Control and Instrumentation articles from July 2000

Control and Instrumentation archives from July 2000

If it ain't bust don't fix it.
July 1, 2000... No fanfares or drum rolls, just the technical details Microsoft's long awaited Windows CE3.O has arrived along with the development tools needed to make it work. And considering the new operating system is one of the most significant...

Windows 3.0 arrives.
July 1, 2000... Microsoft has released version 3.0 of Windows CE, the embedded operating system, along with two development tools - Platform Builder 3.0 and eMbedded Visual Tools 3.0 - which enable developers to build rich embedded devices demanding dynamic...

Power in control.
July 1, 2000... Adroit Technologies and Scomagg have secured a major contract to provide hardware, software, training and support for a plant-wide Scada system to be installed at Powergen's Ratcliffe power station The system will incorporate Adroit's Scada HMI...

Solution developer moves into web technology.
July 1, 2000... Internet technology supplier, Intuitive Technology has been acquired by eMation in a move which creates a company that can provide a common web interface for the leading suppliers in the industrial controls and automation market. "Intuitive...

Giving NASA its wind power.
July 1, 2000... ALSTOM POWER CONVERSION has won a prestigious order with the NASA space agency to design, supply and install a 9MW (12 000hp) variable speed drive and synchronous motor to control a fan used in a wind tunnel at NASA's research facility in...

LonWorks gets Java connectivity with memorandum of understanding.
July 1, 2000... ECHELON AND SUN MICROSYSTEMS have entered into a memorandum of understanding to integrate LonWorks networking services with Java Embedded Server software for set-top boxes, game consols, residential gateways and other gateway devices. The...

Endress+Hauser restructures.
July 1, 2000... Endress+Hauser has restructured its Whessoe Varec tank gauging instrumentation business to create a new inventory management solutions organisation -- Endress+Hauser Systems & Gauges. The new company will be aimed especially at oil and gas...

Automation success rewarded.
July 1, 2000... COUGAR AUTOMATION, a 10-year old system integrator which boosted its turnover by over 182% in the three years to 1998, has been rewarded for its achievement with a ranking of 11th in the South West and Wales region Deloitte & Touche Technology...

ABB cleans up with awards.
July 1, 2000... ABB HAS SCOOPED three top-five positions in independent trials to determine the 'user friendliness' of drives. Some 16 different AC drives from 11 different manufacturers were studied and tested by technicians at the Lappeenranta University...

Delta Controls.
July 1, 2000... Delta Controls has won an exclusive UK sales and marketing contract for Swedish company Inor's range of signal conditioners and associated products. Commenting on the agreement, Chris Allen, Delta Controls temperature product specialist said:...

Omron's Sysdrive Selector CD.
July 1, 2000... Omron's Sysdrive Selector CD gives a ready means for making energy saving estimations. It also includes a series of drive tutorials covering frequently asked questions via a simple to understand mix of text and animated diagrams.

MCS Industrial Software (MCSIS).
July 1, 2000... MCS Industrial Software (MCSIS) is the first of a select band of enterprise integrators chosen by Rockwell automation to assist it in providing integrated solutions linking plant floor control to enterprise-wide information and business...

Distec.
July 1, 2000... Irlam-based Distec has been appointed as national distributor for Total Control Products' QuickPanes Operator interfaces. The appointment follows the recent relocation of the TCP operation to Milton Keynes, following GE Fanuc's acquisition of...

Graham & White Instruments.
July 1, 2000... Graham & White Instruments has launched SenzorsUK.com, a website to aid engineers, designers and researchers locate and identify sensors and transducers to measure any common engineering parameter. These are listed with pop-up windows offering...

Calibre.
July 1, 2000... Calibre is to be the UK authorised reseller of VarTech displays. US manufacturer VarTech can supply replacement monitors for virtually all the major contrl systems, including ABB, Honeywell, Fisher, Moore Products and many others. Calibre will...

Automsoft's latest version.
July 1, 2000... Rapid Historian 2.0 - the latest version of the dedicated time and batch data archive which is claimed, by its author Automsoft International, to be the first entirely based on an object orientated database core - is now able to process up to...

Online configurable display.
July 1, 2000... RHS Harntec, developed of KineticaRT flexible PC-based online configurable display and control software, is celebrating 15 years of success. The first independent UK software developer to qualify under the BSI TickIT ISO 9003 accreditation, it...

Wizard manufacturing system.
July 1, 2000... Wizard Information Systems claims to be the first company to offer advanced manufacturing software on its website for instant purchase and direct delivery using the Netbanx credit card service and Visa, Mastercard or Switch methods of payment....

Joint venture software sell.
July 1, 2000... Zetron has joined forces with National Instruments to sell Lookout industrial automation software with its Ultrac wireless SCADA and telemetry systems. The National Instruments software and Zetron SCADA and telemetry systems enable users to...

ERP integration simplified.
July 1, 2000... ANYONE STRUGGLING to combine and visualise real-time data from ERP, supply chains, management, control and other company systems will welcome Enterprise RT software from GE Fanuc. Based on technology developed by IndX Software Corporation,...

Special edition at no extra charge.
July 1, 2000... ROCKWELL AUTOMATION says it has redefined HMI with the introduction of RSView32 'Special Edition', an enhanced version of its Scada package which now includes advanced trending, recipe management, messaging and statistical process control and...

Upgraded process device manager software features extra functionality.
July 1, 2000... IN THE NEW V5 version of the Simatic PDM Process Device Manager, Siemens A&D has extended functionality to include a new routing function so that process devices in the field can be accessed from a central point. The engineering station...

Web sales set to boom.
July 1, 2000... WEB SALES OF AUTOMATION products and systems, which totalled $247 million in 1999, will grow by almost 200 times that value to nearly $42 billion by the end of 2004, according to a study by the ARC Advisory Group. "Web sales and the...

Alstec on track after MBO.
July 1, 2000... FOLLOWING A SUCCESSFUL [pounds]53 million management buy-out, the Alstec Group is now continuing the activities of the former Alstom Automation Group. This change to new and independent status has the backing of Gresham Trust and was arranged...

TRW Schaevitz wins subsea sensors supply contract.
July 1, 2000... TRW SCHAEVITZ HAS reached a major agreement with Kvaerner Olifield Products to supply subsea pressure and pressure temperature sensors on a rolling yearly contract. These sensors are designed for long term immersion to depths of 2500m with an...

Partnership in mint condition.
July 1, 2000... Baldor UK and Heason Technologies has agreed the appointment of Heason as 'Mint Motion Partner' for the southern region, and to be the Baldor UK system integrator for the south. The new agreement covers the Baldor range of intelligent drives...

ESD system at Tengiz.
July 1, 2000... Information technology specialise Servelec has won a six figure order to provide a vital emergency shutdown and fire and gas system to Tengizchevroil's oil process plant in Tenghiz, Kazakhstan. Servelec's solution consists of Allen-Bradley PLCs...

Pressure relief.
July 1, 2000... Anderson Greenwood has clinched a $1m order for pressure relief valves, instrument valves and protective sunshades for a new ethylene plant being built in Abu Dhabi for Abu Dhabi Polymers Company (Borough), a joint venture between ADNOC and...

Dow agreement.
July 1, 2000... Integraph Corporation and Aspen Technology have signed a multi-million dollar software agreement with the Dow Chemical Company to provide process plant design and integrated life cycle engineering management software to Dow engineering centres...

BMH acquires.
July 1, 2000... The BMH Division of Babcock International Group has acquired Chronos Holdings and all the group's companies around the world. Dr Gernot Schafet, an executive director of Babcock International, will become chairman of Chronos Richardson joining...

Invensys comes to the rescue.
July 1, 2000... Once valued at $11billion enterprise software company Baan is subject to a cash takeover by Invensys. The bid on the table values Baan at just $710 million So where did it all gone wrong? BACK IN THE mid-1990s, Baan certainly had the right...

Diaphragm seals make for extra performance.
July 1, 2000... FISHER-ROSEMOUNT has designed and developed the 1199 system of diaphragm seals specifically to match its high specification 3051 transmitter. These seals feature a very small diaphragm movement and displacement volume, so the fill volume is...

No shut down.
July 1, 2000... Conoco is going to be able to keep certain processes at its Humber refinery operational during maintenance of various control valves, thanks to installing a number of high integrity Descote globe valves as control valve bypasses. The...

Life support for sewage treatment system.
July 1, 2000... ABB Instrumentation's 4600 series of continuous on-line analysers is helping to keep alive species of bacteria which play a key role in an innovative ecological system for treating sewage on display at the Earth Centre at Conisbrough, near...

The sky is the limit.
July 1, 2000... EXCEPTIONAL fault-tolerance, modular design, fast scan time and off-the-shelf availability are just three of the features of ICS Triplex's Trusted triple modular redundant (TMR) control system which swayed the Boeing Company to use two in its...

Power station opts for Enotec analysers in boiler overhaul.
July 1, 2000... BACK IN 1995, personnel at TXU Europe Power's High Marnham Power Station needed to replace the aging Westinghouse oxygen analysers in its boilers and identified Enotec's Zirconia analysers as suitable for the job. Enotec suggested High...

Dispense fluid by two ways.
July 1, 2000... VOLUMETRIC FILLING applications typically demand very precise control for drawing and dispensing fluids without splashing, foaming or unwanted aeration. The SPC200 servo controller from Festo achieve this in two ways: it draws and dispenses...

Real time kernel BROADENS PC CONTROL.
July 1, 2000... The days when PCs were used just for visualisation and data acquisition is rapidly becoming a thing of the past. Stephen Hayes discusses the development of PC software systems for PLC and NC motion control Increasingly the PC is being...

Enterprise automation breaches FINAL FRONTIER.
July 1, 2000... Peter Fox tracks the historical development of industrial automation and describes his vision of an industrial utopia The concept of industrial automation is hardly new. The desire to automate probably began even before Archimedes, and...

RADAR ACCURACY boosts level measurement.
July 1, 2000... Peter West, marketing manager of Krohne, provides us with a guide to radar level measurement devices, their main applications and benefits. The key considerations when installing such systems are also discussed Since the development of the...

Explosion protection using BUS TECHNOLOGY.
July 1, 2000... Technological advances and new international standards have produced a surge of interest in bus based systems. Brian Jones explains why these trends are so attractive, especially for hazardous areas especially in the process industries In...

Scada package answers data trend.
July 1, 2000... Paul Gay looks at a software package, rolled out last month, which offers a free plug-in giving access from a proprietary Scada application to an SQL database Corporate trends have revealed a need to access plant data to drive enterprise...

Transmitter with a hole defies industry's cynics.
July 1, 2000... An exclusive marketing agreement with a Swedish transmitters producer has given Delta Controls the opportunity of introducing a fully fledged Profibus PA devices in the UK. The novel design of the range shows a high degree of innovation to...

Now it's all downhill.
July 1, 2000... PRACTICE USED to be the only way to make perfect, but in future when skiiers take to the piste they will be able to help their technique get a competitive boost simply by adjusting the profile of their skis. Italian firm Mantec has...

Compact drives suit robotic uses.
July 1, 2000... STRITORQUE SERVOMOTORS from Swedish manufacturer High Density Drives (HDD) are four times smaller and two thirds lighter than their traditional equivalents, making them ideal for industrial robots, machines tools or wherever space Is at a...

Linear position sets have built in servos.
July 1, 2000... MICRO PLUS (D) linear positioning stages have been designed by Bayside Motion Group with built-in integrated servo motors to decrease overall system size while providing increased dynamic performance. They also feature an integrated brushless...

Enclosed motors meet explosion proof needs.
July 1, 2000... THE ALLEN-BRADLEY 1326AH range are totally enclosed high performance servo motors, designed without need of an air purge or a secondary enclosure. UL listed for explosion proof requirements, and teamed with the Allen-Bradley 1394 servo...

New software for sensorless drive.
July 1, 2000... SEMIPOWER SYSTEMS has enhanced its servo drive family with the introduction of firmware supporting complex motion profiles and new configuration software for setting up. Based in Hillsboro, Oregon, Semi-power was a pioneer of sensorless...

High power, low inertia.
July 1, 2000... GIVING 2.3NM continuous or 3.5Nm intermittent torque, the DSM57115HG stepping motor from Densitron Control Systems is claimed to be the most powerful there is in a size 23 frame. And although the torque rating is competitive with many size 34...

Carry a lot of scope.
July 1, 2000... THE SCOPEMETER 190 handheld series from comprises three high performance oscilloscopes that are easy to carry from site to site, have fast trouble shooting capabilities and -- with up to 200MH band-width and 2.5GS/s real-time sampling - can...

Two channel mainstay.
July 1, 2000... MIXED ANALOG and digital signals sit at the core of more than 70% of new product designs, but the familiar and low-cost two channel scope mainstay lacks the features to support viewing of combined signals. Which is why Agilent Technologies has...

On top with local display.
July 1, 2000... Nobel System's Klay 2000 - Hydrobar S microprocessor based submersible level transmitters offer an impressive accuracy - 0.1% of the adjusted span with an analogue output of 4-20mA, or digital with Hart or Profibus-PA protocol. Designed...

Learn all about wine in around a minute.
July 1, 2000... NO NEED to guess the alcohol content of a glass of wine, when the Paar Alcolyzer alcohol meter will measure it to an accuracy of 0.1%v/v in about a minute, providing the concentration lies between 0 to 20%v/v. And if the meter is used with a...

Testing goes static.
July 1, 2000... WITH ITS ECP 1600 SERIES, TBA Electro Conductive Products now has an extensive range of audit and test instrumentation available for testing in accordance with BS EN 100015 Pt 1. There is a self-activating wristband checker, a system...

Growing demand for Linux.
July 1, 2000... NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS has developed Linux solutions for the VXlpc-870 and MXI-2 to meet growing demand for this system. The VXlpc-870 Series contains the company's fastest VXI embedded controllers, and packages Intel's Pentium...

Entry level Commander.
July 1, 2000... ABB'S COMMANDER CR100 indicator recorder will meet growing demand for an entry-level system combining process indicator functions with chart recording. The large 5-digit LED display on this unit provides excellent visibility of the process...

Four models of personnel protection.
July 1, 2000... ETR, already well known for its portable Defender gas detector kits, has launched a new range of low-cost gas detectors under the GasAlert brand name. Simply clipped to a lapel, pocket, belt or hard hat, all offer personnel protection. The...

Level detector for the colourless and clear.
July 1, 2000... THE EE-SPX613 opto-switch is an innovative liquid level sensor that uses Total Internal Reflection to detect the levels of colourless or clear liquids in clear plastic pipes, between 6 to 13mm diameter and with 1mm thick walls. The compact...