Smart-but-Simple Wireless Sensor Networking
IEN, July 2008
The term smart-but-simple refers to a new generation of wireless sensor networking (WSN) products. Today, WSNs are gaining acceptance in a wide variety of industrial applications ranging from tank level to motor vibration to relief valve monitoring.

Solid-State Relays Enhance Reliability
Control Design, June 2008
By Don Talend
With the lines between solid-state relay (SSR) and programmable logic controller (PLC) capabilities blurring in recent years, SSR manufacturers see a major role for relays in maintaining equipment functions and reliability.

Top tips on squelching electrical noise
Machine Design, June 2008
By Helge Hornis and Thomas Sebastiany, Pepperl+Fuchs
Industrial automation equipment must often perform reliably under some of the harshest conditions imaginable. One of the factors that make industrial conditions harsh is electronic noise pollution. Industrial devices and sensors must operate reliably in a caucophony of electromagnetic emissions both intentional and unintentional.

Intrinsic Safety in the Digital Age
Control, June 2008
By Paul Miller
As fieldbus becomes the norm rather than the exception, there are many users who are demanding protection for their fieldbus networks. However, there are significant conflicts between the technique of intrinsic safety and multiple-device, multi-drop networks.

Don't judge a supplier by its name
By Frank Hurtte, Contributing Author
For those of us who live and breathe the rarified vapors of technology based automation, it's pretty hard to fathom how life existed without electronic automation. Yet, it has been a short 30 years since the venerable PLC became anything more than a novelty outside of the Big 3 in Detroit. Sometime in the late 1970s, microprocessors changed our lives forever. Since those early days, the power of these tiny chips forever changed the way we think about manufacturing.

Browse these and more articles and white papers on the Industrial I/O portal.

National Instruments offers 6,000 drivers for control  
Instrument drivers make it easy for users to connect to and control stand-alone instruments from more than 275 vendors.

Free Electrical Design Trial Software
EPLAN improves the engineering design times, costs and quality of Electrical Control Systems, Fluid Power Systems, and Instrumentation & Control Systems.

Omron STI publishes Machine Safety Engineering Guide
This 1500+ page two-volume set details Omron STI's complete family of machine and process safety solutions, and contains more than 225 pages of educational resource material.

Agilent publishes RF and Microwave Switch selection guide
The switch selection guide provides an overview of electromechanical and solid state switches and switch drivers.

SIXNET publishes Product CD
Free CD features the entire product line from Sixnet's Automation, Industrial Connectivity and Wireless Connectivity divisions.

Browse these and more resources and literature on the Industrial I/O portal.

Rugged Oil and Gas Well Logging Data Acquisition System
By: Corin Chepko, Rocky Mountain Wireline Service
Rocky Mountain Wireline Service is an oil and gas perforating and logging company. The data acquisition system we use is rack-mounted in a wireline truck and must withstand vibration and dust generated as the truck moves to different locations over rough roads. These conditions cause problems with industrial PCs. We needed a system that was reliable and easy to repair or replace in the case of failure.

How to Control a 27-km-long Machine
Machine Design, May 2008
By Nipun Mathur, National Instruments
The largest machine in the world, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), covers parts of France and Switzerland and will cost a staggering $3.5 billion U.S. to design and build. The real difficulty is synchronizing collimators that can be 13 km away from each other with jaws that are synchronized to within 100 µsec and move with accuracies of ±10 µm.

Vishay installs Reel Optimizing System in European paper mill
The Reel Optimizing System uses strain gage-based load cells to improve roll density by controlling the nip force throughout the entire reel spool change-over process.

Relay Races to Forefront of New Design
Control Design, June 2008
By Barry Stringer, Solvere
MikroPul, in Charlotte, N.C., manufactures dust control and product recovery equipment. For its PulsePro EC baghouse control and monitoring system, MikroPul uses Siemens’ LOGO! programmable relay.

Emerson automates world's largest pulp mill
The PlantWeb solution includes DeltaV, 3300 FOUNDATION fieldbus, Profibus DP and DeviceNet devices, MCCs, PLCs, Modbus, Fisher valves with Fisher FIELDVUE digital valve controllers, and AMS Suite.

Browse these and more application stories on the Industrial I/O portal.

How to Design IEC 61508-Compliant Hardware and Software
September 22-25, 2008 Natick, MA
Seminar covers safety engineering, IEC 61508 requirements, functional safety management, E/E/PES requirements, case studies, examples, and tools.

FREE Training on Opto 22’s SNAP PAC System
Opto 22 offers FREE SNAP PAC System training classes held at company headquarters in Temecula, California. The four-day, hands-on class provides an overview of Opto 22’s simple answer to complex automation problems.

WAGO offers free Industrial Control Seminars
Three-day Industrial Control Seminars focusing on the latest in control technology will be held in Germantown, WI.

Smart Sensors Systems Design Web course
The course focuses on measuring methods and techniques to build full intelligent sensor systems, digital sensors, data acquisition and measuring systems with self-adaptation and self-identification possibilities.

Browse these and more training and seminar opportunities on the Industrial I/O portal.

• HEIDENHAIN introduces ND 200 Series Digital Readouts for gauging
• Data Translation introduces entry-level TEMPpoint temperature system
• ACCES I/O releases USB-DIO-16H digital I/O module
• Semaphore adds MS-6RTD Interface to T-BOX SCADA system
• B&R gains TÜV Certificate for its safety products
• US Digital announces USB4 data acquisition device for encoders
• CAS DataLogger announces dataTaker geotechnical data loggers
• SoftSwitching Technologies expands grid alert service
• Connect One introduces iChip CO2144 IP controller

Browse these and more Product Announcements on the Industrial I/O portal.

Search all Products by keyword, category, manufacturer or release date.

NI reports record revenue for Q2 2008
National Instruments reported record quarterly revenue of $210.5 million, up 17 percent in the second quarter of 2008.

ABB Q2 Net Income up 34%
ABB reported record orders, revenues and earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) in the second quarter of 2008, with net income reaching $975 million.

Will DIN-rail PCs with I/O revolutionise industrial PCs?
Control Engineering Europe, July 2008
With unit shipments expected to more than triple between 2006 and 2011, DIN rail PCs with incorporated I/O (also known as programmable automation controllers, or PACs) are going to have a lasting impact on the worldwide industrial PC market according to a report by IMS Research.

Data Acquisition Moves to the Outside
Control Engineering Asia, June 2008
Venture Development says market growth rates for data acquisition systems are higher for external chassis and modules than the plug-in analog I/O boards. There continues to be an ongoing trend in data acquisition applications to the use of external devices, especially USB PC front ends instead of plug-in analog I/O boards.

ABB appoints Joseph Hogan CEO
Hogan is currently CEO of GE Healthcare and is a member of the GE Senior Executive Council. He will join ABB on September 1, 2008.

Browse these and more company and organizational news on the Industrial I/O portal.

Vishay to install Rider Roll System in Canadian Paper Mill
The Rider Roll System, to be delivered to NewPage's Port Hawkesbury mill, will use strain gage-based load cells to control the winding process of finished rolls.

Using Industrial Wireless Ethernet in Mining Systems
A mine uses a combination of Moxa's AWK-1100 wireless AP/Bridge/AP Client and an industrial Ethernet switch.

DGH uses Kepware for Modbus communications
DGH data acquisition products communicate via RS232 and RS485 using Modbus RTU protocol. DGH selected Kepware’s KEPServerEX as its preferred Modbus connectivity solution.

Siemens to supply PCS 7 to Biofine Renewables
The control system includes an HMI and a PROFIBUS fieldbus network to communicate to Siemens variable frequency drives and I/O modules.

Heason supplies position systems for ISIS facility
Process & Control Today, June 2008
ISIS uses neutron scattering as a non-destructive tool that can penetrate and reveal the molecular structure of materials using beams of neutrons and incredibly sensitive detectors. ISIS awarded a contract to Heason Technology to provide neutron beam modifying Jaw Packages for the Wish and nimrod instruments on its new Second Target Station.

International Manufacturing Technology Show
September 8-13, 2008 Chicago, IL
The largest and longest running manufacturing technology trade show in the United States, IMTS is ranked among the largest trade shows in the world. IMTS attracts over 90,000 visitors from every level of industry and over 40 countries.

Machine Safety Conference
September 30, 2008 Midlands, UK
Attendees will be afforded a comprehensive overview of machinery safety issues in the light of current and forthcoming standards, and will learn about their practical application through case studies. Delegates will also have the opportunity to discuss technologies and applications with organisations participating in the seminars and to browse the integrated exhibition.

ISA Expo
October 14-16, 2008 Houston, Texas
Organized around six core automation and control themes, ISA EXPO 2007 provides attendees a content-rich environment that offers unlimited opportunity for exploration of key technologies, professional growth, and interaction with like minded professionals.

Brazil Automation
November 17-19, 2008 São Paulo, Brazil
Brazil Automation is the largest event of Instrumentation, Systems and Automation in Latin America and one of the most important in the world. Besides presenting technology advances and new products and services, the event provides extensive integration among users, manufacturers, researchers, students, service providers and other professionals in the industry.

SCS Paris
December 2-5, 2008 Paris, France
Covers systems, components and solutions, including electrical, automation and mechatronics.

Browse more industry events on the Industrial I/O portal.

Add an event to our calendar.

I hope you enjoyed this Industrial I/O update. If you have any comments or suggestions regarding the content in this e-newsletter or on Automation.com, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Rick Zabel
Vice President, Publisher
Automation.com

View our Privacy Policy

For editorial inquiries, please contact Rick Zabel
For advertising inquiries, please contact Karen Olson or see our Media Kit.