Articles and News

By Simon Dear, Cynergy3 Components When selecting a float switch for a liquid level sensing application, a number of factors need to be considered, including float switch and gasket materials, physical arrangement, electrical ratings and cable type.

The honor was granted for Martin’s outstanding achievements in the fields of science and engineering, as recognize by the International Society of Automation.

The Chillicothe, Ohio, mill installed ABB’s Extended Automation System 800xA to upgrade the existing control system and improve quality control.

Symmetricom generates, distributes and applies precise time for the communications, aerospace/defense, IT infrastructure, power and metrology industries.

Emerson will provide process automation, safety, and asset management technology for a CNOOC gas production project in the South China Sea.

Honeywell will equip the Tuapse refinery in Russia with an Experion Process Knowledge System (PKS), UniSim Design Suite process simulation software, and MES software.

Groveley Detection is a developer of ultrasonic gas leak detection solutions for both offshore and onshore oil and gas installations.

Technical Expertise Across Multiple Platforms: What the Auto Dealership Taught Me the Hard Way

During construction of the Linthal 2015 pumped storage hydroelectric power station, NORD gear units drive the conveyor belts that take rocks about 850 ft to the crushing plant and bring it back to a gravel plant.

By John Lewis Champion Tire and Wheel operates an automated facility that moves 1,000 race car wheels a day from a truck trailer back into storage after a race. A Cognex DataMan 302L image-based barcode reader provides a 97% read rate as wheels move along a conveyor line through a variety of inspection stations before it is stored.

The Automation Academy provides over one hundred seminar rooms around the world for training purposes.

The technology and service center provides engineering services, product sales, training and system support for hydraulics and controls technologies used in marine, offshore and industrial applications.

By Bill Lydon, Editor On May 30, 2013, I attended the grand opening of Beckhoff Automation’s new $8 million North American headquarters. The facility features a training center, an ESD-protected PC repair center, and a building automation system based on Beckhoff‘s own hardware and software.

Engineering is by definition a detail-oriented profession, but the field of automation requires almost fanatical attention to detail.

SAB, a producer of high strength steel, standardized on Softing's PROFINET protocol software for use with its PC-based Proview control system in a new steel plant that was built in Mobile, Alabama.

Products include ControlLogix PAC Modules and Network cards for various computer buses and Rockwell Automation networks such as ControlNet.

The market for industrial automation equipment will grow 6.2 percent this year to approximately $170 billion, helped in part by the recovery of global manufacturing in the first quarter, according to IHS.

The electronically controlled platforms are in simulation systems designed for a variety of industries such as military, entertainment, museums, academia, and flight training.

Cemtec in Austria, a specialist provider of grinding technologies, is using Insitec real-time particle sizing technology from Malvern Instruments to provide fully integrated, automated milling solutions.

ABB will supply switchgear, transformers, motors, variable speed drive systems, instrumentation, distributed control and safety systems, as well as a SCADA system for the new 400 km pipeline.

The site explains how to target the best opportunities for energy waste reduction in facility equipment, processes, and infrastructure and what data to gather to prioritize energy-saving projects and estimate their payoffs.

On-line toolboxes provide a compilation of information materials, such as white papers, posters, videos, etc., to provide relevant knowledge for testing labs.

Production of agricultural machinery and industrial robotics in China is projected to expand at a strong rate in the coming years with average yearly growth of 18.1 percent and 18.8 percent, respectively.

Knowledge Edge is an online resource of manufacturing information with industry-validated content--in other words, a Wikipedia of accurate information for a change.

Ph.D. student M.A. Kader Rasel was announced the winner of the UniSim Design Challenge to attendees at the 2013 Honeywell Users Group (HUG) Americas conference.

Workcells at CASTEC will use Adept Cobra robots, motion control and integrated vision to automate the sub assembly of smart phone electronics.

The top honor, the Americas 2012 Channel Partner of the Year Award, was given to Lesman Instrument Company, headquartered in Chicago.

Design of controller using variable transformations for a nonlinear process with dead time

The company, based in Finland, expanded its USA presence with a new site located in San Diego.

Fieldbus Foundation conducted the first live demonstration of its FOUNDATION for Remote Operations Management (ROM) technology at the Petrobras research and development facility (Cenpes) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Powerit Solutions provides energy demand management automation for industrial businesses.

Agile Planet is a developer of intelligent robotics software and hardware products engineered to improve the efficiency and functionality of industrial robots.

KGM 282 allows the user to precisely pinpoint the problem in the dynamics of the machine in order to increase its accuracy.

The program provides comprehensive support throughout the plant’s lifecycle in addition to expert resources to guarantee performance outcomes, differentiating it from traditional service offerings.

NI will sell Kollmorgen’s EtherCAT AKD brushless servo drive and single-cable AKM motor.

Emerson’s machinery health technology will help ensure reliable operation of the pit-to-plant conveyor system for the S11D Iron Mining Project in Brazil.

Six-page leaflet describes benefits of ABB Vortex (FV4000) and Swirl (FS4000) flowmeters for measuring flow rates of liquid, gas, and steam.

Web site contains info on 40,000-plus rotary encoder variants, over 200 inclinometer models and more than 900 linear sensor configurations.

By applying this online measurement, the Otacilio Costa mill will be able to raise the quality and strength of its cooking liquor, react faster to disturbances and increase process output.

Spiesshofer will succeed Joe Hogan as CEO on September 15, 2013. Hogan will continue with ABB for some months as Senior Advisor to the Board.

in 1953, Rotork Model 100A actuators operated valves on the Transonic Wind Tunnel, one of the world’s first large scale supersonic wind tunnels. Now they are being replaced.

The Cyber Security Dashboard is among several advancements being demonstrated for customers this week at the 2013 Honeywell Users Group (HUG) Americas Symposium in Phoenix.

Advantech has been certified for C-TPAT (Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism), a joint effort between the US government and businesses involved in importing goods into the United States.

Patti Engineering will develop and install turn-key industrial automation vision systems using Matrox Imaging hardware and software.

Achieving Safety Integrity Level (SIL) 2 with non-redundant field devices is possible, but not always easy.

By Bill Lydon, Editor Metropolitan Solutions, a showcase created by Deutsche Messe and run concurrently with the 2013 Hannover Messe, provided a focal point for learning about the application of technology to improve cities. Real-time automation and control technologies are the logical building blocks for cities to modernize, improve safety and reliability, and provide efficient environments for people to live.

32-page news magazine includes feature articles on control solutions using the sercos bus ranging from drive and controller-based controls to PC-based control systems.

On-line thermowell calculation tool helps customers stay compliant with the new ASME PTC 19.3 TW-2010 thermowell standards.

The knowledge of individuals can be openly shared environment at an industrial plant or facility is inquisitive and friendly and egos take a back seat.

200 professionals in the power-generation industry attended the International Society of Automation’s (ISA’s) 56th Power Industry Division (POWID) Symposium held in Orlando, Florida, June 2-7.

RefreshEng converts any of Cincinnati's 2-OM family of centerless grinder machines to the same precision machining available on new grinders - but for an outlay that is some 60% lower than a new machine.

SmartFactoryKL demonstration plant, from the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence, uses CodeMeter as the security component for protecting the transport algorithms.

The Houston office will focus principally on ETAP Real-Time power management system solutions for the energy sector.

Rhino produces metallurgical and steam coal in a variety of basins throughout the United States, leases coal through its Elk Horn subsidiary, and owns oil and gas acreage in the Utica and Cana Woodford areas.

Efficient technology design is now the name of the game, and centrifugal pump suppliers now face a flood of new competition says IMS.

The Instrumentation Testing Association (ITA) and the International Society of Automation (ISA) are teaming up to co-promote the 2013 ISA Water/Wastewater and Automatic Controls (WWAC) Symposium.

Metso will supply a DNA control system and a pulp cooking process optimization solution for the Cellulose du Pin mill in Biganos, France.

SmartGlance provides connectors for accessing data from different manufacturing sources, including both Invensys and non-Invensys systems.

ISA technical symposia successes and spreading the word about ISA Automation Week 2013

Optima Group Consumer, a German manufacturer of coffee capsule filling stations, is using an IDS camera to check the quality of coffee packets.

By Mark Davidson, LNS Research Largely due to the misalignment of goals and objectives, a considerable number of organizations struggle to realize the full business value that manufacturing can generate. There are several steps all organizations that utilize manufacturing can take to properly and optimally align goals.

By Kevin L. Finnan The trend toward intelligent devices in remote SCADA installations would seem to put remote terminal units (RTUs) on the path to obsolescence. Instead, it illustrates the evolving value of RTUs in contemporary systems.

For the past several decades, most industries within the US market have been dominated by the use of PVC jacketed metallic conduits. In Europe, they use polyamide conduits and fittings. What's the difference?

AIT's GOIT (Graphical Operator Interface Terminal) series now runs Movicon 11 SCADA/HMI software.

Exele Alarm Management & Notification Software has been integrated with the Canary Labs Enterprise Historian product.

Application of management, operational & technical controls will reduce risks to industrial automation & control systems and will mitigate vulnerabilities.

In the test at NIST, MTConnect enabled a robot conversant in ROS-Industrial to load and unload parts into an MTConnect-conversant lathe for cutting, precisely when the machine tool was ready to perform the task.

Frost & Sullivan says the Global Machine Tools and Cutting Tools Market earned revenues of $15.72 billion in 2012 and estimates this to reach $21.18 billion in 2017.

After two years of double-digit growth, the world market for electro-mechanical and solid-state relays contracted by $125 million, or 3.6 percent, to approximately $3.35 billion in 2012.

By Pat Garrehy, Rootstock There is a general consensus that, by 2023, most of the installed MFG ERP systems will be Cloud-based. But, will they be multi-tenant or hosted? There are arguments for both.

The market for process I/O modules is mainly driven by two forces: an increasing need for intrinsically safe I/O modules and the increasing demand from the Middle East and the BRIC countries.

Beef producer in Kansas uses KEPServerEX software to help confirm that its meat automatically moves from the warehouse to the retail location without human intervention.

Emerson will supply control valves and valve actuators to help ensure the efficient and safe flow of natural gas at the Gorgon Project, one of the world’s largest natural gas projects.

Metso will supply 30 continuously-operating water-quality measuring stations to Vapo, a power complany in Finland.

DB SQL was embedded in Cow Master, a robotics system that feeds cows and manages animal healthcare, including automatic matching of cow feeding patterns and continuous management of feed concentration to stimulate the appetite of cows.