Aspen Thermal needed an automated test stand for its personal cooling system fluid conditioning module (FCM). Viewpoint Systems built a custom application using National Instruments’ LabView and its own toolkits to perform automated sequencing, control, measurement, analysis and reporting.Recently I discussed how the Internet of Things (IoT) would generate the next huge leap in industrial productivity. But IoT certainly won't bear fruit without ways to analyze all the data. Cloud computing is the enabler.Looking at the changes in wireless sensor networking (WSN) during the past year, ARC is most impressed by the greater maturity of the industry along with significant new technical achievements. We believe that both will spur market growth because they enable a much larger set of customers to be well served.Our goal is to benchmark over 1,000 companies by the end of the year so manufacturers will be able to compare their performance to their peers’ using metrics such as OEE, On Time and Complete Shipments, Successful New Product Introductions, and Cost of Quality. For now, there is preliminary data on OEE performance across a number of discrete manufacturing industries.Be practical in your evaluation—although COTS MES is much further along than years past in terms of reliability and multi-functionality, products are still evolving.Although Hurricane Sandy had some impact on attendance, the Yokogawa Users Group meeting in New Orleans Oct. 30 - Nov. 1 still attracted several hundred attendees.
Microchip Technology introduced the MCP6H7X, MCP6H8X and MCP6H9X operational amplifier families. The three new op amp families are low-power, general-purpose devices that expand the range to 12V supply voltages. All nine members of the new Microchip MCP6H7X/8X/9X op amp families are available in single, dual and quad configurations. Read more: Microchip Technology Debuts MCP6H7X, MCP6H8X [...]Research on the use of carbon nanotubes leads to ability to place 10,000 transistors on a chip.Festo demonstrates the company's bionic handling system technology, which consists of three basic elements for spatial movement: hand axis and a gripper with adaptive fingers.A joint OPC Foundation / Automation World survey revealed OPC has broad acceptance and brand recognition.New suites for software efficiency and energy management platform to specifically address key market segments such as data center, grid, healthcare and water.Long anticipated next version of Microsoft Windows now available.The certification program, developed in conjunction with Institute of Energy Professionals (IEP), provides highly sought skills in energy management and is now offered online.
Gary Mitchell, Co-founder and Editor in Chief, recaps the inaugural OPC Technology Summit held in Orlando, Fla., October 17-18. Mintchell discusses OPC technology advances and user acceptance.
After years of preparatory work, the Open O&M Initiative (www.mimosa.org) group organized a demonstration pilot project of information interoperability run like a real project building a debutanizer.Banner Engineering releases an embeddable gateway module for use in building out a wireless sensor network to coordinate multiple machines and processes.Network Navigator function means engineers no longer have to mentally visualize connections and can resolve issues in a fraction of the time.Reduced energy consumption, simpler installation and maintenance, and easy washdown are the key advancements of a new integrated valve and actuator control (IVAC) cylinder from Norgren Inc., Littleton, Colo. With many manufacturing managers underwhelmed at the level of hands-on experience possessed by many of the new engineering graduates they hire, Sierra Community College responds with a program that could serve as a model for training workers for highly automated environments.
Texas Instruments launched the OPA1662 and OPA1664 bipolar-input audio operational amplifiers. The TI op amps are ideal for USB and FireWire audio systems, analog and digital mixers, portable recording systems, and other applications that require the highest noise performance combined with low power consumption. The dual-channel OPA1662 is available now in SO-8 and MSOP-8 packages [...]A joint survey by Automation World and Moxa was conducted to obtain insight into current engineering and management applications and opinions surrounding the use of Ethernet and wireless networks across industry.
Lantronix launched their new xDirect serial-to-Ethernet device server. The xDirect provides quick and easy connectivity to virtually any device or machine with a serial interface. The Lantronix xDirect is available now for $99.95. It is ideal for environmental monitoring, metering, security, industrial automation, and medical applications. Read more: Lantronix Introduces xDirect Serial-to-Ethernet Device Server Twitter [...]Manufacturing industry giants like General Electric, Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Alcoa are collaborating to provide training and support to veterans wanting to pursue careers in manufacturing.At the recent 15th annual meeting for ODVA networking group held Oct. 16-19 in Atlanta, Ga., the organization officially welcomed Endress+Hauser as a principal member and pointed towards a bigger process automation play for EtherNet/IP and CIP technologies. The FGEN Advanced I/O Module (AIM) station for Industrial Ethernet is designed to provide dependable communication, "elevating" digital inputs and outputs to Industrial Ethernet networks. Jim Ralston, Wireless Product Manager, ProSoft Technology, talks 802.11n wireless backbone solutions with WirelessHART gateways. (Approximate Time - 0:43)
Texas Instruments announced the TLK10034 physical layer serializer/deserializer. The new TI PHY SerDes is the industry’s first quad-channel XAUI/10GBASE-KR transceiver to support multiple 10G/40G Ethernet standards, and proprietary data rates from 1 Gbps to 10 Gbps. The TI TLK10034 device is available now in a 19mm by 19mm, 324-pin PBGA package. It has a suggested [...]I’m attending the 15th annual ODVA Industry Conference in Atlanta, Georgia, this week and a breakfast conversation turned to training and manufacturing.
Texas Instruments announced their TPS27081A high-side load switch. The device integrates a power PFET and a control NFET in a tiny 6-pin package. The TPS27081A is a flexible replacement for discrete FET switches. The load switch features adjustable slew-rate control so designers can implement the device in any application that requires load switching or power [...]