Control Engineering articles from October 2008

Control Engineering archives from October 2008

Real-time controls prototyping.
October 1, 2008... Thomas R. Kurfess, Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research During the spring semester, I had the opportunity to teach a real-time control development course. Our target area was automotive systems, and I wanted to...

Smart devices and linkages.
October 1, 2008... Renee Robbins, Control Engineering In the northern Netherlands, high-quality magnesium chloride salt deposits lie 1,500 meters below the surface. About half a million tons are extracted every year by Dutch chemical corporation Nedmag...

Robotics tutorial: More diversity, functionality.
October 1, 2008... Mark T. Hoske, Control Engineering Robotics are adapted to and integrated with an increasing diversity of applications. Understanding types of robots and their functions can help end users, system integrators, and original equipment...

Ideas in Automation.(Editorial)
October 1, 2008... David Greenfield, editorial director As you can see, Control Engineering has undergone a bit of a redesign with this issue. Our reasons for doing this are three-fold: give the content a brighter, cleaner appearance, thereby making it...

GM's Net Keeps Production Moving.
October 1, 2008... C.G. Masi, Control Engineering When designing its global command and control network, General Motors executives' first priority was supporting production operations. General Motors recently implemented a sweeping revamp of its global...

The Basics of Numerical Filtering.
October 1, 2008... Vance VanDoren, Ph.D., P.E., Control Engineering Creative number crunching can smooth out data in a control loop. To coffee drinkers and auto mechanics, "filtering" extracts unwanted contaminants from a stream of valuable material....

Automation and Ethernet Combine for 3D Disney Attraction.
October 1, 2008... David Greenfield, Control Engineering Toy Story Midway Mania debuts Disney's extensive use of automation and controls over Ethernet. Core to the idea of Disney's new "Toy Story Midway Mania" ride are the recreation and updating of the...

Intrinsically Safe or Explosion Proof?(Column)
October 1, 2008... Jeanine Katzel for Control Engineering Deciding how to protect a hazard involves more than assessing the application and complying with codes. It is influenced by a variety of variables and driven by habit and growing technologies such as...

IPM motors for highest energy efficiency.
October 1, 2008... Frank J. Bartos, P.E. Industry "workhorse" ac induction motors have been at the forefront of energy-efficient (EE) developments due to their huge installed numbers that account for a significant part of total electricity usage. Efficiency...

Nesher Cement rolls with Modbus TCP, real-time control.
October 1, 2008... Staff Afcon Software and Electronics Ltd. used Modbus TCP for real-time communication in a project with the Nesher Cement plant. Nesher Cement is Israel's largest cement-making company with three plants in Haifa, Ramle, and Bet Shemesh....

More Precision, Faster Setup for Die Grinding Machine.
October 1, 2008... By Karl Rapp, Bosch Rexroth Corporation CNC, drive, motor and interface package help improve productivity in beverage can making. In the world of can manufacturing, the quality of the dies that shape each can directly impacts...

Targeting Tumors with Motion Control.
October 1, 2008... John Hayes, Galil Motion Control Precisely irradiating cancerous tissue, while minimizing radiation damage to surrounding cells, requires multiaxis motion control. Focused radiation continues to be an effective means for treating...

Rules for software success.
October 1, 2008... Dennis Brandl There are many new information technologies that can be effectively used in manufacturing environments. It is difficult to keep up with all of the new choices, and even harder to run effective projects that integrate new...

Wow. Well done.(Editorial)
October 1, 2008... Mark T. Hoske, editor in chief I'll bet that sometime this past year, you've used a new industrial automation product--sensors, logic, actuators, software, networks, or instrumentation--and thought, "Wow. Well done. This product is...

Behind the new touch screens.
October 1, 2008... Staff Touchscreens are increasingly finding their way into industrial environments as manufacturers, upgrading their human machine interfaces (HMIs) to better accommodate humans, find this technology is making the task easier than ever....

World's largest high-speed VFD.
October 1, 2008... Staff Siemens Energy & Automation says that its Robicon Perfect Harmony Drives have reached a technical milestone with the introduction of an 8 MW variable frequency drive (VFD) that operates with an output frequency of 500 Hz. ...

Uninterruptible power supply cuts manufacturer's downtime.(Ayala)(Falcon Electric Inc.)(Column)
October 1, 2008... Staff The modern manufacturing floor typically includes networked computers, PLCs, robots, and other power-sensitive microprocessor-based electronics that must operate reliably from utility power. At one major airline manufacturer, an...

Industrial Ethernet security issues.
October 1, 2008... Staff In the wake of panel discussions on Ethernet security at this year's Hannover Fair, Control Engineering has followed up with a variety of industry experts to determine the biggest Ethernet security issues facing users, and discuss...

Can smart instruments help predictive maintenance?
October 1, 2008... Staff Control Engineering senior editor Charlie Masi recent tackled this question in his blog, "Ask Charlie." Masi says: "This question combines the unrelated concepts of smart instruments and predictive maintenance. The smart instruments...

IEC approves WirelessHART.(International Electrotechnical Commission )(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... Staff The WirelessHART Communication Specification (HART 7.1) was approved last month by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) as a Publicly Available Specification (IEC/PAS 62591Ed. 1). The national committees of 29 separate...

Control programming made easier.(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... Staff David Chappell, Control Engineering "Standard Profits: Make2Pack and ISA88" blog author notes in a recent post that: "It seems to me that the programming languages and function blocks available to industry today do not impose any...

Plant floor interoperability standard released.
October 1, 2008... Staff MTConnect is described as an open, royalty-free standard to foster greater interoperability among controls, devices, and software applications by publishing data over networks using IP to help machine tools communicate seamlessly....

Planning your DCS migration.(distributed control systems)(dialogue with Marjorie Ochsner of Honeywell Process Solutions)(Interview)(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... Staff Control Engineering process industries editor Peter Welander interviewed Marjorie Ochsner, senior product manager and migration specialist for Honeywell Process Solutions, to help clarify how to know when it's time to move to a new...

Tutorial: Vortex shedding flowmeters.
October 1, 2008... Staff One technology that scored well in Control Engineering's August 2008 Product Research survey on flowmeters is vortex shedding. Vortex shedding flowmeters calculate liquid, gas, or steam flow by observing the vortices formed when...

Mitsubishi releases 3 CNC machines.
October 1, 2008... Staff Mitsubishi Electric has released the C70, M70 and M700 CNCs. The C70 CNC rack-based solution for manufacturing cells, transfer lines, and rotary index machines controls up to 16 axes. Using the multiple system function, the C70...

New technologies, applications, and industrial partnerships featured on CEtv.
October 1, 2008... Staff Control Engineering hosts a video repository on its site for educational and tutorial videos created by Control Engineering and industrial technology providers. Recently posted videos at CEtv include: A visit to Carnegie Science...

Particle size analyzer cuts energy use.
October 1, 2008... Staff The China Aluminium Industry Stock Company (Guizhou, China) is using an Insitec on-line particle size analyzer from Malvern Instruments (Malvern, U.K.) to produce better quality carbon at lower variable cost. The milled carbon...

By the Numbers.
October 1, 2008... Staff 4 advances in sensors from Keyence, Pepperl + Fuchs (P+F), Sick, and Turck include Turck's economical magnetic-inductive sensors, washdown sensor lines from Sick and P+F, plus a new no-error digital contact sensor series from...

UPS with multi-position power distribution unit.
October 1, 2008... Staff Pulsar M uninterruptible power supplies (UPSs) from Eaton Corp. reportedly maximize energy efficiency and minimize excess heat when installed in a network rack. According to the company, the unit is the first on-line...

Analyze real time Ethernet networks.
October 1, 2008... Staff Hilscher North America Inc. has released netAnalyzer, a PCI based network analyzer designed for use with real time Industrial Ethernet protocols such as EtherNet/IP with CIPsync and others. Network traffic can be time-stamped within...

Modular tachometer with dual display.
October 1, 2008... Staff Carlo Gavazzi has enhanced its modular digital panel meter family with backward compatibility of new TF1 (DC signals) and TF2 (AC signals) tachometer modules. The UDM60 tachometer measures and processes two independent pulse signals,...

Torque sensor offers testing conveniences.
October 1, 2008... Staff Torque Sensor Series 4503A from Kistler Instrument has two separately calibrated test ranges for simplified rotary device testing. A single instrument is able to sense specimen operating ranges and sense the torque peaks far above...

Sanitary and industrial RTD assemblies.
October 1, 2008... Staff Tel-Tru Manufacturing's line of resistive temperature device (RTD) probe assemblies and temperature transmitters feature a thin-film PT100 platinum RTD sensing element packaged in an all-welded 316L stainless steel probe. The range...

LEDs illuminate magnetic level gages.
October 1, 2008... Staff Clark-Reliance Corp.'s Jerguson NightStar illuminators are used with magnetic liquid level gages to provide high contrast, 24-hour visibility in no-light or low-light environments. An array of bright LEDs shines on the gage's...

Multiphase flow simulation in MS Excel spreadsheets.
October 1, 2008... Staff Invensys Process Systems has released version 4.1 of its SimSci-Esscor Inplant software, which simulates multiphase flow in plant utility and relief networks. V4.1 can model applications ranging from a depressuring study of a single...

5-port industrial Ethernet switch.
October 1, 2008... Staff The Iguana Series IUE-500EC is a 5-port unmanaged Ethernet switch positioned as an enhanced entry-level industrial switch. It supports IEEE 802.3/802.3u/802.3x with 10/100M, full/half duplex and MDI/MDI-X auto-sensing RJ45 ports....

High-temperature UV flame detector.
October 1, 2008... Staff A highly responsive ultraviolet (UV) flame sensor and advanced signal processing allow the new high-temperature FL3111HT UV Flame Detector from General Monitors to operate in temperatures up to 125 A[bar]C (257 A[bar]F). To achieve...

Troubleshoot networks with wireless measurements.
October 1, 2008... Staff Agilent Technologies Inc. has introduced two new options for handheld wireless measurements on its E6474A network optimization platform. The solution allows full drive test functionality to run on a compact, handheld Ultra Mobile PC....

Web-based SCADA software.
October 1, 2008... Staff ReDAQ software from Dataforth is a supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) solution for factory automation, process monitoring and control, and test and measurement applications that is delivered via a Web browser. No...

Simplify control of asynch motors.
October 1, 2008... Staff SEW-Eurodrive's Movitrac LTE B is a frequency inverter that simplifies control of asynchronous motors. It is available in three sizes with a standard IP20 or IP55/NEMA 12k housing, and the power range has been extended to 15 HP for...

Vision system software speeds system design.
October 1, 2008... Staff The Impact family of high-speed intelligent cameras from PPT Vision has been improved with new software. Impact Software Suite version 8.0 adds support for the latest T3X Series hardware, and features such as drag-and-drop tools and...

Compact buck-boost regulators.
October 1, 2008... Staff Analog Devices Inc. has announced one of the industry's smallest buck-boost regulators, which supports switching frequencies at speeds up to 2.5 MHz. Designed to regulate voltages above and below the battery output voltage in...

High-performance COM Express computer-on-modules.
October 1, 2008... Staff Kontron ETXexpress-PC COM Express Computer-on-Module provides new performance-per-Watt standards for embedded applications with high demands on data processing and/or multimedia conversion and output. Based around the...

Building-block style Cartesian motion systems.
October 1, 2008... Staff A new approach to Cartesian motion systems from Bosch-Rexroth provides building-block style modular design of material handling, pick-and-place, palletizing, inspection, and related applications. The camoLINE system includes...

Modular I/O system for network expansion.
October 1, 2008... Staff Balluff's new IO-Link system is said to provide a low-cost, quick and easy way to expand an existing Profibus or Profinet network. The result is an overall cost savings for components, cabling, installation, and system integration...

Power factor transducers.
October 1, 2008... Staff CR Magnetics Inc. has introduced a new series of power factor transducers designed to sense the phase angle difference between ac current and voltage signals. This allows the correcting of power factors to save on utility energy...

Cables and Connectors.
October 1, 2008... Dick Johnson, Control Engineering Wide ranging application capabilities and diverse environments deliver wire, cable and connector innovation, product research shows. Here it is! A holiday that requires outside decorations and lights...

Real-time Ethernet Applications.
October 1, 2008... Mark T. Hoske, Control Engineering Using Ethernet for real-time applications provides faster communications along with faster setup and assembly, lower costs, and improved diagnostics. Seeing is believing, so they say. Perhaps these...

Don't Rip Out Your Legacy Network.
October 1, 2008... Trevor L. Lang, HMS Industrial Networks Because devices such as limit switches and proximity sensors will not have Ethernet any time soon, here's how to connect them to Ethernet now. While use of industrial network standards such as...

Gigabit Ethernet: Is the Time Right?
October 1, 2008... Ralf Kaptur, Molex Engineers drove the development of gigabit Ethernet, but it's use is not always practical. This article will help guide the decision-making process. Using gigabit Ethernet is a lot like having the fastest car in the...

SCADA system security.
October 1, 2008... Staff SCADA system vulnerabilities... Regarding your item about "Square D Powerlogic Ion EEM" dated 09/11/08 on www.controleng.com . My name is Bob Radvanovsky, and am the owner/moderator to the SCADASEC mailing list, an...