Control Engineering articles from September 2008

Control Engineering archives from September 2008

Molded Parts: Stamp, Place, Remove, Inspect.
September 1, 2008... Renee Robbins, Control Engineering Filtertek, Inc. is a world innovator in filter technology. The Hebron, IL, manufacturer makes custom filtration products and fluid control devices for automotive, healthcare and consumer product...

Multivariable controllers balance competing objectives.
September 1, 2008... Vance VanDoren, Ph.D., P.E., Control Engineering Multivariable controllers differ from traditional single-variable controllers in that they can regulate more than one process variable by using more than one actuator at once. Doing so can be...

Offshore all manufacturing?
September 1, 2008... David Greenfield, editorial director Sounds ridiculous, right? And it is. But a few readers thought my July column ("Rise of the Rest") called for exactly that. Obviously, as editorial director for a magazine focused on the manufacturing...

Upgrading Control: Migration or Evolution?(Company overview)
September 1, 2008... Peter Welander, Control Engineering When a process control platform needs upgrading, the answer can be an incremental change, a system-wide rip and replace, or anything in between. Users have more options than ever. At a recent...

Smart Cameras Resolve Control Issues.
September 1, 2008... C.G. Masi, Control Engineering Speedy data reduction is only one benefit of increasingly advanced machine vision technology. Smart system integrators are applying that technology in more and better ways. Image analysis for machine...

PLM: 3D Process Simulation Delivers.
September 1, 2008... Staff Discrete manufacturers are benefitting from simulation. Two describe why, and how. Market demands require manufacturers to bring products to market faster than ever, even though the products themselves have become more complex....

RFID for Industry.
September 1, 2008... Mark T. Hoske, Control Engineering From talking trash to show the effectiveness of industrial-grade radio frequency identification tags and readers to turning up the heat to more than 400 [degrees]F to see how cool integrated data flow can...

How Programmable Logic Controllers Emerged from Industry Needs.
September 1, 2008... By Ken Ball for Control Engineering Happy anniversary, PLC! No detailed account of your origins is known to exist, and most PLC textbook introductions are inaccurate. This article, based on published references and personal recollections,...

Technology Driven Beer Production.
September 1, 2008... Villy Lindfelt, Beamex Traditional manufacturing values for brewing beer meet sophisticated technology, featuring fieldbus networks and automated instrumentation calibration. Result: high quality product and lots of it. After two...

Keeping the Juice Flowing.(Company overview)
September 1, 2008... Mark Richards, Baumer Serious Food Company has to ramp up production to fill growing demand. Standardizing instrumentation helps support fast expansion and reliable production. The Serious Food Co., a British supplier of fruit juices...

Sweetening Ethanol, Sugar Mix.
September 1, 2008... Brandon Henning, GE Fanuc New control system platform helps sugar producer optimize production mix of food-grade sugar and fuel ethanol to follow changing market demand. One of Brazil's largest sugar producers processes its cane crop...

You can knock, but you can't get in.(Network Access Control)
September 1, 2008... Dennis Brandl There is a new form of network control called Network Access Control (NAC) that will have a major impact on industrial Ethernet networks. NAC has been in the IT press for several years, but it has only recently starting to...

Negotiating 'take it or leave it' contracts.
September 1, 2008... Mark Voigtmann One of the frustrations of being a lawyer who advises automation companies is that sometimes there is only so much I can do. Here's an example: Let's say Control Engineers Limited (CEL) wants legal advice in connection with...

Get smart with controls.
September 1, 2008... Mark T. Hoske, editor-in-chief I didn't see the movie "Get Smart" yet, but I remember how agent Maxwell Smart in the campy TV series managed to come out on top with a combination of technology, luck, and help from friends, despite...

Tutorial podcast: Planning motion control projects.
September 1, 2008... Staff Motion control and mechatronics expert Lee Stephens, senior motion control engineer at Danaher, describes the steps he takes when planning a motion control project in a new podcast entitled "Modeling for motion control design,"...

WirelessHART compliance verification receiver available.
September 1, 2008... Staff In a move critical to the development and compliance testing of WirelessHART devices, the HART Communication Foundation, released the Wi-Analys Compliance Verification Receiver. The unit allows companies designing wirelessly enabled...

Five critical economic indicators for manufacturers.
September 1, 2008... Staff Manufacturers ought to monitor five key indicators to enhance their companies' growth strategies, says industry expert, Dr. Chris Kuehl, economic analyst for the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association, International (FMA). ...

Podcast: Follow a migration in progress.
September 1, 2008... Staff In November 2006, Control Engineering 's Peter Welander first talked to Tom Williams from Honeywell Specialty Materials in Geismar, LA, about a major, long-term upgrade of the company's fluorine products plant as it continues to...

PTO reports high growth, cross-industry collaboration.(Profibus Trade Organization)
September 1, 2008... Staff The number of Profibus nodes in the market has surpassed the 25 million mark, said the PTO (previously known as the Profibus Trade Organization, but now also encompassing Profinet). Based on a node count of 10 million reported at the...

Standards: A few tips to help get your point across.
September 1, 2008... Staff David A. Chappell, Make2Pack chair, and other ISA88 Part 5 committee members provide intelligence and specific links for the "Standard Profits" blog on www.controleng.com (visit the Website and click on the "Blogs" tab to access)....

New, efficient industrial gas turbines coming.
September 1, 2008... Frank J. Bartos, P.E., Control Engineering consulting editor Technology advances in industry often proceed at a slow, conservative pace. This applies more so to large, complex systems like the new-generation stationary gas turbines coming...

What process control applications are suitable for wireless?
September 1, 2008... Staff When can a process application eliminate the cable and use open source radio technology? Gerrit Lohmann and Robert Schosker, product managers for Pepperl+Fuchs, Twinsburg, OH, say that use of wireless technologies will grow as...

What's holding up use of hydrogen as a fuel?
September 1, 2008... Staff In a recent "Ask Charlie" blog posting at www.controleng.com , Senior Editor Charlie Masi addressed one of the burning questions on many minds: With everyone touting the detractions of ethanol production, what's delaying our use of...

NIWeek: WiFi, Ethernet, and LabVIEW 8.6.
September 1, 2008... Staff At its annual user conference (NIWeek), National Instruments released LabVIEW 8.6 and announced 10 new WiFi and Ethernet data acquisition (DAQ) devices, extending NI measurement hardware and software to wireless remote monitoring...

Rising material, energy costs concern North American manufacturers.(Survey)
September 1, 2008... Staff Five hundred and forty-one mass layoff events in the U.S. manufacturing sector in June 2008 resulted in 76,514 initial claims for unemployment insurance, according to a recent report from the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor...

ISA Expo: Sensors help define cold fusion.
September 1, 2008... Staff Cold fusion will be a special keynote topic at ISA Expo 2008 in Houston, Oct. 14-16. Process sensors, instrumentation, and power protection and power control technologies are involved. The potential for a new sensing and...

By the Numbers.
September 1, 2008... Staff 248,655 miles from earth was a distance record set when Apollo 13 rounded the far side of the moon, April 15, 1970. Fluke provided distance milestones to promote two new handheld laser distance meters. Others sell such meters, but...

Digital readouts for gauging.
September 1, 2008... Staff Heidenhain's ND 200 Series Digital Readouts (DROs) host multiple inputs and offer flexibility in configuration. The single-axis ND 200 DROs come in two variants: ND 280 features standard functions (with monochrome flat screen) and ND...

Vertical I/O for DeltaV system offers plant lifecycle savings.
September 1, 2008... Staff DeltaV VerticalPlus I/O carriers extend the benefits of DeltaV vertical I/O to DeltaV SIS, providing flexible installation, increased I/O density, and better thermal management for DeltaV and DeltaV SIS applications. Vertical carrier...

PC/104 single-board computer with AMD processor.
September 1, 2008... Staff Diamond Systems Corp. released its latest PC/104 form factor single-board computer, Rhodeus, based on the AMD LX800 processor. It features mid-range computing power in a compact, low-power-consumption, low-cost computer. Rhodeus uses...

ControlLogix interface to building automation systems.
September 1, 2008... Staff Fieldserver Technologies' SlotServer ControlLogix Communications Interface brings together building automation/fire alarm control systems and process control systems. In many industrial facilities it is necessary to interface between...

Vibration monitoring and measurement solutions.
September 1, 2008... Staff IOtech has added two products to its vibration measurement portfolio. The 600 Series dynamic signal acquisition product portfolio was expanded with a 10-channel, 24-bit, simultaneous sampling USB 2.0 device. With a new software...

New Phasec 3 Series eddy current flaw detectors.
September 1, 2008... Staff Three members of the new Phasec 3 family of eddy current flaw detectors from GE Sensing & Inspection Technologies offer a large color display, and color coding of each channel to enhance signal interpretation. Eddy current inspection...

PID controller supports ramp/soak control.
September 1, 2008... Staff Red Lion Controls, Inc. has announced Modular Controller Series PID modules that support ramp/soak control and provide multizone PID control, data acquisition, and I/O for PC, DCS, or PLC control systems, while integrating data...

SCADA system resistance temperature detector.
September 1, 2008... Staff Semaphore has introduced a resistance temperature detector (RTD) interface for its T-Box line of SCADA system products. The MS-6RTD interface module is compatible with a T-Box MS modular system and accommodates a range of two-wire...

Manifold mount cartridge valves.
September 1, 2008... Staff Parker Fluid Control Division has developed a line of manifold mount cartridge valves, an alternative to solenoid operators and stud mount valves. Part of a family of direct-acting solenoid valves for air and liquid applications, the...

Benchtop wire cutter, stripper.
September 1, 2008... Staff Eraser's Model CS800 Wire Cut & Strip is a fully programmable, fully electric benchtop wire cutter and stripper. The unit can process wire from 10 AWG to 30 AWG and can quickly and precisely cut and partial strip 6,150 pieces per...

Purge/pressurization system for corrosive, explosive areas.
September 1, 2008... Staff Pepperl+Fuchs adds the 6000 Series Purge Pressurization System to its Bebco EPS family. Bebco features are standard in the user-configurable system. The 6000 Series is a complete purging system that contains the controller,...

Rugged USB 2.0 cables, connectors.
September 1, 2008... Staff Part of the USBField product line from Amphenol, new USB 2.0 connections for harsh environments feature mechanical strength and need no tools. The locking system uses a screw thread and incorporates an anti-uncoupling system to...

DIN-rail power supplies meet European directives.
September 1, 2008... Staff SolaHD has extended its line of SDN-P single-phase 24 V dc DIN-rail power supplies by adding three new models in 12 V dc and 48 V dc output voltages. SDN-P DIN rail power supplies provide sag immunity, transient suppression, and...

Wireless 802.11g I/O adapter.
September 1, 2008... Staff ProSoft Technology will introduce its ILX34-AENWG wireless Point I/O adapter this November at Rockwell Automation's annual Automation Fair. ProSoft says the adapter is a high-speed, standards-based 802.11g wireless I/O, which fully...

Fiber-optic-ready EtherCAT modules.
September 1, 2008... Staff To provide optimum wiring flexibility for Industrial Ethernet applications, Beckhoff Automation released two EtherCAT modules for fiber-optic cabling--the EK1501 EtherCAT coupler and EK1521 junction terminal. With the new...

Programmable Logic Controllers.
September 1, 2008... Dick Johnson, Control Engineering Even in a tight economy, PLCs and PACs are hot commodities, a true testament to their control adaptability, flexibility, and multi-feature capabilities. With the venerable programmable logic controller...

Encoder calibration, safety audit.
September 1, 2008... Staff Women in engineering? Yes and no Re: Articles and postings on the skills gap and particularly women in engineering. I am a chemical engineer and my 20-year-old daughter is a chemical engineering student at the University of...

Gateway to process automation.
September 1, 2008... Adrienne Lutovsky, ProSoft Technology Inc. Valspar Corp. is the third largest paint and coatings company in North America, and the sixth largest in the world, with plant production totaling near 250 million gallons of paint annually. Meter...

Process safety resources at your fingertips.
September 1, 2008... Peter Welander, Control Engineering Recently it seems that everyone is talking about process safety, but more than that, they're doing something about it. ARC Advisory Group says that strong growth of safety instrumented systems will...