Control Engineering articles from September 2003

Control Engineering archives from September 2003

Action/reaction.(Editorial)(Editorial)
September 1, 2003... Though I received a good deal of feedback from a variety of sources to my "Change Engineers column in the July issue, it was Mark J. Nelson, an engineering product manager at Hilliard Corp. in New York who brought home the impact of the control...

NEMA'S industrial control business indices rise.(News)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Rosslyn, VA -- Recent reports showing improvement in the U.S. economy appear to be proving favorable for many industrial control manufacturers. For example, the National Electrical Manufacturers Association's (NEMA) Primary Industrial Control...

Economic turnaround to boost Europe's electric drives market.(News)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... London, U.K -- Following a couple of years of lackluster results, prospects of improving economics in 2004 and growing end-user confidence are expected to boost demand in Europe's $1.5-billion electric drives market, according to a new study by...

Aonix acquires NewMonics, PERC platform.(News)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... San Diego CA; Paris France -- Aonix recently purchased the PERC platform and development tools from NewMonics (Tucson, AZ), which specialized in mission-critical network infrastructure and telematics applications. As the first Java offering to...

Curtiss-Wright purchases Peritek for $3 million.(News)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Roseland, NJ -- Curtiss-Wright Corp. recently bought Peritek Corp. for $3 million to increase its presence in the electronic systems market. Curtiss-Wright provides engineered products and services to the motion control, flow control, and metal...

Swagelok buys Kenmac.(News)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Solon, OH -- Swagelok Co. has acquired Kenmac Ltd. (Isle of Man, U.K.). A privately held manufacturer of high-quality instrumentation valves and manifolds, pressure regulators, process interface valves, and piping products, Kenmac employs about...

Tecnomatix to buy USDATA for $10.3 million in stock.(News)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Herzlia, Israel; Richardson, TX -- Tacnomatix Technologies Ltd. recently agreed to purchase USDATA Corp. for approximately $10.3 million in stock. The deal is expected to close in September 2003, and is subject to customary approvals and...

Rio Grande Electric monitors power via satellite.(News)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Victoria, B.C., Canada -- Rio Grande Electric Cooperative Inc. (RGEC) recently implemented satellite communications to monitor energy conditions across its 20-county, rural energy distribution network. The Texas-based electric utility...

Corrections.(News)(Correction Notice)
September 1, 2003... Incorrect URLs were listed for Barcodes Unlimited and DVT Corp. in the cover story, "See the Results," Control Engineering, August 2003. To contact BarCodes Unlimited send an e-mail to cadbcu@aol.com. To reach DVT, visit www.dvtsensors.com.

Servo drive market recovering.(News)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Dedham, MA -- The worldwide market for servo drives is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.2% during the next five years from $2.067 billion in 2001 to more than $2.922 billion in 2006, according to a new study, "Servo...

NI week 2003: software makes hardware 'disappear'.(News)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Austin, TX -- Good software makes hardware disappear, contends National Instruments' [NI) CEO and co-founder Dr. James Truchard, in his recent NI Week 2003 keynote presentation. Truchard explains that instrumentation is increasingly used via...

How to put SCADA on the Internet.(technology Update)
September 1, 2003... Many companies are considering using the Internet for supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) to provide access to real-time data display, alarming, trending, and reporting from remote equipment. However, there are three significant...

Down to earth and a world away.(Think Again)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... How would you like to do your next project at one-sixth the price and in half the time, with a mandate to offer scores of capabilities never before available, and have one shot to get it right? Did I mention that most people on the planet would...

Artificial intelligence ... within: artificial intelligence methods continue to provide upfront benefits in industrial and consumer arenas, although they're increasingly found working quietly in the background.
September 1, 2003... Perhaps we don't hear much about artificial intelligence(AI) methods used within today's technologies because it's slightly unnerving when computers emulate human thinking. Yet we, and computers themselves, continue to improve the way AI works...

Maintaining a single source of truth: avoiding erosion of process asset information can save millions by upgrading instead of recreating data, augmenting communications, and knowing what you need when it matters most.
September 1, 2003... According to ARC Advisory Group (www.arcweb.com), instrumentation accounts for as much as 10% of a process manufacturing plants capital expenditure and 20% of its operating expenditure. Manage information A key component of controlling...

Test your control system with simulation: speed start-ups, avoid unplanned shut-downs, save money by modeling and pretesting a system to new or unforeseen situations with these strategies for computer-based software simulations.
September 1, 2003... Computer-based simulations abound in the 21st century. The most familiar examples are just for fun--video games, animated toys, amusement park rides, and the like. But simulations can serve a serious purpose in the manufacturing world as well....

Simulate your embedded system: software tools save engineering and start-up time by modeling, testing, and creating embedded control systems in an integrated environment.
September 1, 2003... Video games simulate characters, environment, and storylines of many movies to maximize revenue related to your latest cinema experience. These include "Finding Nemo" and "The Matrix," among many others. Software applications simulate the...

Ethernet retrofit.(the voice of Experience)
September 1, 2003... Rimrock Corp., a supplier of automation equipment for die casting, faced a problem: How to respond to greater customer demands for improved performance through greater precision and higher part counts without scrapping millions of dollars of...

Why IT matters.(IT & engineering Insight)
September 1, 2003... Welcome to Control Engineering's new column addressing information technology (IT) issues for control engineers. The need for this column grows greater every day as IT becomes much more usable and more used by control professionals. Yet, as...

Single-board: computers widely applied.(Focus: single-board)
September 1, 2003... The single-board computer (SBC) has its roots in the need for application-specific computing power in the control industry. Early designs go back 20 years or more. And although the designs were often based on the idea that an SBC could be just...

Flexible, smart motor starter.(Products & software)
September 1, 2003... Telemecanique TeSys U-Line motor starter combines motor starter power and control functions with built-in intelligence and a modular structure. TWO power bases cover all power ranges to 32 A. They can be installed, connected and tested...

Smart temperature transmitters.(Products & software)
September 1, 2003... iTemp TMT 162 HART smart temperature transmitter accepts input from two sensors at the same time. Brilliant blue backlighted display is easy to read from a distance, in sunlight, or at night. Large measured value, bar graph and fault...

Full-featured drive, small package.(Exclusive)
September 1, 2003... ACS550 DriveIT low-voltage ac drive family combines simplicity, convenience, fieldbus connectivity, harmonic mitigation and programmability. Drives in the 1 to 440 hp range provide high-power density to end-users, OEMs, system integrators, and...

2-wire transmitter.(Products & software)
September 1, 2003... SPRTX Series industrial RTD two-wire transmitters feature a hermetically sealed miniature signal conditioner built into a connector housing. The transmitter, which connects to a three-wire RTD probe, conditions and linearizes across a dedicated...

Machine condition-monitoring system.(Products & software)
September 1, 2003... HI 3600 Machine Monitor advanced condition monitoring system lets customers bridge the gap between vibration monitoring needs and plant control capabilities. The latest in Hardy's 3000 Series product line offers advanced condition monitoring...

Process simulation software.(Products & software)
September 1, 2003... PRO/II 6.0 process simulation program models a wide range of processes and is well suited for oil/gas, refining, petrochemical and engineering applications. Software performs rigorous mass and energy balances for numerous chemical processes....

Factors affecting network bandwidth.(back to basics)
September 1, 2003... Bandwidth is defined as the carrying capacity of a circuit. It's usually measured in bits per second for digital circuits, or in hertz for analog circuits. Though a hardwired network is also limited by the speed of its devices and...