Is PAT a Silver Bullet?
Control, June 2008
By Jim Montague
Process Analytical Technologies (PAT) are beginning to inject quality-by-design (QBD), model-predictive control, risk management and other well-known process control methods into long-resistant pharmaceutical applications

Living With Safety Testing
Control Engineering, June 2008
By Peter Welander
While safety testing of instrumentation and control equipment adds cost and time-to-market for vendors, the upside for end users is more important than most realize. Those logos and stickers on all manner of equipment should remind you that much goes into keeping you, your home, and your plant safe.

HART monitors extract data from smart instruments
Plant Engineering, May 2008
By Greg Feliks, Moore Industries
A simple and cost effective solution for gathering HART information is to use a HART interface device. Fortunately, HART interface devices, available from several manufacturers, make acquiring HART data a fairly simple proposition. This HART data is then made available to the control system via analog signals, discrete outputs or serial communications.

Infrared Insights
Machinery and Equipment MRO, April 2008
By Colin Plastow
How to create a successful infrared thermography maintenance program.

Hydrogen-Specific Sensing for Industrial Process Control and Safety
Sensors, May 2008
By Prabhu Soundarrajan, H2Scan
Monitoring hydrogen in the process industries is important for both process optimization and for safety. Inline, solid-state palladium-nickel based sensors are highly selective to hydrogen, do not require oxygen to operate, and can detect hydrogen in concentrations from a few ppm to 100%.

Browse these and more articles and white papers on the Test & Measurement 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.

Keithley offers free Precision Sourcing and Measurement Guide CD
CD contains sourcing and measurement resources, including application notes, articles, white papers, and product demonstrations.

Keithley releases Semiconductor Device Test Applications CD
CD includes a large variety of semiconductor test application information such as applications notes, white papers, presentations and an Applications Guide.

Keithley publishes switching test handbook  
Handbook covers fundamentals of the switching function in test and measurement applications, providing useful, tutorial information on how to optimize switching test systems.

Browse these and more resources and literature on the Test & Measurement portal.

See the unseen: Power data diagnostics
Control Engineering, June 2008
Using reports from relay events can help diagnose power system problems, increase system reliability, lower maintenance costs, and reduce potential for system damage and outages. Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories helped detect problems in Conway, Arkansas' city-owned power system.

Fugitives found fleeing gas-handling equipment
Plant Services, May 2008
Facilities now diagnose leaks using infrared cameras filtered and tuned to show images of VOCs and greenhouse gases. Four leaks were found on an LPG compressor using a GasFindIR imager from FLIR Systems.

High Grades
Vision Systems Design, May 2008
By Winn Hardin
To add color vision while improving spatial resolution that better locates cracks in wood at the edger station, Canadian mill-equipment supplier Comact turned to LMI Technologies to upgrade the laser-triangulation machine-vision scanners in its DynaVision M24 modules. The system was installed at the Lakeland Mills plant in Prince George, BC, Canada.

Suppliers Bring Data Logging to Drag Racing
Design News, May 2008
By Charles J. Murray
Nearly all serious drag racers now use so-called “black boxes” to record fuel pressure, oil pressure, shock travel, engine rpm, clutch rpm, acceleration and a host of other parameters. Radiated electrical noise serves as a problem for such data recording, however. Alcohol funny cars employ high-powered magnetos, causing noise problems for sensors, especially those mounted near engines.

Alloy analyzer checks scrap metal
Process & Control Today, May 2008
Knowing the grade of stainless steels and other alloys is an essential requirement for Morecambe Metals, a scrap metal merchant. For samples with known ranges of chemical composition, such as common grades of metal alloys, an XRF alloy analyzer from Niton UK can quickly identify most sample types by name.

Browse these and more application stories on the Test & Measurement portal.

Understanding and Applying Instrumentation in Hazardous Locations
July 9-10, 2008 Research Triangle Park, NC
Provides a detailed, systematic approach to the specification and implementation of instrumentation in hazardous locations. Related standards from National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA), International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), American Petroleum Institute (API), and ISA are stressed.

Mettler-Toledo offers instrumentation training
Training courses vary from basic theory concepts to advanced troubleshooting mechanisms for applications such as pH, Dissolved Oxygen, Conductivity, Total Organic Carbon (TOC) and Turbidity.

Machinery Failure Analysis
December 1-3, 2008 Houston, TX
Course covers the failure analysis process, beginning with the fundamental causes of machinery failure and continuing through the examination of failure analysis practices and policies, discussion of specific failure modes and the analysis of specific machinery component failures. The last part of the course is dedicated to the analysis of several failure analysis examples faced by the instructor in the real world.

Ultra-Accurate Temperature Measurement Webcast
By Data Translation
Learn how advanced technology in analog design will benefit your temperature measurement application to achieve the results you require.

Browse these and more training and seminar opportunities on the Test & Measurement portal.

• Saelig introduces USB DeviceExaminer software
• UEI releases AI-225 vibration sensor interface board
• Keithley announces WiMAX test tools
• GE Sensing introduces PACE 5000 pneumatic pressure controller/indicator
• Softing releases BC-230-PB PROFIBUS PA diagnostic monitor
• InterTech introduces M1075-94X multi-channel leak detector
• General Monitors adds HART to Model S4000CH combustible gas detector
• Special Optics releases Telecentric UV Scanning Lenses
• Analytical Technology releases GasSens monitor

Browse these and more Product Announcements on the Test & Measurement portal.

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

AW-Lake appoints sales and engineering directors
Curt Foreman and Chris Husson have been appointed Director of Sales & Marketing and Director of Engineering & Operations, respectively.

Agilent acquires assets of Escort Instruments
Taiwan-based Escort Instruments is a supplier of low-cost test and measurement instruments.

Delta F promotes Joseph R. Capua to President and CEO
Capua has been with Delta F since 1987, starting as Service Manager. Curt Fauth, President and CEO since 1991, will be retiring.

Nanometrics acquires Tevet Process Control Technologies
Tevet is an integrated metrology company serving the worldwide semiconductor and solar manufacturing industry.

Moore Industries Seeks Oldest Products Still in Service
Moore Industries is celebrating its 40th Anniversary this year, and is trying to find the oldest of its products that are still in service.

Browse these and more company and organizational news on the Test & Measurement portal.

Emerson to automate Bulgarian pulp mill expansion
Emerson will install a DeltaV, Fisher valves and ontrollers, Micro Motion Coriolis mass flow meters and Rosemount pressure, flow, temperature and level measurement instruments.

MatrikonOPC provides data connectivity for Nova BioProfile FLEX analyzer
BioProfile FLEX reduces cell culture analysis time, labor, and operating costs by consolidating chemistry/gases/electrolytes, cell density/viability, and osmolality into a single workstation.

ABB analyzer controls coagulant chemical additions at water utility
An analyzer for dissolved organic compounds monitors raw river influent and automatically controls aluminum sulfate (alum) additions at a water plant in New Jersey.

Thermo Fisher supplies analyzer for QC analysis of metal alloys
Plansee Group of Austria required a system that was capable of distinguishing silica from tungsten background at low levels and achieving specific detection limits on silicon and potassium.

Jiskoot sampling system works in Middle East terminal
Process and Control Today, April 2008
Three Jiskoot CoJetix Sampling Systems are being installed in an oil terminal in the Middle East on 16-in. feed lines between the jetty off-loading metering station and the tank farm. The sample receivers are mounted on a Jiskoot CanWeigh system, which provides a signal to the control system indicating the weight of the receiver and the current collected sample.

Coordinate Metrology Systems Conference  
July 21-25, 2008 Concord, NC
This 5-day event is the only North American conference that uniquely serves professional and novice users of portable 3D coordinate measurement technology.

Water and Wastewater and Automatic Controls Symposium
August 5-7, 2008 Orlando, FL
The event will help professionals in the water and wastewater industry understand how automatic control applications affect processing and distribution of water treatment.

NIWeek 2008 Graphical System Design Conference  
August 5-8, 2008 Austin, Texas
Interactive technical sessions, targeted summits, hands-on workshops and exhibitions on the latest developments for design, control, automation, manufacturing and test.

Test and measurement conference 2008
August 25-27, 2008 Muldersdrift, South Africa
The exhibition affords the laboratory community an opportunity to be updated on the latest equipment and services that can be provided by the laboratory supplier community.

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.

Browse more industry events on the Test & Measurement portal.

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I hope you enjoyed this Test & Measurement 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

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