May 4 and 5 in Akron, OH. Inventors' technologies include digital packet switching, magnetic resonance imaging, and the Ethernet. To read more about Robert...

How green is my power supply?(rectification and regulation of industrial power supply)(Editorial)
March 1, 2007... C.G. Masi, Control Engineering Most electronic devices work best with direct current power. Thomas Edison advocated dc power distribution, but we use George Westinghouse's ac power distribution system because, as Nicola Tesla pointed out,...

3 ways to engineer success.(ideal control engineering)
March 1, 2007... Chuck Sherman One of the most common counseling sessions I provide to engineers is based on a premise that I learned in the most valuable class I took in college. The class was an accident, really. I needed a filler between calculus and...

Support of innovation.
March 1, 2007... Renee Robbins, Editorial Director The rapid growth of overseas manufacturing is creating opportunities and challenges for U.S. manufacturing. Companies are investing billions of dollars abroad to access emerging markets and take advantage...

The Three Faces of PID.(proportional-integral-derivative controllers)
March 1, 2007... Vance VanDoren, Ph.D., P.E., Control Engineering The three elements of PID control each have a distinct personality, but they can be made to work together. Loop tuning becomes easier when you understand the interactions. Although...

Not your Father's RTOS.
March 1, 2007... Hank Hogan for Control Engineering Embedded real-time operating systems (RTOSs) have changed, adding greater connectivity while meeting new safety and security certifications and considerations. Embedded real-time operating systems...

Stepper Motion Evolution.(scope of target applications of stepper motors)
March 1, 2007... Frank J. Bartos, P.E. Control Engineering Inherent control simplicity, miniature motors and drives, and higher torque density of stepper systems add up to a viable alternative to servo motion for certain lower-power applications. It's...

Safe-motion choices.(integration of safe-motion technologies and machine control systems )
March 1, 2007... C.G. Masi, Control Engineering The days of hard-wired point-to-point safety systems for automated machinery are gone. Machine builders are discovering a new generation of safe-motion technologies integrated into machine control systems and...

Asian partnerships get specific.
March 1, 2007... Renee Robbins, Control Engineering Like their customers, control system suppliers in the U.S. are increasingly outsourcing higher level assembly, system, and functional testing to countries around the globe. (See "Automation Industry Looks...

Control Design for CIP Systems.(clean-in-place systems technology)
March 1, 2007... Barry J. Andersen An effective clean-in-place (CIP) system requires careful process analysis combined with control strategies matched to the task. Clean-in-place (CIP) technology can clean appropriately designed process equipment and...

Bringing Nuisance Alarms Under Control.(Salt River Project alarm management)
March 1, 2007... David Gaertner When operators have to answer 5,000 alarms in 18 hours, it's time to attack a huge problem. While process alarms are critical to the safe and profitable operation of a power plant, too many and too frequent alarms can...

The Language of Device Integration.(scope of Electronic Device Description Language for device integration)
March 1, 2007... Hans Georg Kumpfmuller Why four major user organizations are advancing device integration using EDDL, while cooperation with other field device technology proponents is being investigated. The Electronic Device Description Language...

Which language is next?
March 1, 2007... Dennis Brandl A reader recently asked what programming language will next take the control world by storm. The question is important, because a lot of system integrators and application developers are looking for the "right" answer....

How to export technology: 4 checkpoints.(Bureau of Industry and Security)
March 1, 2007... Mark T. Hoske, editor-in-chief Break the rules on export of technologies and software and you may experience the feel of handcuffs. What you need to know is neither cut and dried nor uniform. Sensors, logic, actuators, software, networking...

Belden to buy Hirschmann citing Ethernet, wireless, fiber-optics allure.(Company overview)
March 1, 2007... Staff Belden agreed to purchase Hirschmann Automation and Control GmbH (HAC) from HgCapital, a European private investor, for approximately $260 million in cash. Belden says HAC is "a leading supplier of industrial Ethernet solutions and...

Power plants: Ethanol plant captures waste heat from electric utility.
March 1, 2007... Staff Called the first of its kind, a new ethanol plant has been co-located and fully integrated with a coal-fired power plant to use waste heat for ethanol production. Headwaters Inc. and Great River Energy (GRE) began operation of the...

Bus & Board 2007: Speakers address VMEbus trends, needs, new technologies, new name.
March 1, 2007... Staff Bus & Board 2007, which focuses on interconnect technologies including VMEbus, CompactPCI, motherboards, and other products for embedded applications, celebrated the 25th anniversary of VMEbus by talking about new technologies. The...

Product lifecycle: Siemens moves to acquire UGS Corp.(Siemens Automation and Drives )
March 1, 2007... Staff Siemens Automation & Drives says its $3.5-billion agreement to acquire UGS Corp., a provider of product lifecycle management (PLM) software and services, would make Seimens the first worldwide manufacturing industries supplier of...

Higher voltage: NEMA expands standard to cover 230-1,200 V.
March 1, 2007... Staff The new upper limit is 1,200 V for National Electrical Manufacturers Association's newly revised standard, (NEMA) ANSI C84.1-2006, American National Standard for Electric Power Systems and Equipment--Voltage Ratings (60 Hz). ...

Optimization: Honeywell buys PAS advanced process control business.
March 1, 2007... Staff In a move that should benefit both companies, Honeywell has agreed to buy PAS' Advanced Control & Optimization (APC&O) business. The transaction includes the linear and non-linear controls and optimization technologies and related...

New IEEE-USA leader: U.S. must act now to keep high-tech jobs.
March 1, 2007... Staff The United States must act now to improve its competitiveness and prevent the loss of high-tech jobs, says IEEE-USA's incoming president John W. Meredith, P.E. Meredith, a product development engineer with Agilent Technologies,...

Wireless update: Wi-Fi meshing to double by 2010.
March 1, 2007... Staff Wi-Fi meshing, which allows wireless access nodes to achieve a longer range by using each other as repeaters, is becoming increasingly common in several markets, says In-Stat. More than 50,000 Wi-Fi mesh AP (access point) unit...

Savi calls active RFID market mature, signs 7 licensees.
March 1, 2007... Staff Savi Technology, a provider of active radio frequency identification (RFID)-based technologies, said seven companies have licensed its active RFID technology, signaling a maturing market for the RFID industry. The licensees gain...

Instrumentation: 3 electron microscopes to support nanotechnology research.
March 1, 2007... Staff Commercialization of nanotechnology products got a boost recently when the California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI) specified three sophisticated microscopes for nanotechnology research. The first two systems are expected in the first...

Stand-alone graphic display.
March 1, 2007... Staff Stand-alone 2-in. graphic display module is the latest addition to Ametek Dixson's NGI vehicular instrumentation system. Compact module provides the advantages of a graphic display in a rugged, versatile gauge that can be used by...

RFID tags for harsh environments.
March 1, 2007... Staff Overmolded (OM), ISO/IEC 15693-compliant transponder family of rugged RFID tags from Texas Instruments is designed to withstand extreme environments where temperature, high pressure, and harsh chemicals may inhibit line-of-sight...

Visualization software for OPC data.
March 1, 2007... Staff Operational Insight Lite software tool from Matrikon is designed to acquire, display, and analyze OPC real-time and historical data. Based on the company's ProcessNet visualization and decision support software, the tool enables...

GPS module for OEM electronic systems.
March 1, 2007... Staff GPS2056 receiver module for OEM electronic systems from DeLorme is based on the STMicroelectronics STA2056 GPS receiver chip. Module features a 25 x 25 mm footprint and contains a GPS position engine including LNA, SAW filter, GPS...

Microcontroller has integrated LCD driver.
March 1, 2007... Staff Family of highly integrated, power efficient 8-bit microcontroller (MCU) devices from Freescale Semiconductor is optimized for LCDs. The MC9S08LC60 (LC60) line features the company's first S08-based flash MCUs to have an integrated...

Hardware, software system simplifies control, DAQ applications.
March 1, 2007... Staff Snap Pac System from Opto 22 includes several new hardware and software products said to be expressly designed to be easy to use. Offerings incorporate online training and educational tools that use Web-based video. Components in the...

Enhanced managed switch has more bandwidth.
March 1, 2007... Staff Magnum 6K25e managed Ethernet switch from GarrettCom Inc., an enhanced version of the 6K25 model, supports up to eight 1-Gb ports. It is said to offer a significant increase in bandwidth capability, allowing deployment of such...

Toolset transforms robots into CMMs.
March 1, 2007... Staff RoboGauge tool set from Orus3D creates or transforms an industrial robot into an in-line coordinate measuring machine (CMM). Designed to provide real-time high-accuracy 3D data for inspection of critical dimensions or optimal quality...

Gas analyzer has zirconia sensor.
March 1, 2007... Staff Stationary gas analyzer from Witt with a zirconia measuring cell is said to offer a shorter reaction time than models with chemical sensors. Calculation of residual oxygen content takes only seconds, says the company, and the testing...

Programmable alarm trips for hazardous areas.(Moore Industries Inc. introduces SPA2 programmable alarm trips)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... Staff SPA2 programmable current/voltage and RTD/thermocouple limit alarm trips from Moore Industries are FM-approved for use in hazardous locations. They provide on/off control, warn of trouble, and provide for emergency shutdown by...

Wireless: Bluetooth interface.
March 1, 2007... By Staff Viator Bluetooth interface is the latest addition to MacTek Corp.'s line of PC modems. Slated for availability in June 2007, this point-to-point modem for temporary connection to HART-enabled field devices will be ATEX- and...

Recorders.(Yokogawa Corporation of America introduces DXAdvanced process measurement system)(Honeywell Inc. introduces Paperless eZtrend QXe recorder )(Eurotherm Chessell introduces Model 6000XIO distributed graphic recorder )
March 1, 2007... Dick Johnson, Control Engineering Use of recorders and data loggers increases as performance variables expand and wireless applications emerge. Throughout civilization, humanity has devised ways to record events for future generations:...

Ladder logic: Strengths, weaknesses.
March 1, 2007... Todd Walter Anyone who's ever worked on a project knows that one of the differences between an amateur and a professional is using the right tool for the job. This holds true whether repairing a faucet or programming a measurement and...

China: Progressive Metamorphosis Underway.(foreign investments in Chinese automation companies on the rise)(Editorial)
March 1, 2007... By Ivy Peng, executive editor, Control Engineering China In the fifth year of China's entry into the WTO (World Trade Organization), statistics from the National Statistical Bureau show that large industrial enterprises netted a profit of...

Central/Eastern Europe: Automakers Drive Automation Investment.
March 1, 2007... By Michael J. Majchrzak, publisher of Control Engineering Poland, Czech Republic/Hungary, and Russia Manufacturers needing a strategy for expanding production or distribution into Europe who might have looked in France, Germany, or Italy...

Ireland: Manufacturing Welcome Wagon for Western Europe.
March 1, 2007... By Michael Babb, Editor, Control Engineering Europe Europe's market is huge: more than 540 million well-educated, prosperous citizens with above-average incomes and a high standard of living. Manufacturers and sellers of goods can't ignore...

Southeast Asia: Snapshots Reveal New Asia Rising.
March 1, 2007... By Bob Gill, editor, Control Engineering Asia The place: Singapore. The time: October 2006. Ear-splitting drums and energetic lion dancers welcome dignitaries onto the stage for the official launch of Rockwell Automation's Asia Pacific...