Articles and News

Seven suppliers have joined the Rockwell Automation Encompass third-party product referencing program in the Americas region.

Automation.com, October 2011 By Jay Becker, Dunkermotor OEMs will benefit from not specifying and purchasing more control features and functionality than their applications require. This White Paper discusses seven distinct integral control topologies to enable OEM design engineers to choose what suits their application without over-specifying.

To manufacture near perfect flatness (0.001 in) and parallelism (0.0004 in) in its vises, Kurt uses its own gaging and workholoding systems. Both control the variables that occur in the machining, heat treating and grinding operations

Automation.com, October 2011 By David Collier, Pilz Why machine builders should resist the temptation to save money in the short term by using Category 2 architecture on machine guard safety circuits that require Performance Level d.

The DCS (distributed control system) market in 2010 rebounded from 2009, increasing by 3.3 percent.

One hundred years ago, inventor Viggo Torbensen and entrepreneur Joseph Eaton founded the company that would become Eaton Corporation.

Rotork supplied electric actuators for valves, digital control systems, valve gearboxes, valve adaptation, workshop motorisation, on-site retrofitting and commissioning.

Founded exactly 90 years ago in Germany, Balluff now has worldwide subsidiaries in 54 countries on all continents.

The gas flow market is larger than anticipated, and appears to be growing faster than either the liquid or steam flow markets.

The Tokyo office provides users and Foundation member companies with application assistance, information and technical support on the HART Communication Protocol.

Emerson says it's accumulated 580 million total hours of wireless operation across 6,100 networks.

Nearly all companies now use social media to recruit employees and most either “always” or “sometimes” check the online profiles of potential candidates.

Automation.com, October 2011 By Jim McMahon Harlequin Distribution Center uses advanced conveying technology from Shuttleworth to minimize product damage and finishing downtime, and maximize throughput.

The worldwide market for Flowmeters declined in 2010 but is expected to strongly rebound in 2011, according to ARC, but they make no predictions--except that Asia is the biggest market.

Motion control suppliers who endured as much as 50 percent declines in business during the downturn reported a tremendous rebound in shipments. Asia leads, of course.

McLean was previously at Phoenix Contact where he served as the Group Leader of its Electronic Development, Global Products Department.

Heilind Electronics currently has 22 branches and five warehouses throughout North America.

ARC says ABB is the #1 EAM supplier in power generation, transmission and mining sectors.

Die neue Website zeigt Interessenten schnell, einfach und in ihrer eigenen Sprache was Aegis für ihre besonderen Fabrik erreichen kann.

TopView Free provides the same powerful, easy-to-configure, alarm management, notification and remote monitoring tools as TopView.

Crimson 3.0 software is now compatible with Banner Engineering's iVu Plus TG vision sensors.

GCC is using Siemens’ Sinvert PVS1051 UL inverter with an integrated e-house solution and a 1,000 KVA oil transformer. The 1MW solar power generation system will provide clean energy to power Granite’s aggregate mining facility.

Finesse Solutions develops, produces and distributes sensors, hardware and software for bioprocess engineering.

BTS will deliver dynamic process simulation and other training systems for deployment in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries.

The Malaysian office will initially employ 3-5 people, whose main task will be to provide customer support and leverage sales and marketing operations in the region.

Risk estimation looks at risk from identified hazards to be qualified and quantified to distinguish high-risk possibilities from low-risk possibilities when considering machinery safety.

Sealevel will supply high performance custom carrier boards and industrial computers for GE Intelligent Platforms COM Express modules.

Liptak to reveal automation irony in technical world

Digital Factory Trade Fair for Integrated Processes and IT Solutions, is getting a new home at HANNOVER MESSE 2012. The new location in Hall 7 is close to the process automation themes covered by the Industrial Automation show.

Qsigma GmbH in Kassel, Germany, developed a universal 3D measuring machine using laser profile scanners from Micro-Epsilon to measure the surface profiles and position of rotary pistons.

ABB will supply process automation systems, safety systems, project management, engineering, and operator and maintenance technician training to Sadara Chemical Company.

ABB will provide power and motor control, for the world's first subsea gas compression system on the Asgard A floating vessel off the northern coast of Norway.

Automation.com, October 2011 By Kevin Davenport, Cisco Systems This article shows how organizations are cutting the wire and deploying collaboration, security, cloud and sensor wireless and mobility technologies to achieve operational and production excellence throughout their entire corporate value chain.

PID gain scheduling using fuzzy logic

Booth #814 will present device/system interoperability, ease of setup and configuration, innovative diagnostics and standardization to IEC 62453 and ISA103 in a multi-vendor environment.

OMS engineers internally inspected Serimax welds on subsea pipes that were destined for use on BP’s Devenick high pressure, high temperature gas project.

AGELEC chose Matrox Mura MPX Series video wall controller boards to drive AGCWall Series, a new line of video wall controllers.

IEC Product Properties Working Group Completes Two-Day Meeting at ISA

Share your ISA Automation Week 2012 experiences with other attendees and to the rest of the world via Twitter. During ISA Automation Week 2012, a Twitter feed will be displayed on the concourse by the technical session rooms. Learn how to join the conversation.

Automation.com, October 2011 By ICP DAS The Inner Mongolia Wind Farms Project uses large inverters and PLCs with ICP DAS TCP Server / RTU Slave to CANopen Master Gateway, RS-232 to RS-485 Converter and Industrial Ethernet Switch to monitor and control the wind turbines.

With the implementation of IFS ERP, Richco achieved a 25 percent reduction in inventory levels and reduced administrative time.

John R. Frazier of Louisville, Kentucky, and Collin P. Veele of Grand Haven, Michigan, will each receive a $5,000 scholarship.

In conjunction with Test & Measurement World magazine, this webcast on Tuesday, October 25, 2011, highlights the latest developments in LXI technology.

To ensure precise and reliable operation of mobile heliostats that focus the sunlight at Gemsolar's plant in France, the array of 2,650 mirrors is equipped with 5,300 gearmotors.

To achieve certification, PSUI passed an assessment conducted by ISOQAR an ANSI-ASQ National Accreditation Board (ANAB) certified Auditor.

Exida will follow the new 2010 IEC 61508 safety standard, which includes cyber security threat analysis.

Honeywell will design and install Integrated Control and Safety Systems (ICSS) at both of RWE Dea’s new North Sea platforms, Clipper South and Breagh A.

Metso is certifying valve products according to the latest widely accepted fire-safe standard - API 607 6th edition.

This guide includes essential information and selection guidelines on the company’s family of machine and process safety solutions.

NiagaraAX 3.6 runs on the QNX Neutrino Realtime Operating System (RTOS).

Automation.com, October 2011 By Bill Lydon, Editor The CArS architecture is a modern systems level approach defined by the joint Chrysler and Fiat Manufacturing Engineering Council that improves the process flow for designing and implementing production lines.

K-Tork Internationalcompleted a $1.9M retrofit contract for the supply and installation of valve actuators at the Las Vegas Water & Pollution Control facility.

August U.S. manufacturing technology orders totaled $460.61 million according to AMT and AMTDA.

HayssenSandiacre is now manufacturing Novus packing systems at its Duncan, S.C., facility.

The competition is open exclusively to companies and institutions that will be exhibiting at HANNOVER MESSE 2012. The closing date for submitting entries is 22 February 2012.

A Little About Valves

The idea of using a PLC-based system rather than a DCS has become a philosophical and technical debate in the industry. DCSs have been the primary solution for process automation but now many PLC vendors are arguing that a single integrated architecture based on PLCs and/or PACs is the best approach to total plant automation.

Automation.com, October 2011 By Rick Zabel, Publisher Annual salary survey indicates higher job satisfaction with little or no pay increase. While many feel greater pressure to increase productivity and reduce costs, more than 80% of respondents indicated they are satisfied with their job. Read the story and analyze the stats to see how you compare.

ISA99 issues security draft for committee ballot

Automation Week Keynoter talks real-time optimization

While 2010 showed a comeback in DCS revenue numbers, ARC does not expect the revenue to surpass the 2008 peak until 2012.

Based on the growth in incoming orders for new project business, ARC expects a rebound to double-digit growth for control valve shipments to many of the ‘hot’ developing countries in 2011.

V77 Sourcebook includes test, measurement, control and calibration equipment from leading manufacturers.

OSI will supply a SCADA/EMS system to Interconexión Eléctrica in Colombia and two of its subsidiaries: TRANSELCA in Colombia and Red de Energía in Peru.

Metso will supply a batch cooking optimization solution for the specialty cellulose pulp mill of AV Cell Inc. in Atholville, Canada.

99 page catalog features a complete line of FHP Gear motors, Motors and Reducers and Controls.

Fieldbus Foundation, the HART Communication Foundation (HCF) and PI have joined forces to create a common architecture for a WirelessHART gateway device

GE Intelligent Platforms has announced a global series of seminars supporting the use of PROFINET in its automation systems.

PI North America welcomes GE Intelligent Platforms into the PROFINET fold.

Manual control systems at a Southeast Asia fats and oil producer are being re-vamped with automation systems based on PROFIBUS and PROFINET, leading to ROIs measured in months.

This new standard will take advantage of the soon-to-be prevalent USB 3.0 ports that will be standard on most PCs. USB3 Vision offers bandwidth of 3.2 Gb/s with both power and data over the same passive cable.

This is set to be a record year for worldwide machinery production, recording aggregate 10.2 percentage growth, according to IMS Research.

The office will provide local sales and application support in addition to local inventory supporting the US market.

Sixnet is a manufacturer of flexible industrial Ethernet switch, automation and wireless solutions for the industrial market, and employs around 110 people.

The site includes self-learning resources, case studies, and a technical library with datasheets and white papers.

The Siemens design team employs the Opera electromagnetic simulator from Cobham to help develop new wind generator concepts.

The ADAM robots will be used to automatically transport work-in-process materials and finished goods between production machines and the automated storage system.

OPC-UA Device Server Software Development Kits for Microcontrollers and Microprocessors have been certified for standards compliance by the OPC Foundation test lab.

ABB PLCs control the modular natural free cooling system at the Thor Data Center in Reykjavik.

Pilz has been awarded full accreditation as a skills training provider by The National Skills Academy for its 1, 2 and 4-day City & Guilds Machinery Safety Courses.

The Safety Automation Forum, Nov. 14 and 15 in Chicago, precedes Automation Fair, scheduled for Nov. 16 and 17.

Measurement Specialties acquired the capital stock of Celesco for $35 million, or approximately 6 times trailing 12 month EBITDA.

Three Metso DNA automation systems and three safety systems will replace the existing systems in three of Porvoo refinery’s over forty process units.

Dulaney was appointed chief executive officer of the company’s newly-formed Infrastructure & Cities (IC) Sector in North America, which comprises the United States, Canada, Mexico and Central America.

ORMEC signed two new ORMEC distributor organizations and a Chinese representative to sell motion control products.

Hendrick Motorsports, winner of 10 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championships, is a longtime user of Hexagon Metrology products for inspection and assembly of auto body, chassis and engine components.

C&E has 30+ field sales people and technical specialists to service customers in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee.

Lorentzen & Wettre manufactures equipment for quality control, process optimization and test instrumentation for the pulp and paper industry.

Rotork IQT and IQTM actuators are operating butterfly valves in the plant that will provide heating, cooling and electricity to buildings on the Olympic Park and Athletes’ Village.

G3-PLC Alliance will support deployment of the new power line communications protocol called G3-PLC.

Laurent Giai-Miniet spent 20 years with Texas Instruments (TI), where he held several management positions.

Tormatic AS will distribute end-to-end wireless sensor network and smart metering solutions.

Automation.com, October 2011 By Bill Lydon, Editor National Instruments typical applications in the automation industry require very high speeds, high precision, and special functions. According to Christian Fritz, in these challenging applications, they are not competing against PLCs - PLCs just cannot do the job.

ISA12 Members Maintain a High Activity Level at October Meetings

Specification defines transducer block for interfacing HART devices to FOUNDATION fieldbus.

Automation.com, September 2011 By Martin Rostan, EtherCAT Technology Group There is no giant marketing machine behind it, nor is EtherCAT the successor to a market leading fieldbus system – and yet EtherCAT enjoys an outstanding adoption rate worldwide, and the ETG has become the world’s largest fieldbus organization.

Automation.com, September 2011 By Vincotech System developers are becoming increasingly aware that the selection of power devices for remotely-sited applications is critical.

Virthualis’ 3-D visualization technology, called MindSafe, will be linked to Honeywell’s existing UniSim simulation tool.

HARBEC is pursuing certification to the newly released ISO 50001 energy management systems standard, which requires systematic documentation of carbon emissions.

The Karlsborg mill in Sweden is installing a Metso Kappa Q to replace two old analyzers in its bleached softwood kraft fiberline.