Control and Instrumentation articles from January 1998

Control and Instrumentation archives from January 1998

Shamelessness, self-interest, amorality: is this the shape of standards-making in fieldbus?
January 1, 1998... is this the shape of standards-making in fieldbus? 'By March or April you're going to see a flood of qualified, certified Fieldbus Foundation-based products.' So said John Pittman, president of the Fieldbus Foundation. In an exclusive...

Avoiding the growing pains. (Capteur Sensors CEO Graham Hine's plans)
January 1, 1998... Seven years since its modest beginnings, Capteur Sensors is riding high. A new 1,115 [m.sup.2] factory, sales of [pounds]3 million and a workforce of 50. That, capped with a robust and healthy order book leads the company to be bullish - a...

Setting new standards. (new standards in measurement set by National Physical Laboratory)
January 1, 1998... National Physical Laboratory is quite literally setting new standards in measurement. But now that it is privately run, how British is Britain's national standards institution? C&I asked the man in the know, managing director, Dr John Rae...

PCs PLCs & networks which way? (programmable logic controllers)
January 1, 1998... Conflicting advice is being offered - we look at both solutions Networking is now accepted as an essential part for all but a small number of industrial plant automation applications. This is leading increasingly towards 'open systems' which is...

Real time extensions. (real time operating systems)
January 1, 1998... Are real time extensions to operating systems the right way to go for real time projects? With the new real time extensions to Windows NT, many real time developers are starting to consider NT. It's easy to see why. Rather than connect real...

Programmable controllers. (usage)
January 1, 1998... Trends in the PLC market; will open systems complement or compete such that PLCs can live with PCs? Even though they have been around for some 20 years, the demand for PLCs in the UK continues to grow at well into double digit rates. That's...

Oil and gas keep valves open. (usage of valves and actuators)
January 1, 1998... Valves and actuators are generally regarded as a declining market in the UK. But wait, SMART technology and the oil and gas industries are keeping valves afloat Nowhere is the market for industrial process control valves more highly fragmented...

Sensor/actuator interfaces: cable assemblies and distribution components are now able to simplify fieldbus wiring in industrial plants.
January 1, 1998... Cable assemblies and distribution components are now able to simplify fieldbus wiring in industrial plants Electro-mechanical circuits are still widely used and are still being chosen today as the control method for sensor/actuator interfaces,...

Good condition? Infrared monitoring tells all.
January 1, 1998... Infrared condition monitoring tools have matured - they're now versatile enough to highlight faults before they become problems It's often difficult to measure the costs incurred from equipment failure - be it a broken connection in a switch...