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		ITAC installs control system at tobacco company - 05/17/12 System integrator ITAC installed Rockwell Automation ControlLogix, RSLogix, PlantPax, drives, DeviceNet and EtherNet/IP hardware and software at an unnamed tobacco company.

		Schaeffler Linear actuators help build roof panels - 05/14/12 Linear actuators are playing a vital role in helping Kluth, a manufacturer of roof panels, to eliminate virtually all sources of defects in its machining processes.

		Driving desalination in WA - 05/12/12 What’s New in Process Technology, May 2012 ABB supplied nine identical 800 kW 3.3 kV drives to power and control the main reverse osmosis (RO) and seawater intake pumps for the desalination plant in Western Australia.

		SERAPID Builds five Die Change Systems for Press Builder in Brazil - 05/09/12 The push-pull quick die change systems were made up of three floor mounted and two cart mounted die transport and positioning systems, using Serapid’s Rigid Chain Technology.

		SIMCO uses Eaton’s HP30 Motors on Drilling Rigs - 05/09/12 HP30 high-pressure disc valve motors power standard drillheads on the all-hydraulic, tophead-drive rotary drills used for water-well, geothermal and auger drilling.


		Plant-wide drives save £100,000 annually for Ricoh - 04/07/12 Control Engineering Europe, March 2012 Variable speed drives supplied by ABB are saving office equipment manufacturer Ricoh, over £100,000 per annum on energy costs at its UK-based production plant.

		ABB drive cuts costs by £25,000 at GKN - 04/07/12 Process and Control Today, April 2012 GKN’s plant at Telford produces a wide range of components for major vehicle producers around the world. One part of the line involves a walking beam that was jamming. ABB replaced the drive, eliminating the jamming.

		Rockwell Automation controls Kingston wastewater treatment plant - 03/20/12 PACs and MCCs from Rockwell Automation helped standardize plant-wide control and contributed to UK completing the project under budget and six months ahead of schedule.

		Printing, converting and finishing machines benefit from flexible drives - 03/10/12 Control Engineering Europe, March 2012 Every system made by Rotary Logic Systems is bespoke (custom). Control Techniques supplies the drives, servo-drives and servo-motors.

		Oh Crumbs, Solved At Last - 03/10/12 Process & Control Today, February 2012 Control Freaks automated a machine for producing biscuit crumbs, breakfast cereal and snack foods using a Mitsubishi FX3U PLC, which controls a number of 15 kW E700 and D700 variable speed drives on the mixer axes over an RS485 network.

		Performance Art and Automation Converge with EtherCAT - 03/09/12 Automation.com, March 2012 Flying by Foy specializes in sophisticated automation for performer flying effects. An EtherCAT-enabled Pegasus Automation System propels performers to soaring new heights.

		ABB improves production process for Podilsky Cement - 03/04/12 ABB supplied switchgear, motor control centers, variable speed drives, instrumentation, gas analyzers, collaborative production management systems, and an 800xA automation system.

		Motion control synchronization - 02/17/12 Control Engineering, February 2012 By Bob Davis and Craig Nelson Sunnen uses Profibus and Siemens PLCs, HMIs, software, drives and servomotors in its bore sizing and finishing systems.

		Coca-Cola Hellenic reduces energy consumption by 75% - 02/15/12 What’s New in Process Technology, February 2012 By SEW-Eurodrive Coke cut costs in Vienna by replacing 39 gearmotors with equipment from SEW, and replacing hardwired connections with Profibus.

		Now Levi Strauss makes jeans with less energy - 02/15/12 Process & Control Today, February 2012 Vacon NXS ac variable speed drives supplied and fitted by Digicon Solutions Limited are delivering large energy savings at the Northampton, UK, plant of Levi Strauss.

		Rockwell Automation automates Meurer Research pilot plant - 02/06/12 The water and wastewater products company installed a MicroLogix PLC, PowerFlex 4 drive, and EtherNet/IP to automate its demonstration plants.

		Optical table provides precise sample positioning - 02/06/12 At 2700mm long and 800mm wide, the granite optical table can accommodate loads of up to 1000kg.

		Detecting oscillations in the variable frequency drives of large industrial blowers - 02/04/12 Industrial Embedded Systems, January 2012 By Juerg Roth, ABB, and Klaas A. Vogel, Elsys Instruments As the electronics within them have advanced, modern VFD controllers and motors require more than conventional measurement tools to diagnose, troubleshoot, and fine-tune the system and ensure overall reliability. Here’s how ABB diagnosed a VFD system installed in a blast furnace blower.

		Rockwell Automation System controls Chocolate Manufacturing - 01/19/12 Automation.com, January 2012 By Rockwell Automation By using Rockwell Automation’s controllers, EtherNet/IP, servo drives and FactoryTalk software, Hershey brings together all aspects of its chocolate production line.

		Linear Motion Moves Up and Out - 01/15/12 Control Design, January 2012 By Jim Montague Surf’s up! Precision Shapes Northwest, a builder of surfboards, added a Harmonic Linear Drive belt-type linear actuator with a built-in smart motor to its surfboard shaping and routing machines, eliminating the need for stepper and servo motors.

		IE3 motors promise impressive energy savings for odour control facility - 01/11/12 Control Engineering Europe, January 2012 Golden Acres Pet Foods in the UK built an extraction plant that takes odours from the process lines. Fans handle the extraction of the process gas and are powered by two ABB IE3 motors, one of 250 kW, the other of 185 kW.

		Sensors and joysticks specified for UK-built multi-function trailer - 12/27/11 Automation, November 2011 Penny + Giles is supplying its contactless rotary position sensors and advanced joystick controllers to help control the latest Transtacker trailer from Big Bale Company South.

		AC drives supplied to aluminium refinery - 12/18/11 Control Engineering Europe, December 2011 Vacon delivered 300 variable-speed AC drives with a total power of 58 megawatts to AnRak Aluminium for use in a new aluminium refinery that is being built near the City of Visakhapatnam in India's southeastern state of Andhra Pradesh.

		Draw wire sensors position parts on X-ray machines - 12/01/11 Roesys. a manufacturer of digital X-ray systems, is using draw-wire sensors from Micro-Epsilon to position the mechanical moving parts on its machines.

		ABB installs hoist in Shanxi Province, China. - 12/01/11 ABB successfully commissioned an ACS 6000 drive, installed at the Ma JiaLiang coal mine main shaft hoist in Shanxi Province, China.

		Time for an Upgrade - 11/18/11 Process Heating, November 2011 By Matt Koch, Sukup Manufacturing An automation technology upgrade from Phoenix Contact, involving a PLC, HMI and VFD, allowed a grain dryer manufacturer to improve product quality and throughput while increasing uptime.

		Bosch Rexroth Installs Modern Technology Behind Historical Walls - 11/05/11 Process & Control Today, October 2011 Moscow will celebrate the reopening of its world-famous Bolschoi Theatre in Autumn 2011. Bosch Rexroth installed and put into operation more than 600 electrical and hydraulic drives, as well as stage control equipment.

		Enhanced extrusion courtesy Control Techniques - 10/17/11 South Africa Instrumentation & Control, October 2011 A switch from DC to AC drives at European recycling company Govaerts Recycling of Belgium has resulted in major maintenance savings with the bonus of a dramatic cut in production noise.

		Apex advances accuracy with drive solution - 10/17/11 What’s New in Process Technology, October 2011 Apex Automation and Robotics in Sydney builds factory automation machinery and robotic systems. It built an automatic machining centre for polymer foam panels using servomotors from SEW-Eurodrive for faster throughput and greater precision.

		Motor vibration problem – a coupling challenge - 10/15/11 Energy-Tech, October 2011 By Patrick J Smith The cause of the motor vibration problem was due to a coupling issue. It was a challenge to identify because the coupling was replaced during a compressor repair and the assumption was made that the coupling was not a problem since it was new.

		NORD provides 5,300 gearmotors for thermal solar plant - 10/11/11 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.

		ABB drives cut £20,000 off energy bill for GKN - 10/10/11 Process and Control Today, September 2011 GKN AutoStructures in Telford, UK, produces automotive components. ABB replaced motors on an air extraction line with low voltage AC drives.

		Automating the Perfect Game with E.A.R.L., the Bowling Robot - 09/27/11 ARM Automation developed this ultra high precision, EtherCAT-enabled robot for bowling equipment testing. The United States Bowling Congress uses E.A.R.L to help uphold the game's credibility, preserve its future and enhance the bowling experience for millions.

		Simulation: Prescription for Success - 09/24/11 Control Design, September 2011 By Jim Montague MTS Medication Technologies builds prescription packaging machines and related equipment. It uses simulation software to design and test feeders, robots and pallets.

		Metso controls world’s fastest coating machine - 09/20/11 Metso's control system helped the Järvenpää Pilot Coater reach a new world record speed of 3,160 m/min.

		Cloud Packaging uses WITTENSTEIN gearboxes in packaging machines - 09/20/11 The alpha gearbox fulfilled application high speed requirements by improving throughput without risking gear reducer failure.

		Impax uses Alpha HG+ Gearbox for Case Packer - 09/12/11 The HG+ gearbox used in this application aids in precise motion, but it had to be nickle-plated to survive.

		PBC Linear guides TigerStop metalcutting machine - 09/08/11 PBC Linear's Integral-V linear guide system reduces mounting components, improves alignment and provide ease of installation across scalable working lengths.

		Improving steel mill throughput with DC drives - 09/08/11 Control Engineering Europe, August 2011 The replacement of analogue DC drives with digital DC drives from Control Techniques for energising electro-magnets at Evraz Highveld Steel and Vanadium in South Africa has reduced downtime and increased throughput on a steel bar production line.

		Orwin selects HBM amplifier to monitor crucial processes - 09/08/11 Process & Control Today, August 2011 Orwin, a machine builder in the UK, uses HBM’s MP85ADP in an Active Engine Mount Cell assembly line. It enables engineers to input up to eight measurement windows whilst monitoring the applied force and distance throughout the crimping process.

		Control system integrates PLCs and PACs - 08/18/11 Plant Services, August 2011 With most of its technology more than a decade old, Evergreen upgraded its production machinery with EtherNet/IP, CompactLogix PACs and PowerFlex ac drives from Rockwell Automation.

		Remote Service via VPN - 08/18/11 Control Design, August 2011 Secure VPN tunneling implementation enables Groninger to provide robust remote technical support to its pharmaceutical and cosmetics customers.

		ABB commissions drive and control systems at Copper Mountain mine - 08/16/11 ABB supplied three low speed dual pinion mill drive systems for the startup of a new semiautogenous (SAG) mill and two ball mills.

		Serapid supplies push-pull systems to automate die handling - 08/14/11 Seven SERAPID RollBeams are used to push dies in and out of the presses at Reed City Tool. Each pushes the 18,000 pound dies at a speed of 20 feet per minute.

		EtherNet/IP goes to press - 08/12/11 Cerutti selected EtherNet/IP and Rockwell Automation to automate its flexographic printing machines. The system handles 500 nodes and 13,000 I/O.

		Machine Controller Simplifies Development Of Plasma Tube Cutter - 08/07/11 Process and Control Today, July 2011 All five electrical axes on a plasma cutting machine for flue pipes are controlled by a Baldor NextMove ESB-2, a compact real-time machine control module which receives commands direct from an on-board PC-based CNC system.

		Motor/inverter saves energy on furnace cooling system - 08/07/11 Control Engineering Europe, August 2011 Engineering Steel Belgium is saving €45,000 per annum on the operation of three cooling pumps on one of its electrical steel furnaces, since the installation of three WEG high efficiency motors, controlled by WEG variable speed drives.

		ABB controls cement production plant - 08/04/11 ABB delivered a complete power and automation solution for a new cement facility built by Drake Cement in Arizona.

		Motion Control Solution Reduces Costs by 40% - 07/25/11 IEN, July 2011 Recently, PBC Linear worked closely with a medical equipment engineering team to streamline the design of a motion control system for a diagnostic analyzer. After reviewing the initial design, PBC Linear was able to provide a simplified solution that was specifically designed to fit into the compact working area.

		Serapid RigidChain moves carts into and out of ovens - 07/24/11 RigidChain's ability to withstand high temperatures lets it move parts in and out of the ovens at Precision Quincy, an oven-manufacturer.

		Drives and controls upgrade for Saica Packaging - 07/23/11 Control Engineering Europe, July 2010 Saica Packaging succeeded in increasing its productivity levels following a drives and controls upgrade by Optima Control Solutions (OCS) on a corrugating line at its Edinburgh plant.

		Servo Control Improves Flexibility Of Shrink Wrapping Machine - 07/23/11 Process & Control Today, July 2011 MIMI of Italy incorporated high accuracy servo-drives from Control Techniques for its latest ‘MITO’ shrink wrapper.

		Laser profile scanner inspects weld seams on steel pipes - 07/11/11 Using Micro-Epsilon’s scanCONTROL 2710 laser profile scanner, the positioning process is performed automatically at Metco, Israel’s largest manufacturer of steel pipe. The calculated profile information is used to directly control the positioning process.

		Aircraft Skin Processing machine uses Animatics’ SmartMotor - 07/05/11 Using Animatics’ SmartMotor with Combitronic communication resulted in a 49% reduction of parts used and increased capabilities on the Flexitool aircraft skin processing machine.

		Serapid automates plate bending application - 06/30/11 The system at Pacific Press Technologies moves a steel plate weighing up to 5000 pounds approximately 100 inches through a press brake to be bent.

		Simplifying the Complex in High-Risk Duty Robots - 06/28/11 Design News, June 2011 By Kristin Lewotsky, MICROMO The Machine Lab builds man-portable robots from to perform a range of surveillance and bomb disposal tasks. They are based on compact, economical, high-torque motors from Micromo.

		Motion Control Aids Scientists in Probe of Nanostructures - 06/27/11 IEN, June 2011 Brookhaven National Laboratory uses a Galil motion controller to precisely control the velocity of a linear stage that moves a silicon substrate during the development of a Multilayer Laue Lens (MLL). The lens is used to focus synchrotron X-rays.

		Drive And Control System Leads To Smoother Machine - 06/27/11 IMPO, June 2011 CP Packaging developed VisionPak, an efficient, easy-to-use and highly sanitary servo-driven horizontal form, fill and seal machine (HFFS) by using Rexroth integrated motor and drive, pneumatics, machine control and linear motion systems.

		Softstart UK Hammers Starter Costs For Edf - 06/27/11 Process & Control Today, June 2011 EdF (Cottam Power) needed a starter for the MV drive fitted to a hammer mill at its Nottingham site. The hammer mill is no small machine. It receives olive cake via a triple screw feeder at a rate of up to 30 tonnes per hour, and it is driven by a 350 kW 3.3 kV motor. Softstart UK supplied a soft starter instead of a costly variable speed drive.

		Amtech converts dc drives to ac for Paper manufacturer - 06/23/11 Amtech converted all DC motor drives to AC variable frequency motor drives at Papelsa y Cartones South America to solve production issues.

		Broadbent spins energy savings with drives - 06/12/11 Control Engineering Europe, May 2011 Thomas Broadbent in the UK, a supplier of solid-liquid separation equipment, uses Vacon AC variable speed drives to recover up to 90% of the energy consumed by the batch centrifugals it supplies to the sugar processing industry.

		A move to AC drives negates the need for a separate PLC - 06/12/11 Control Engineering Europe, May 2011 Meltech Engineering in the UK has eliminated the need for a separate PLC and reduced the need for maintenance of its semi-automatic cable manufacturing equipment by switching from DC to an intelligent AC drives solution.

		Chocolate bars uniquely packaged - 06/10/11 Automation.com, June 2011 By Bosch Rexroth Packaging containers can sometimes be quite elaborate. The faster, the better, the more accurate so as not to damage delicate products. This is the challenge for pick-and-place robots and the control technology behind them. Chocolate, for example, is one such product that must be handled with care.

		ABB controls gold mine in Chile - 05/30/11 ABB completed the commissioning of three gearless mill drive (GMD) systems for the Esperanza project of Antofagasta Minerals in Chile.

		ABB gearless mill drives mine gold in Canada - 05/25/11 The GMD powers a 38-foot semiautogenous (SAG) mill at the Canadian Malartic gold mine.

		Bale Hay While the Sun Shines - 05/18/11 A PLC from AutomationDirect helped this farmer/inventor develop a new kind of hay baler that lets farmers harvest hay day or night, regardless of the weather.

		25% productivity increase achieved for laminator - 05/14/11 Control Engineering Europe, April 2011 API Laminates recorded a 25% increase in productivity following the installation of a custom control system with Parker AC890 drives for its refurbished laminating line in Stockport, Cheshire, UK.

		Siemens installs 72 drives at world's largest LNG plant - 05/12/11 In addition to 72 ROBICON Perfect Harmony Variable Frequency Drives, Siemens installed 72 VFD control houses and four 33KV switchgear.

		Siemens automates automobile transmissions in Toldeo - 05/09/11 Siemens provided the PLC, CNC, HMI, RFID, Profinet and safety systems to Toledo Powertrain for a Flexible Assembly Configuration System (FACS) to build the GF6 six-speed, front wheel transmission.

		Schaeffler handheld vibration monitor checks traction motors at Siemens - 05/08/11 Handheld FAG Detector III vibration monitoring systems minimize the number of traction motor repairs due to bearing deterioration.

		CAMotion —Wireless Distributed Safety Control Network - 04/24/11 Automation World, April 2011 CAMotion, a motion control automation manufacturer, worked with Siemens to deploy a distributed safety control network for large, overhead gantry robot systems equipment.

		Drive Technology For A Bottling Plant - 04/18/11 IMPO, March 2011 By NORD Drive Systems Hacklberger Beverages is one of the largest breweries in the German area of Bavaria. NORD mechanical and electronic drive technology is used in the packaging, palleting and conveyor systems.

		Motion system adds antenna accuracy - 04/17/11 Control Engineering, April 2011 Nearfield spherical scanner uses advanced motion control system from Nexen to test stationary antennas, adding repeatability, minimizing backlash in a tight location.

		Lenze inverters deliver “close to real” experience on alpine ski simulator - 03/26/11 Process and Control Today, February 2011 Two compact Lenze SMV frequency inverters deliver smooth start optimisation and motion control of the track on the Whizzard PRO alpine ski simulator, which, according to people who have tried it, is as close to the real thing as possible. Suiting both skiers and snowboarders, the Whizzard adjusts the slope angle whilst running and can give experience of extreme conditions, even moguls, at speeds of up to 30km/hour.

		Machinery safety for packaging machines - 03/24/11 Control Engineering Europe, March 2011 Following renewed risk assessments that led to an updated machine safety design concept for a servo-driven film wrapping machine, BVM Brunner now has the flexibility to meet a variety of customer requirements while ensuring the safety of machine operators.

		Streamline unloading at coal terminal - 03/24/11 HazardEx, March 2011 A terminal operated by E.ON UK unloads imported coal intended to feed several UK power stations. JMS Automation & Drives of Birkenhead upgraded the two 40 tonne ship unloaders with ABB’s Crane Management System (CMS).

		BVM Brunner selects Pilz for packaging machine safety solution - 03/10/11 Following machine risk assessments, BVM Brunner decided to implement a new safety design for one of its machines, which incorporated safety solutions from Pilz.

		Absolute positioning on a budget - 03/06/11 When the Rock-Tenn paperboard mill in Aurora IL wanted to automate the positioning and tensioning of the belts on its paperboard dryer conveyor system, it took an innovative combination of high-end, absolute encoders and basic, low-end control and drive technology to get the job done.

		Upgraded Barrier Controls Protect Against Terrorists - 02/17/11 PD&D, February 2011 By K12 Defense Consultants Military bases, embassies, government buildings and airports around the world are protected by hydraulically-operated vehicle barriers K12 converts them to electric operation thanks to servo actuators and rugged industrial PLCs from Phoenix Contact.

		Switch to Servo Motors Makes for Faster Package Changeover - 02/14/11 Control Design, February 2011 By Peter Graham Edson Packaging needed to develop a solution that would make product changeovers in minutes rather than hours. Doing that required a shift to servo motors.

		Servocontrol Theater - 02/11/11 Machine Design, February 2011 By Don Labriola, QuickSilver Controls Putting motion into art requires a different approach to motion control than typical machine-tool applications. Here’s how motion control is used in amusement parks, theaters and movies.

		Baldor controls conformal coating machine - 02/10/11 Baldor's real-time Ethernet motion control system helped Advanced Coating Robotics create a conformal coating machine that combines three-dimensional spraying accuracy with high throughput.

		The oldest sugar mill in Ecuador automates - 02/07/11 Control Engineering Europe, February 2011 The Ingenio Valdez sugar mill will, in future, operate with a completely automated extraction process, following the installation of automation and control equipment, such as motor control centers from WEG.

		Control platform inks the deal - 02/07/11 Process & Control Engineering, January 2011 By Jason Thelander The ink cartridge filling machine developed by Precision Mechatronics fills five 50 ml ink cartridges every 20 seconds. A PC- and EtherCAT-based Beckhoff control platform with integrated Motion Control functionality controls it.

		Optima improves Tullis Russell's Coating Performance - 02/07/11 Process and Control Today, February 2011 Optima designed, supplied, installed and commissioned the complete control system retrofit of a Siemens S7-400 PLC and WinCC SCADA package with Parker SSD, DC and AC drives,

		Motors save energy on world’s largest paper making machine - 02/07/11 Process and Control Today, February 2011 WEG high efficiency motors are providing up to 30% savings in energy on the operation of the largest and most sophisticated paper making machine in the world for producing high quality paper.

		Omron makes sleeving automatic - 02/07/11 South Africa Instrumentation & Control, February 2011 Packs of food with card sleeves are much in demand by major retailers, but applying those sleeves has, until now, been an inconvenient and labour-intensive manual process. Trajexia motion control products from Omron automated it.

		NORD Drives and inverters control bottling plant - 02/01/11 Nord provided drives and gears for the packaging, palleting and transport systems at the new factory of Hacklberger Beverage.

		Process models, advanced control support super steel mill - 01/09/11 Control Engineering, December 2010 Extensive system integration and custom advanced control software supports steel mill. The mill automation system supports a continuous process requiring precision control of motor speeds and integration of auxiliary equipment.

		Crane Moves with IEEE 802.11n wireless - 01/09/11 Control Engineering, December 2010 With the range of motion of industrial gantry cranes (in some cases over a kilometer), wireless Ethernet allows connectivity with moving equipment, avoiding the safety hazards and risk of moving wires or fibers.

		Small scale hydro supplies grid - 01/09/11 HazardEx, December 2010 Small-scale producers of electricity can export and sell their surplus power via the national grid, but transferring that power to the grid is no trivial task. Washford Mill Hydroelectrical Company developed a dependable, efficient and cost effective solution based on inverter drives from Parker SSD.

		Securing Sydney’s water pumping needs - 01/09/11 What’s New in Process Technology, January 2011 By ABB Australia ABB’s high-efficiency motors and variable speed drives have provided an energy-efficient solution for transporting large volumes of desalinated water from Sydney’s newest water supply to over 1.5 million Australian residents living in New South Wales.

		Upgrade at Everaz Highveld Steel - 01/09/11 South Africa Instrumentation & Control, January 2011 Control Techniques upgraded M/C4, a continuous casting machine at Evraz Highveld Steel in Mpumalanga, South Africa. All of the switchgear had become obsolete causing major maintenance problems. The decision was taken to switch to AC control and a Modicon PLC.

		Bio-ethanol: motors process wheat and beet syrup - 12/20/10 International Power Engineer, December 2010 WEG motors help BioWanze in Belgium process wheat and beet syrup to produce bio-ethanol. With this innovative system, BioWanze intends eventually to provide half the amount of the bio-fuel consumed in Belgium.

		Urban Outfitted - 12/18/10 Engineered Systems, December 2010 Chicago’s Michael A. Bilandic Building paired modular chillers and hydronic gas boilers with pumps and VFDs to conquer some upgrade challenges, bring the mechanical system into the 21st century, and knock 15% off the tower’s measured energy use.

		Technology prevents bearing failure at a steel mill - 12/18/10 Plant Services, December 2010 NUCOR Steel Arkansas installed Azima DLI’s 1600 network-based temperature monitoring technology to all 16 bearings in the gearboxes driving the F1 and F2 mill stands. The system immediately identified two anomalous bearing temperatures that were well above expected limits due to excessive mill loads and speeds.

		Motion Controller Perfects Yorkshire Pudding Recipe - 12/12/10 Process and Control Today, December 2010 Western Mechanical Handling developed a new technology for depositing Yorkshire pudding batter into baking moulds. Using peristaltic pumps and a Mitsubishi Q170M motion controller running on a Q series PLC, the batter delivery is now accurate to +/- 0.1g.

		Siemens solution provides textile company with improved reliability - 12/12/10 Process and Control Today, December 2010 Textile manufacturer W.T. Johnson in the UK upgraded its 15-year-old controls with 9 Siemens SINAMICS S120 drives, a SIMATIC 317T CPU, and a SIMATIC MP377 operator panel.

		ABB supplies five-piece stator in Chile - 12/08/10 ABB supplied a 13,050 kW (17,500 HP) gearless drive motor including pre-assembled containerized electrical house containing cycloconverter, exciter rectifier, and low voltage MCC.

		Retrofitting BWR Recirculation Pumps with Adjustable-Speed Drives - 11/24/10 Power, November 2010 By James W. Morgan, ILD, and Timothy Gode, Exelon Nuclear Exelon Nuclear recently replaced the original motor-generator sets for its boiling water reactor (BWR) recirculation pumps at its Quad Cities Generating Station Unit 1 with adjustable-speed drives. Here are the actual energy savings, motor-starting characteristics, control accuracy and stability, and motor and cable thermal behavior of this retrofit project.

		Upgrade of legacy control system can improve productivity - 11/21/10 Plant Services, November 2010 By Michael Deitz, Graham Packaging Graham Packaging upgraded controls with a new touchscreen HMI, Rockwell Automation’s Allen-Bradley on-machine PLC, two Allen-Bradley VFDs/encoders, and remote monitoring so senior management could see the process variables. By upgrading, they saved four hours to six hours of downtime each month in nuisance problems.

		Monitoring a Water Plant In Real-time - 11/21/10 Automation World, November 2010 By Rob Spiegel The Sheboygan Regional Wastewater Treatment Facility, in Sheboygan, WI, replaced their bi-metallic overload relays with Motor Insight overload and monitoring relays from Eaton. They detected conditions that might have resulted in motor or pump failure and energy waste

		Microdrive Controls Water pressure booster system - 11/16/10 Pressurizer-VS provides supplemental pressurization of water supplies, using a control scheme that employs custom Baldor-developed firmware to regulate output flow and pressure.

		Nord Drivesystems installed in Chronopost´s parcel hub - 11/11/10 More than 1000 Nord Drivesystems geared motors with decentralised inverters have been installed in Chronopost´s main European hub, to the south of Paris.

		Drives save Leixlip Water Treatment €500,000 a year - 11/07/10 Control Engineering Europe, October 2010 Four 710 kW ABB cabinet built drives were installed in place of the existing soft starts. With 24 hour, 365 day operation, this was a saving of 3,179,904 kWh. With energy costing 0.16 c per kWh, this gives a total saving of €508,784 per year and a payback time of less than a year.

		Placement Platform Expands Production for German Electronics Company - 11/07/10 Assembly, October 2010 By Jim Camillo Metz installed a SIPLACE SX placement machine line made by Siemens Electronics. The SIPLACE has interchangeable gantries that can be installed or uninstalled by a single person in less than 30 minutes.

		WEG Drives Enable Omani Oil Field To Increase Pumping - 10/19/10 Process & Control Today, September 2010 WEG Middle East supplied – at short notice – 250kW HGF motors to fit in the same space envelope previously occupied by three 132kW Loher pump motors, at the Daleel Petroleum Oil Field in Oman.

		Whitecourt receives superior drinking water - 10/13/10 InTech, October 2010 By Wally Ingham, Stantec Consulting The Town of Whitecourt’s Water Treatment Plant in Alberta, Canada, was updated with a ControLogix PLC, DeviceNet, a variable speed pump, MCC, and Rosemount flow, level and pressure instrumentation.

		ABB controls iron ore pellet plant in Bahrain - 09/22/10 ABB supplied a System 800xA process control system, field instrumentation, motor control centers, motors and variable speed drives to Gulf Industrial Investment, Bahrain.

		ABB controls Boliden's Aitik copper mine in Sweden - 09/20/10 ABB supplied gearless mill drives, System 800xA controls, and 650 high-efficiency motors and variable speed drives.

		Modern LVDTs in New Applications in the Air, Ground, and Sea - 09/16/10 Sensors, September 2010 B: John Matlack, Macro Sensors Advances in microelectronics, manufacturing techniques, and construction materials have significantly improved the performance and cost efficiency of LVDT position sensors, opening new applications for this tried-and-true technology.

		ABB technology helps secure Sydney’s water needs - 09/12/10 Process & Control Engineering, September 2010 ABB motors and variable speed drives help transport large volumes of desalinated water from Sydney’s newest water supply, to over 1.5 million NSW residents.

		Fastech rebuilds adhesive binder control system - 09/08/10 By Siemens A Siemens Sinamics S120 drive and Simotion D drive platform were used in the rebuilding of a 30-year-old binding system at Arandell, a magazine and catalog printer in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin.

		Torque Sensor works on servomotor test and calibration rig - 09/07/10 A TorqSense non-contact sensor is used on the rig, which runs test motors against a 22kW DC spindle motor controlled by a Sprint Electric four quadrant DC drive.

		PPL Montana Leans on Supplier for Maintenance Training - 08/26/10 Reliable Plant, August 2010 By The Timken Company Through improved education and knowledge of maintenance practices, PPL Montana also has gained a first-hand look at the benefits of bearing repair vs. bearing replacement.

		WEG Supplies Motors For World’s Largest Wood Chipper Line - 08/23/10 Process and Control Today, August 2010 The Horizontal Wood Chipper HHQ integrates four WEG medium voltage motors (400 kW, 4- poles), operating in heavy duty mode to ensure the supply of wood chips for the production of cellulose.

		Permanent Magnet Motors Deliver Energy Efficiency For Textile Mfg - 08/23/10 Process and Control Today, August 2010 The replacement WMagnet motor reduced maintenance costs to practically zero, and also machine downtime, at the same time as saving energy and providing more power and versatility in speed control for the yarn starching operation.

		Kollmorgen software controls Paper Processing Machine - 08/17/10 Jakob Graphic Services used the Kollmorgen Automation Suite software package to control its jumbo roll collator.

		European-style speed reducer gains traction in USA - 08/13/10 Control Engineering Europe, July 2010 Some American machinery builders are providing a new market for the shaft-mounted speed reducer, which follows the European design concept of motor-gear combination.

		Kuka goes soft on control - 08/13/10 Control Engineering Europe, August 2010 Kuka is controlling its latest generation of robots with Fujitsu Technology Solutions driven computer-based control. With its new control generation the company replaced system limiting hardware with intelligent software functions.

		Trelleborg overhauls energy inefficient hydraulic power packs - 08/13/10 Control Engineering Europe, August 2010 An aerospace manufacturer cut its energy bill by £12,000 (€14,000) after implementing ABB variable speed drives.

		Turnkey automation project at sugar mill - 08/13/10 HazardEx, July 2010 WEG drives, inverters and control systems automated the Jaguaruana ethanol plant in the state of Ceará. Brazil.

		ABB drives QR5 wind turbine - 08/03/10 A standard ABB industrial regenerative drive enables the turbine to generate the maximum amount of energy at all times and in rapidly changing wind speeds.

		ABB controls silicon production line at plant in Norway - 07/27/10 The System 800xA solution includes operator workplaces, five AC 800M controllers, and approximately 3000 I/O, and uses Foundation Fieldbus to communicate with the various types of process equipment.

		Drive solution boosts energy efficiency at power plant - 07/24/10 Reliable Plant, July 2010 By ABB Medium-voltage drives have slashed the energy consumption of two boiler feed pumps at a coal-fired power plant in Germany by 25 percent. The solution increases plant revenues by $800,000 a year and reduces annual CO2 emissions by 10,200 tons.

		DC drives improve productivity of steel mill - 07/20/10 Kocaer Haddecilik in Turkey installed DC drives, and a SCADA system, complete with Profibus, Ethernet and fibre-optic networking.

		First screw generator for water industry saves £127,000 a year - 07/18/10 Process Engineer, July 2010 A renewable energy method based on an Archimedes screw and an ABB motor and variable speed drive is saving Yorkshire Water in the UK more than £127,000 a year in electricity costs. The first installation in the UK to use untreated sewage for hydro power generation, it has now been operating at the site perfectly for over six months.

		Baldor motion/machine controller runs stone cutting machinery - 07/13/10 Farnese Australia used an Ethernet-based controller for its latest product, the Quantum bridge saw.

		Framing Components Lend Flexibility to Rotary Machine - 07/12/10 Assembly, July 2010 By Jim Camillo A rotary indexing machine was designed by Itus-Industrietechnik und Sondereinrichtungen GmbH of Solingen, Germany. Custom-built for a German automotive supplier, the machine processes interior parts for right- and left-hand side-view mirrors.

		Integrated Automation Advances Automotive Robots - 07/12/10 Design News, June 2010 By Al Presher Alfa Romeo uses COMAU industrial robots, dual core PCs, tightly integrated drives and high-speed Ethernet POWERLINK for automotive painting, welding and assembly operations.

		Bio-ethanol plant installs high efficiency motors on cooling towers - 07/10/10 Control Engineering Europe, June 2010 WEG supplied high efficiency motors for the BioWanze project—a plant that began producing bioethanol from wheat and sugar beet last year, and produces half the annual bioethanol volume for Belgium.

		KHS develops new packaging concept with Rexroth - 07/10/10 Control Engineering Europe, July 2010 KHS, a provider of filling and packaging technology in the beverage industry has implemented decentralised servo drive technology. Using an integrated motor/drive concept, KHS built a machine which is used to shrink-wrap wine bottles.

		Schneider Electric PLC controls Waste Management System - 07/10/10 Process & Control Today, June 2010 The Cawleys plant in Luton, UK, uses a M340 PLC to control 80 Tesys Model U direct on-line integrated motor starters, 18 ATV71 variable speed drives and four racks of Advantys fieldbus I/O.

		Drives move 55 million tonnes of gravel in China - 07/10/10 What’s New in Process Technology, June 2010 Sinohydro uses 13 Baldor CST drives and two CSB (Controlled Stop Braking) units to deliver some 55 million tonnes of gravel over 31 km on five conveyor flights, laid through 29 km of tunnels.

		Siemens motion control helps DTS build label machine faster - 07/07/10 Drilling Technical Services (DTS) used Siemens Simotion D435 motion controller to develop a mid-width web roll-to-roll die cutter.

		Motion control solution raises reliability, integrity of food production - 06/23/10 Reliable Plant, June 2010 FR Drake builds loading equipment that prepares individual frankfurters for packaging. They installed MP-Series stainless-steel motors, plus an Allen-Bradley ControlLogix PAC, industrial computer, and FactoryTalk software.

		WEG permanent magnet motors reduce power usage by 33% - 05/15/10 Process and Control Today, April 2010 By replacing the standard induction motors used on its ring spinning machines with permanent magnet motors from WEG, Buettner, a textile manufacturer, has reduced its annual power consumption by 33% and increased its machine utilisation by 80%.

		SMV inverters improve the mix at Swedish bakery - 05/15/10 Process and Control Today, April 2010 Baginto AB, a bakery in Sweden, upgraded mixing and dough preparation equipment with SMV inverter drives from Lenze. The IP65 rating of the SMV drives enabled them to be mounted directly to the machine frame close to the motors without the cost and complexity of control cabinets.

		ASV submersible vehicles use Variohm shaft angle sensors - 05/15/10 Process and Control Today, May 2010 ASV selected Novotechnik GL series hollow shaft potentiometric angle sensors from Variohm EuroSensor to provide rotary position feedback as an intrinsic part of in-house designed actuators used for the steering and ride stabilisation control system.

		TCP/IP-compatible drives simplify crane simulator - 05/15/10 What’s New in Process Technology, May 2010 By Baldor Australia A three-axis motion platform, based on Baldor Electric Company’s ethernet-compatible drives, is helping to further increase the realism of crane training experience by physically moving a simulator system’s replica operator cabin in synchrony with computer-generated images.

		CNC machine gets integrated drive system - 04/08/10 Control Engineering, April 2010 Advanced Industrial Machinery redesigned its stone-cutting saw/waterjet system using an IndraMotion MTX CNC machine control platform, Profibus remote I/O, and IndraDrive Mi integrated motor and drive system, all from Bosch Rexroth.

		Rexroth Controls Meat Packaging Machine By Rexroth CP Packaging’s VisionPak uses an integrated Rexroth electric drive and control, pneumatics and linear motion platform for an ultra-sanitary and precise deli meat packaging machine.

		Rexroth Shrinks Control Panel on Cartoner By Rexroth Rexroth integrated motor/drive, controls and pneumatic valves helped Z Automation design a horizontal continuous motion cartoner with 50% less control panel space.

		System Prevents Defects in Motorcycle Wheels - 03/19/10 Assembly, March 2010 By John Sprovieri Force and stroke are monitored during the entire motorcycle press operation, and these variables can be graphed for detailed process tuning and analysis. The machine can identify abnormalities during the pressing operation, thereby preventing damaged components. It can also identify nonconforming parts after assembly.

		Oystar Jones Puts the PLC in Packaging Equipment - 03/19/10 Control Design, March 2010 By Mike Bacidore Oystar Jones’ soap packaging machines use PLCs, servo motion, discrete I/O, analog I/O, variable frequency drives and operator touchscreens, and a mix of hardwired and digital networking, depending on the vintage of upstream and downstream equipment.

		On-Line Motor Test saves Expensive Downtime - 03/10/10 Maintenance On Line, February 2010 By Michael Herring, Whitelegg Machines Whitelegg Machines diagnosed a problem motor at a UK power station – an 11kv, 2400kw motor, driving a cooling water pump used on a condensing unit. Tests using an on-line motor monitoring unit found the problem. A simple adjustment fixed it, saving the cost of removing the pump and motor for inspection.

		B&L converts press from shafted to shaftless drive - 03/04/10 By Siemens B&L redesigned the gear train, from a standard shafted unit to accept dual motor servo control, using a Siemens Simotion D445 motion controller, Sinamics S120 drives and 1PH7 servo motors. By doing this, over 60 components were eliminated.

		Volvo Aero Turns Machine Tool into CMM By using a Zimmermann FZ42 portal milling center and Siemens CNC controls, Volvo Aero uses the machine tool for cutting, then uses it as a coordinate measuring machine for inspection.

		WEG motors/drives power heavy oil recovery process in Omani desert - 02/19/10 Process and Control Today, February 2010 WEG motor control packages are installed in a steam injection recovery project in Oman. The systems have to endure 50C temperatures and sandstorms in the desert.

		TCP/IP-compatible drives simplify development of advanced crane simulator - 02/19/10 Process and Control Today, February 2010 A three-axis motion platform based on Baldor Ethernet-compatible drives is helping to increase the realism of crane training experience by physically moving a simulator system’s replica operator cabin in synchronism with computer-generated images.

		Sprint drives Vampire ride - 02/16/10 Control Engineering Europe, February 2010 Trains on the Vampire ride at the south-west London theme park and zoo make an average of 720 laps of the track in one day, causing a great deal of strain on the DC motor control system.

		The automation of the largest and fastest machine in the world - 02/16/10 Control Engineering Europe, January 2010 The CERN accelerator and its safety will be controlled and monitored by 130 control systems featuring Simatic S7-300 and S7-400 PLCs and safety controllers from Siemens.

		Cellulosics Conversion Gets a Boost - 01/27/10 Chemical Processing, January 2010 By Rich Chmielewski, Siemens Industry Biofine Renewables installed a Siemens Simatic PCS 7 process control system with redundant dual-screen operator stations communicating over industrial ethernet, a Profibus fieldbus network, and 20 Siemens Micromaster variable frequency drives (1 hp to 5 hp) controlling agitators and pumps.

		Machine manufacturer turns to Control Techniques - 01/10/10 Control Engineering Europe, December 2009 Denzo, a heat exchange machine manufacturer, has turned to Control Techniques for Unidrive SP AC drives and Unimotors to provide high-speed servo control throughout one of its machines that produces radiators for the Italian motor industry.

		Inverter an ideal solution for filling beer barrels - 01/10/10 Process & Control Today, December 2009 Microdat Company makes keg and cask handling machinery for the brewing industry. Their entry level filler is based around a peristaltic pump that is speed controlled by a Lenze SMV inverter.

		Scottish Water retrofits aging DC pump drive motors with AC - 01/10/10 Process & Control Today, January 2010 Scottish Water is benefiting from improved reliability on the operation of three large sludge pumps at its Laighpark waste water facility, since replacing the ageing DC pump drive motors with matched W21 high efficiency AC motors and CFW-09 drives from WEG.

		Upgrading Coal Plant Damper Drives - 12/24/09 Power Engineering, November 2009 By Neal R. Hood and Kristi Simmons, Alabama Power Alabama Power upgraded damper drives for each of two coal-fired units, using Intelligent Contrac electric rotary actuators from ABB Instrumentation to replace the original drives.

		Optical Switch controls Bigbelly solar trash compactors - 12/21/09 The OPB810L51 device functions as a non-contact sensor to determine the exact position of the compaction ram.

		Automation, motion control raise production for tea packaging machine - 12/18/09 Reliable Plant, December 2009 By Bosch Rexroth Teekanne, the market leader for tea in Germany today, fills 10 million tea and herb bags every day. Using Rexroth Indramotion motion control, Sercos III, and Safety on Board, the company can fill and produce bags at a rate of 400 per minute with thread and label, or with an outside paper protection.

		Corrugator Retrofit - 12/18/09 Control Engineering, December 2009 International Paper hired systems integrator Concept Systems to rebuild a corrugating machine. Concept replaced the PLC with a Rockwell unit, upgraded the motors, and replaced the I/O and HMI.

		Ginsters cuts costs at Cornish bakery - 12/06/09 Control Engineering Europe, November 2009 Ginsters is saving approximately 17 per cent a year on its chilled water energy bill at its Callington bakery in Cornwall, UK. The food manufacturer cut its costs after installing eight ABB standard drives for its chiller pumps.

		Actuators Help Weld Wind Turbine Towers By Bosch-Rexroth AMET used Rexroth CKK ball screw actuators in a custom welding system for wind turbine tower builders. The system performs accurate longitudinal and circumferential submerged arc welding on towers 90 meters high.

		Intelligent valve actuation at Severn Trent Water’s “beacon project” - 11/11/09 Process and Control Today, November 2009 Rotork has supplied over 250 Profibus network-enabled IQPro intelligent electric actuators for valve control throughout the new and refurbished plant areas. The actuators are linked on fully redundant Profibus field networks to Allen Bradley PLC platforms at intelligent motor control centres (iMCCs) throughout the site.

		Intelligent Gearbox Monitoring - 10/22/09 Maintenance On-Line, October 2009 An online remote monitoring device (in this case a FAG DTECT X1 system) was installed on hot saws to determine their condition.

		Steel plant sees shakes - 10/22/09 Plant Services, October 2009 In Worthington Steel’s Porter, IN, plant, rollers on the pickling line were going through two sets of bearings per year, at a cost of approximately $75,000 per bearing set. Using ProSmart’s advanced diagnostic tools to continuously monitor machine health, Worthington Steel found the problem.

		Synchronised drives help give a train a lift during maintenance - 10/22/09 Design Engineering News, October 2009 By Katie Williams One of the most powerful lifting systems in the world has been installed by the SNCF at its new East European Technicentre. A synchronised lifting line can lift a complete TGV train - some 200 metres long and weighing 386 tonnes - in just 10 minutes to an accuracy of a millimetre, thus allowing maintenance of the running gear.

		Online Monitoring Pays Off - 10/22/09 Chemical Processing, October 2009 By Casey A. Connolly, Gulf Chemical, and Frank Mignano, SKF Gulf Chemical expanded a sophisticated wireless condition monitoring system from SKF Reliability Systems. The process began in late 2007 with a limited trial and ultimately led to deployment of a highly advanced online system to monitor dozens of critical assets. Total documented savings exceeded system cost within the first year.

		ABB automation controls Stora Enso paper mill - 10/20/09 ABB automation, power distribution, variable speed drive systems and electrification equipment is being used on the PM12 paper line at Stora Enso’s Kvarnsveden paper mill in Sweden.

		Vishay web control used in coating pilot plant - 10/20/09 Vishay provided a web tension measurement system to Western Michigan University (WMU) for use in its Coating Pilot Plant. The system precisely measures the sheet web tension between the coater backing rolls and the chill-roll S-wrap.

		Custom Builder Integrates Standard Equipment for User Flexibility - 10/19/09 Control Design, October 2009 By Todd Bauernfeind and Russ Hubrich, Summit Machine Typically, at the start of estimating a project, we research for standard equipment to perform the main process functions. Standard equipment varies from simple vibratory feeder bowls, pick-and-place units or sonic welders, to more advanced, auger-driven powder fillers or robotics.

		Embedded PCs Keep Drilling Machines on Budget - 10/10/09 Control Engineering, October 2009 Kays Engineering uses Beckhoff embedded PCs, Ethernet controllers, TwinCAT software and EtherCAT servo drives to control its DeHoff gun drilling machines.

		Development boosts photovoltaic efficiency - 10/10/09 Control Engineering Europe, October 2009 A groundbreaking development for photovoltaic systems has emerged from Korea, boosting the efficiency of the solar cell and “condensing” the harvested sunlight. Maxon motor has supplied drives for a system that allows the panels to track the movement of the sun.

		Making waves - 10/10/09 South Africa Instrumentation & Control, October 2009 A project for developing the use of wave energy for the generation of electricity features AC drives from Control Techniques. The drives are a key feature in wave- power projects around Europe.

		Linear guide feeds robots in pill sorting application - 09/24/09 PBC Linear’s Redi-Rail linear guide was installed as a replacement positioning system for Manchac Technologies’ fully automated pharmaceutical robot.

		Winemaking Machine Benefits From Motor-Drive Combination - 09/20/09 Control Design, September 2009 By Ed Barr, P&L Specialties P&L Specialties is a manufacturer of customized winemaking, food processing and water-treatment machinery. P&L has been using the Lenze-AC Tech stainless steel MC NEMA 4X drives on its Le Trieur sorting tables and several conveyors with good results.

		Precision Controller Gives Engraver Artisan-like Craftsmanship - 09/16/09 Machine Design, September 2009 By Leland E. Teschler A machine that mimics the craftsmanship of hand engraving uses a four-axis motion controller driven by a DMC-2143 four-axis Ethernet motion controller from Galil Motion Control. The tough part about mimicking hand-engraving work is that artisans perform a downward and upward movement with the chisel for each cut.

		New production line in record time - 09/13/09 Control Engineering, September 2009 The Southland Tube mill in Birmingham, AL (USA) is an all-Siemens plant that uses PLCs, dc drives, motor starters, Profibus, WinCC software and Step 7 project management software. The line started up in only two weeks, and the second piece of steel tubing that came off the mill was sellable.

		Frequency inverters unstick glue production - 09/13/09 Process and Control Today, August 2009 Grosvenor Chemicals in the UK had been experiencing problems with their PVA emulsion pumps. All too frequently motors were burning out and the resulting downtime was costly. Lenze inverters allowed the previously fixed pump speed to be adjusted and built-in thermal monitoring of the motors cut out the downtime problem.

		A Wireless Vibration Monitoring System - 09/13/09 Power Engineering, September 2009 By Gregg W. Rebenstorf, Southern California Edison Southern California Edison installed a wireless vibration monitoring system at its Mountainview Generating Station in Redlands, CA. The system was installed on all 4.16 kV critical pumps, compressors and motor drivers as well as critical 480V water treatment equipment as part of a predictive maintenance program.

		Wide-Ranging Speeds Important In Mill Motor - 08/27/09 Machinery and Equipment MRO, June 2009 24-hour production line makes motor reliability a top priority at state-of-the-art Plum Creek fibreboard plant. Baldor Reliance motors run the press at speeds of 10 to 60 meters per minute to make medium dense fibreboard in sizes from 2.5 mm to 1.5 in. thick.

		Case studies in data analysis through predictive maintenance - 08/27/09 Reliable Plant, August 2009 Case studies represent vibration analysis of bearing faults, unbalanced conditions and impact testing for natural frequencies.

		New drives help pie manufacturer cut energy costs 11% - 08/27/09 Reliable Plant, August 2009 Poole’s Pies of Wigan in England makes up to 200,000 meat pies per day. It installed ABB low-voltage AC drives to control the compressor motor and condenser fan on its belt freezer and got power savings of 11 percent.

		Software Key to New Web Converting Machine - 08/20/09 Control Design, August 2009 By Todd Bauernfeind, Summit Machine Summit built a servo-driven web converting machine for a manufacturer to the electronics industry that was launching a new product but had antiquated machinery incapable of production of the new line. Summit used a Synax 200 control platform, a PLC and motion control solution from Bosch Rexroth.

		Remote Control Bowling - 08/20/09 Mechanical Engineering, August 2009 This special bowling ball is guided down the lane not by the arm swing and hand release of a bowler but by the acumen of the user holding a controller that is not much different from the one used in Play Station, Xbox or other video games. An internal motor drive rotates a sleeve to alter the center of gravity and path of the ball.

		Drives save the day - 08/16/09 South Africa Instrumentation & Control, August 2009 When an elevator in a cheese drying system broke down at a Danish dairy the entire plant was brought to a standstill. Control Techniques Drive Centre in Greve replaced the existing software with their own elevator software and got the plant up and running again later that same day

		Brewery back on track with EMR - 08/14/09 Control Engineering Europe, July 2009 A motor failure that sparked a Bank Holiday nightmare for Fuller Smith and Turner’s Griffin brewery was solved by EMR Silverthorn who came to the rescue with an ABB replacement. A 200kW motor in the glycol based cooling plant of the brewery in Chiswick, UK failed at noon on the Sunday of a Bank Holiday weekend.

		Tennis in the rain thanks to engineering feat - 08/14/09 Control Engineering Europe, July 2009 Rain couldn’t stop play on Wimbledon’s centre court this year as a new closing roof protected the matches below from the inclement British weather. Sick provided linear encoders for each of the ten 77m long, 100 tonne roof trusses.

		Ball joint seal testing machine uses Baldor drives - 07/28/09 DTE’s boot seal testing machine employs two motorized movement axes – one vertical and one horizontal – each driven by a Baldor MotiFlex e100 3-phase servo drive and servomotor

		Cooling Tower Gains From Simplified Design - 07/16/09 Chemical Processing, July 2009 cooling tower manufacturer Tower Engineering uses a drive system designed specifically for the rigors of water cooling tower use. This technology replaces the traditional motor, speed reducer and drive shaft assemblies with one moving part for improved safety, increased reliability and the high operating efficiency.

		Drag Racing Goes Electric - 07/14/09 Design News, July 2009 By Charles J. Murray By using hundreds of pounds of batteries and "slamming" massive amounts of electrical current into their drive motors, drag racers are enabling small electric vehicles to beat gasoline-powered Corvettes and Vipers.

		ABB drives double rate of tomato packing - 07/10/09 Process Industry Informer, June 2009 ABB machinery drives control the speed of the tomato handling conveyors, matching the speed of the packing machine and ensuring that the tomatoes are packed quickly and accurately. Another ABB machinery drive runs rollers on the conveyors, allowing the tomatoes to be turned automatically and inspected for quality.

		Siemens drives power compressors for Qatargas LNG - 07/09/09 Siemens drives start a motor generator that powers the gas turbines and gas compressors used to process the gas for transport.

		Motion Controls Boost Speed on Bandage Packaging Line By Bosch-Rexroth Controller, industrial computer, drives, motors, HMI and motion profile make faster production speeds stick at Aso bandage company.

		Electric screw actuators improve bagging system By Tolmatic Thiele Technologies, a maker of packaging equipment, installed four custom electric screw linear actuators on its filling and sealing operation to precisely position incoming empty bags. The bagging system now automatically compensates for variations in bag dimensions and eliminates manual setup when changing bag sizes.

		Rexroth increases production for tea packaging machine By Bosch-Rexroth Using a Rexroth automation system, the German company Teepack’s Perfecta can fill and produce beverage tea bags at a rate of 400 per minute with thread and label, or with an outside paper protection.

		Rexroth controls VisionPak Machine By Bosch-Rexroth CP Packaging’s VisionPak uses an integrated Rexroth electric drive and control, pneumatics, and linear motion platform for an ultra-sanitary and precise deli meat packaging machine.

		Bosch Rexroth automates KHS poucher By Bosch-Rexroth Rexroth provided a drive and control system for the KHS Innopouch K-series, a modular, flexible pouching machine with fast setup and changeover times and the ability to expand easily as needed.

		Drives replace dampers to achieve immediate energy savings - 06/20/09 Design Products & Applications, June 2009 Two modular ac drives from Control Techniques have not only produced immediate energy-savings on a previously mechanically damped fan application, but also paid for themselves in under a year

		DC drives improve Renolit Cramlington’s embossing line - 06/17/09 Sprint Electric supplied 21 DC drives for retrofitting an obsolete embossing line for laminate manufacturing. The retrofit, re-commissioning of DC drives, and control system refurbishment was completed in two weeks.

		Pumping station doubles capacity - 06/16/09 Control Engineering Europe, May 2009 When the process control of the pumping station at Parksluizen in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, was automated, an Emotron FDU variable speed drive for 690 V with 12 pulse power supply was included. Pumping capacity doubled and energy consumption was minimised.

		Drive saves 70% energy in hydraulic system for steel manufacturer - 06/16/09 South Africa Instrumentation & Control, June 2009 This project manages the electrical supply by ensuring successful load shift from peak to off-peak times. Equipment includes Siemens S7300 PLCs, with touch panels for operator interfaces underground, and an Adroit SCADA for the HMI interface for the control system.

		Positioning stages at the frontiers of science Design Product Applications, May 2009 Scientists at the Diamond Light Source (DLS) in South Oxfordshire are using a custom-engineered 21-axis positioning system to provide beam collimation, optical focusing and optical modification for the newly commissioned I24 Microfocus Macromolecular Crystallography (MX) beam line, which will be used to investigate the link between the structure and function of molecules known as membrane proteins.

		Paper production increased by 10% with ABB machinery drives Process Industry Informer, April 2009 Romiley Board Mill in the UK its output by 10% with the help of three ABB machinery drives. The drives control three electrically driven machine sections and synchronise these with the rest of the machine, which is driven by a line shaft, without the assistance of an external PLC.

		Displacement sensor provides ultra-high resolution for nanopositioning Process and Control Today, April 2009 Attocube systems makes nano-positioning systems to enable the positioning and scanning of objects with atomic resolution. Attocube is using two capaNCDT 6300 CSH1FL capacitive displacement sensors from Micro-Epsilon to measure the travel displacement of test items that need to be moved in the nanometre range.

		Automation drives efficiency, lowers cost Control Engineering, May 2009 By Jack Mans Machine control, programming and a linear motion system on a servo-driven, balcony case packer reduced installation and startup times by 30 to 35 percent and helped reduce hardware costs by 40 percent.

		Motion and Vision Combine to Detect Flaws Control Engineering, May 2009 By Howard Foster, MicroCraft MicroCraft designed an inspection system that could find and categorize the micron-sized defects that can occur in plastic film production. Motion, vision, and data collection were combined using a National Instruments PXI-7324 motion board and two PXI IMAQ boards.

		Facility Focuses on Motors to Prevent Energy Waste Control Engineering, May 2009 By Adam Krug, Eaton Sheboygan Regional Wastewater replaced its bi-metallic overload relays with overload and monitoring relays to detect conditions that could have resulted in motor or pump failure. The result was the ability to trend motor conditions in real time, and respond before failure occurred.

		Magnet-equipped motors on the starting grid European Design Engineer, April 2009 In 2009, for the first time in over 40 years, Formula 1 drivers will be permitted to alter the aerodynamic characteristics of the car while it’s moving, significantly boosting their chances of overtaking. The new rule allows for a small but significant six-degree movement in adjustable flaps on the vehicle’s front wing, up to twice per lap, at speeds up to 220 mph. Some teams use Maxon’s magnet-equipped motors to move the wing.

		CC-Link brings reliability to Ford Mustang production Process and Control Today, March 2009 A series of conveyors, controlled via CC-Link, move car bodies through the numerous welding, assembly, and painting stations. Each vehicle travels approximately 13 miles in the course of production. The motors that power the conveyors throughout the facility are controlled by Mitsubishi VFD Drives communicating via CC-Link.

		SIPOS actuators selected for combined power application Process and Control Today, March 2009 SIPOS 5 Flash variable speed actuators have been installed at a combined heat and power (CHP) plant in Germany. A primary reason was integration of frequency converters as a standard product feature which avoids water hammer.

		High speed carpet sample machine uses Powerlink industrial Ethernet Process and Control Today, March 2009 Modra Technology, a manufacturer of carpet sample machines, based its motion control system for its Mtuft machines on Powerlink technology from Baldor. It has nine axes of electrically-operated movement, all controlled by a Baldor NextMove e100 real-time motion controller.

		Stabilizing Controls Design News, April 2009 By Al Presher Building a camera mast that extends as high as a 12-story building with the dynamic stability to support a full-sized 50-kg camera at speeds of 2m per second in high winds is a challenge. But the design requirements also included stowing and operating the mast from a single-axle trailer and self-contained operation from batteries.

		Torque measurement is central to development of ‘intelligent’ lubrication Design Products & Applications, April 2009 Engine lubrication systems are dumb. A non-contact torque sensor from Sensor Technology is helping Powertrain Technologies in their project to develop an intelligent automotive engine lubrication system, which aims to reduce emissions and improve fuel economy.

		Boston Logan airport saves energy on moving walks with EcoStart - 04/23/09 Power Efficiency's EcoStart was installed on twenty moving walks at Boston Logan International Airport, saving 60,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per year.

		Green machining improves Ford Van Dyke Transmission Plant - 04/13/09 Nearly dry MQL machining slices seven figures from initial system cost for unneeded coolant tanks and high-pressure supply systems, reduces operating costs, and improves plant air quality

		Cable carriers replace festoons on automated storage and retrieval systems - 03/29/09 Weldon’s automated systems are used in bakeries to facilitate pan storage and retrieval. Cable carrier systems eliminate space and clearance issues and reduced installation time and maintenance requirements.

		Robots, Machine Vision Cut Defect Rates Assembly, February 2009 The Meister Group in Belgium produces electric valve parts for use in anti-lock braking systems. To reduce the number of defective parts getting through, Meister installed a pair of automated checking and sorting systems employing a trio of In-Sight 1000 machine vision systems from Cognex and a pair six-axis ARC Mate 100iB robots from Fanuc Robotics.

		Broadway Automation: Behind the Scenes Control Engineering, March 2009 By David Greenfield Creating modular motion control systems that can move multiple pieces of scenery during a show is all in a day’s work for Hudson Scenic Studio. The two main uses of automation in Broadway shows are to fly scenery in and out from above and to bring things on and off stage.

		Automating 0.38mm diameter smart tapping for a watch manufacturer By SMAC A tapping process for watches has been carefully done by hand under a microscope for many years. SMAC successfully automated the tapping process with precise force control that put out low contact force and low rotary torque.

		Sprint Electric helps refurbish the Royal Danish Theatre - 03/11/09 Sprint Electric supplied DC drives for a new stage control system at the Royal Danish Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark.

		Vacuum Pump Hits the Spot for Manufacturer IEN, February 2009 Delkor is using PIAB’s VGS3010 vacuum gripper systems in its Spot-Pak machines to pick up and transfer yogurt cups, bottles, and other package ingredients.

		Cummins JEP uses Ubisense tracking to follow engines - 02/25/09 By recording when an engine enters or leaves a test or work cell Cummins can see how quickly an engine moves through the testing process and identify any differences between engine types and options.

		Clutches and actuators provide a smooth ride on Great Wheel Process and Control Today, January 2009 Warner Electric provided both stabilising clutches and door actuators for the 48 observation carriages on the Great Wheel of China, the world’s tallest observation wheel planned for completion in late 2009.

		Vacon drive saves £14,000 in a year Process and Control Today, January 2009 Energy costs for the operation of a 90 kW rotary compressor installed at Albion Automotive have fallen by £14,000 per year after compressor experts, Glaston Compressor Services, fitted a Vacon NXS variable speed drive controller.

		Water cooled and stainless Food Engineering, February 2009 By Kevin T. Higgins How Stainless Motors in New Mexico built 400hp water-cooled motors fabricated in stainless steel for Beef Products. The motors run at cooler temperatures and generate tens of thousands of dollars worth of hot water. RTDs measure temperature at key points.

		Food producer saves thousands on conveyors Control Engineering Europe, January 2009 A food producer has saved £50,968 (€55,085) a year on the operation of two conveyors, according to motion control specialist NSK. Prior to implementing NSK’s Molded-Oil technology the producer was plagued by failures every four to six weeks.

		Paper plant ups productivity, cuts errors Control Engineering Europe, January 2009 St. Regis Paper boosted production 17 per cent and cut errors by 63 per cent at a UK mill after implementing a new process control solution from ABB. The 800xA system includes QC and scanning measurement systems and the integration of existing motor control centres, variable speed drives and instrumentation.

		Torque, Speed, and Yogurt Cups Machine Design, January 2009 Two servomotors will drive a single shaft in what’s billed as the world’s largest trim-in-place thermoforming machine. Two 30-kW servomotors drive each 7,500-lb platen. Two more 15-kW servos handle the plug-assist function that aids in forming deep-draw features. Another 5-kW servomotor ejects parts after molding completes.

		Eight Robotic Cells Assemble Engine Part Assembly, January 2009 Crimping and press-fitting are not inherently difficult assembly processes—unless you have to complete them in less then 2 seconds and meet a tolerance of 1/50th the diameter of a human hair. That was the challenge faced by engineers at Device Tech Inc. (Hampshire, IL), when designing a system to assemble an engine component called a cam phaser.

		XY measurement critical in automotive part manufacturing - 01/22/09 LXY25 50 nanometer resolution linear motor based XY stage is used to solve a critical automotive part problem at a major Asian automobile manufacturer.

		Siemens automates Renault diesel engine line - 01/22/09 Automation includes Siemens Sinumerik 840D powerline for the CNC control, 160 NC machines, 18 robots, Profibus, PLCs, HMIs and industrial PCs.

		1940s motor still running Approved Business UK, December 2008 Whirlpool Corporation’s Evansville, Indiana plant, where top-mount refrigerators and large ice-makers are manufactured, found a Baldor motor, installed in the 1940s, still running after 65 years.

		Smart Drives Help Build Audi Doors Process & Control Today, January 2009 Nord geared motors have been installed to drive a chain conveyor belt system in Audi's advanced production facility in Ingolstadt, where the doors for the Audi A4 and A5 are produced. The chain conveyor belt and the rotary units for direction changes are controlled by almost 400 of Nord's decentralised field I/O modules.

		Better gearboxes keep obsolete thickeners thickening Process & Control Today, December 2008 During a recent service two thickener drives at the Scottish Water sewage treatment works in Glendevon were deemed to be obsolete and the mounts had worn out. Brevini replaced the gearboxes without having to re-engineer the mounting bracket.

		Bakery turns to RTS Control Engineering Europe, January 2009 A bakery’s desire to automate its tin exchange sparked a partnership between RTS Flexible Systems and Excel that resulted in the construction of a completely new conveyor system

		A WAVE in a cup Control Engineering Europe, December 2008 Premier Foods manufactures packaged meals and soups in the UK. Level probes control the level of feed hoppers that supply the packing machines to fill sachets. These machines run at speeds from 160 to 600 packages per minute. Feed hoppers vary in size and use various agitators and vibrators to flow the powders.

		Nestle Purina plant reduces downtime by saving configurations By MDT Software Before MDT AutoSave was installed at the Nestlé Purina plant in Mechanicsburg, PA, the plant used a “home grown” program to track changes in their programmable devices. AutoSave ensures that, if a device fails or a program results in undesired performance, a prior version of the program is readily available.

		Rollout and retractable in the desert InTech, December 2008 By Brian Johnson and Steve Weingarth, ABB The Arizona Cardinals are moving more than goalposts at their new stadium; higher-tech motor starters and drives tackle new adversaries out West

		ABB revamps excavator at LaFarge Cement in Germany - 12/15/08 Revamp of drive and safety systems cut the machine's energy consumption by 15 percent and extended the service life by 15 years.

		Lafarge cements reliability with drives Control Engineering Europe, November 2008 UK cement manufacturer, Lafarge Cement, boosted reliability of its cement kiln pre-heater fans with ABB drives. The two 1.8MW drives were installed at the company’s Hope, UK, plant which produced 1.2 million tonnes of cement a year.

		Brakes Improve Stage & Theater Process and Control Today, November 2008 Warner Electric’s ability to provide a bespoke solution to a brake problem on hoists for stage and theatre applications has enabled Prolyte in the Netherlands, world leader manufacturer of staging, rigging and trussing products, to cut the time for assembling the brakes onto its hoists.

		Securing Remote Internet Maintenance Services By Innonimate Applications in various industries illustrate how TCP/IP connections provide remote maintenance capabilities via secure links.

		Powerlink motion control network supports unique winding machine Process & Control Today, October 2008 Powerlink is helping the Swiss company Carbo-Link create carbon fibre components for applications such as rigging for racing yachts. The company used a Powerlink compatible controller and drives from Baldor to build a machine that winds carbon fibres to form lightweight yet ultra-strong tubes or rods up to 14 metres in length.

		Research improves servo dynamics Control Engineering Europe, October 2008 The University of Manchester, UK, demonstrated servo systems with improved dynamics through research led by Dr Nigel Schofield, of the Power Conversion Group, using a Sensor Technology torque transducer.

		Corcoran Concrete cuts conveyor maintenance with Baldor gearboxes - 11/12/08 In a sand quarry, bearings were failing as often as three times a year, and the gearboxes typically lasted only 12 months. Corcoran switched to Dodge gearboxes.

		Research improves servo dynamics Control Engineering Europe, October 2008 The University of Manchester, UK, demonstrated servo systems with improved dynamics through research led by Dr Nigel Schofield, of the Power Conversion Group, using a Sensor Technology torque transducer.

		Powerlink motion control network supports unique winding machine Process & Control Today, October 2008 Powerlink is helping the Swiss company Carbo-Link create carbon fibre components for applications such as rigging for racing yachts. The company used a Powerlink compatible controller and drives from Baldor to build a machine that winds carbon fibres to form lightweight yet ultra-strong tubes or rods up to 14 metres in length.

		Improved control cuts injection moulding energy costs by over 30% Design Product Automation, October 2008 Controls based on a variable speed drive from ABB have cut the energy consumption by one third on an injection moulding machine at McKechnie Automotive and Engineered Plastics in Pickering, UK.

		Automation and Ethernet Combine for 3D Disney Attraction Control Engineering, October 2008 Disney’s new 3D “Toy Story Midway Mania” ride uses a Simatic S7 315 PLC with centralized I/O for vehicle control. Communication between the onboard and wayside computers is handled over Ethernet via Profinet cabling and protocol using Scalance X208 switches.

		More Precision, Faster Setup for Die Grinding Machine Control Engineering, October 2008 By Karl Rapp, Bosch Rexroth Pride Engineering of Minneapolis, MN, developed the Model 30 Air Bearing Grinder, a five-axis air bearing carbide die grinder using a Bosch Rexroth IndraMotion MTX CNC controller and drive platform.

		Solutions Engineering builds motor test station - 08/28/08 Solutions Engineering in the UK is able to test the performance of its motors, having built a test station around a TorqSense piezo electric torque transducer.

		Baldor motion control system automates woodworking process - 08/27/08 By using dual sanding belts and a swinging work holder controlled by a combination of linear and rotary servo motor axes, this machine replaces a manually-actuated sanding process at Martin Guitar.

		KONE installs E-Save technology on escalator motors in Las Vegas - 08/19/08 E-Save Technology monitors the load on an electric motor and reduces the amount of power consumed by the motor when it is lightly loaded.

		Ford Mustang Assembly Employs CC-Link Network IEN, July 2008 The AutoAlliance facility in Flat Rock, MI makes extensive use of CC-Link networking. CC-Link-controlled conveyors move car bodies through the numerous welding, assembly, and painting stations. The motors that power the conveyors throughout the facility are controlled by Mitsubishi VFD Drives, communicating via CC-Link.

		Motion Controller Accelerates NASCAR Control Engineering, August 2008 By Peter Nachtwey, Delta Computer Systems Automotive test rig manufacturer sets out to improve NASCAR’s standard chassis test stand with improved dynamic capabilities and reduced maintenance.

		NUM provides customized CNC platform for integrated aluminum processing line - 08/04/08 A single Axium CNC platform from NUM controls the entire machining centre, including the 10 motion axes on the robot heads plus various sensors and actuators.

		Robotic dog carries loads faithfully Eureka Magazine, July 2008 Boston Dynamics in the USA has developed an autonomous robotic dog for carrying loads over rough terrain. Able to run at 4mph, climb slopes up to 35 degrees, walk across rubble and carry a 154kg load, BigDog is powered by a petrol engine that pumps fluid into a hydraulic actuation system.

		Dr Who Controlled by Trio Motion MC206X starter kit Process & Control Today, July 2008 Windmill Studios provide exhibitions of props, costumes, monsters and creatures from the hit BBC TV show Dr Who, including animated, life-sized models of the TARDIS and other gadgets, plus monsters and villains such as the Daleks, Cybermen and the Slitheen. To automate the Daleks, Windmill used the Trio Motion MC206X motion control starter kit.

		Sprint Electric 200XLV linear DC drive goes under water - 07/25/08 Sonomatic uses the Sprint Electric 200XLV low voltage linear DC drive to improve the accuracy of their Nautilus scanner, a diver-deployed automated ultrasonic system that can operate in depths of up to 250 metres.

		Retrofits Relieve Competitive Pressure Automation World, July 2008 By James R. Koelsch Davis-Standard, a builder of blow-molding machinery in Somerville, N.J., had to upgrade controls on winders. Rather than ripping out their old winders and spending between $1 million and $3 million for each new one, they brought their 20-year-old machines up to modern specifications for less than $30,000 with controls from Bosch.

		Pumping power South Africa Instrumentation & Control, July 2008 In most pump systems, the installed capacity of the pump and motor exceeds the normal operating requirements of the load. Pump efficiency can be improved with a variable speed drive.

		VFDs Speed Up Wastewater Processing Control, July 2008 By John O’Reilly and John Rowe, Schneider Electric Combining closed-loop control with variable frequency drives for oxygen basin agitators makes for faster processing with lower energy consumption.

		Mikron builds assembly system for Mega Pumps - 06/24/08 Mikron helped Mega Pumps develop assembly, checking and testing systems that work within the tolerances and with minimum of scrap and rejection.

		Conveyor Maximizes Space Usage, Efficiency Assembly, June 2008 Ophthonix Inc. (Vista, CA) manufactures iZon high-resolution eyeglass lenses. Central to the manufacturing system is a modular, pallet-based VarioFlow conveyor system from Bosch Rexroth, which carries the lenses to the workstations comprising the production process.

		Integrator Uses Simulation to Close Design Loop Control Design, June 2008 Maverick Technologies uses software emulation to help identify potential control problems upfront, shorten the machine’s start-up time, and provide a good platform for operator training.

		How to Control a 27-km-long Machine - 06/23/08 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.

		Quinn Glass uses Siemens Automation & Drives technology Process & Control Today, June 2008 The glass container manufacturing plant at Elton, UK, has 13 production lines, and the filling hall has five lines. In total there are more than 7,500 I/O plus more than 10,000 more from Variable Speed Drives and Medium and Low-Voltage equipment that are integrated into the system via Profibus-DP.

		EMX turns to Sensor Technology for TorqSense Control Engineering Europe, June 2008 EMX developed and tested the motor-generator for Lotus Engineering’s EVE (Efficient, Viable, Environmental) Hybrid. EMX worked with a test house to design a simple yet effective test rig. Its engineers specified a TorqSense torque sensor from Sensor Technology.

		Adroit heads south to manage water system Control Engineering Europe, June 2008 The six major pump stations at the Adroit SCADA system have PLC controlled MC panels. The telemetry RTU is connected to the PLC via a serial interface using Modbus protocol and provides the ability to monitor all the inputs as well as providing the facility for remote modifications of certain measuring and controlling parameters within the PLC.

		Siemens retrofit boosts efficiency at Corus Control Engineering Europe, June 2008 Nine Siemens drives, including five on heat treatment furnace roller tables, and four on a roller table and tempering furnace, were installed at Corus’ Clydebridge works in Scotland with a 30 per cent increase in throughput.

		Emerson automates world's largest pulp mill - 06/18/08 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.

		Giving Chocolate its Crunch Control Engineering, June 2008 By Mike Jamieson, Rockwell Automation Mars Austria uses an integrated control environment to monitor the exact status of all system components — such as servo drives, I/O, and HMIs—in its new control system in a chocolate plant.

		PCs Cover Coating System Control Control Engineering, June 2008 By Norm Hardy, Semicore To automate its vacuum coating and etching systems, Semicore installed an HMI and control package based on Beckhoff's C6330 industrial PCs, CP7802 control panels, TwinCAT automation software, distributed I/O networked over Ethernet TCP/IP via bus couplers, Ethernet switches, motors, and servo drives.

		Off-the-Shelf PLC Optimizes Motion Control Functionality Control Engineering, June 2008 By Matthias Erhardt, Siemens SEA A PLC handles control functionality with built-in integration of parison control, synchronized camming of blow pins with carriages, linear positioning of shuttles, and 30 zones of heat control.

		Auto Plant Modernization Features Controls Refit Control Engineering, June 2008 By K.K. Mitra, Rockwell Automation To save money equipping the new facility, Tata Motors purchased an existing automotive manufacturing plant in Australia and relocated it to India. Rockwell upgraded the control system to Allen-Bradley SLC 500 controllers to automate auxiliary functions and processes, such as material feeder lines, fixture controls, gantry systems, and disc systems.

		Moeller Electric punches lollipop sticks Process & Control Today, May 2008 ks for the best ice lollipops are still made from wood. Karl Otto Knauf, chose PLCs, motor drives and the SmartWire panel wiring system from Moeller Electric to control its latest stick-punching machine.

		Saving Energy at the Swimming Pool with VFDs Control, May 2008 By Paul Miller The Veterans Memorial Pool in South Windsor, CT, uses ABB VFDs to control four large pumps. They got a dramatic reduction in energy costs and the pumps produce far less noise.

		Ken Mills ups recycling efficiency Control Engineering Europe, May 2008 Nordic Recycling installed Ken Mills processing machinery at its materials recovery facility (MRF) in Tilbury, UK. 50 gearboxes from Nord Drivesystems power the materials handling system. Helical bevel gears, claimed to provide efficiency in excess of 95 per cent, were selected for the application.

		Performance Demands Spur Motor Advances Control Design, May 2008 By Don Talend Examples from plastic extruder and industrial compressor builders demonstrate how recent changes in motor design and their enclosures are meeting the demand for ever-higher efficiency.

		Motion Control Critical to Machine’s Success Assembly, May 2008 Lambert Engineering in North Yorkshire, England, landed a contract with automotive supplier TI Automotive Group to build an automated workstation to assemble plastic fuel-line components for four-wheel-drive vehicles. The entire machine is controlled by a PLC, using a Profibus network for communication with the system’s various I/O functions, including hotplate temperature control and Festo pneumatic control valves.

		Kiln of the Castle Control Engineering Europe, May 2008 Castle Cement in the UK brought ‘Kiln 4’ at its Padeswood works in North Wales, into operation with speed control from ABB industrial drives. ABB installed two 300 kW drives in master-follower arrangement.

		Lotus hybrid blooms Process & Control Today, April 2008 The torque-current characteristics of a combined motor-generator developed for a Lotus-based hybrid car have been comprehensively mapped by a TorqSense digital torque sensor.

		Top scientists spin to win Process & Control Today, April 2008 A piezo-controlled pressure regulating valve from Hoerbiger-Origa is helping chemists and physicists examine matter at atomic and subatomic level by controlling rotational speed in a nuclear magnetic resonance chamber built at Bruker BioSpin in Rheinstetten, Germany.

		Gearboxes help machine builder increase life of materials recovery facilities Process and Control Today, April 2008 50 gearboxes from Nord Drivesystems helped Ken Mills Engineering build advanced processing machinery employed in a highly efficient new materials recovery facility operated by Nordic Recycling Limited in the UK.

		Air motors in the food processing industry Process and Control Today, March 2008 During food preparation using machines, hygiene is just as important as efficiency. Air motors are ideally suited for use within the food processing industry because of their adaptability to moisture prone conditions.

		Keeping Robots In-Line – Someone Has To Do It By Advantech Robots only do what they are told to do. What happens when they forget or get out of line? Here, a PC monitors ABB robots to ensure integrity and accuracy of the procedures input into robot diagnostics.

		Automated Production Line Presses On Regardless Process and Control Today, March 2008 The Barr & Paatz automated workcell designed and built for W T Henley in the UK has been running round-the-clock, five days a week since 1993, with the utmost reliability. The entire installation was recently lifted, lock, stock and robots, by one of the country’s biggest mobile cranes, and transported by low-loader to its new home in Belvedere, Kent, where it carries on producing electrical cut-outs, exactly as before.

		Robotics speeds up machining process Process and Control Today, March 2008 A Denso 4-axis machine-tending robot loads and unloads components from pallets and holds them while sensors, which measure height and diameter, check their quality. MSP Ltd, a precision turned parts manufacturer, increased its production by 15% on a single shift.

		Drives protect potatoes Control Engineering Europe March 2008 Industrial variable speed drives from Mitsubishi Electric are helping to ensure that consumers have fresh potatoes throughout the year.

		Drives up productivity for tobacco industry Control Engineering Europe February 2008 A new cigarette making machine, capable of producing 8,000 cigarettes per minute, has been developed by Molins. The machine is driven by servo technology from Lenze with L-force servo drives and synchronous servo motors.

		Finns drive for smart buildings Control Engineering Europe January 2008 A local government building in the Finnish city of Tampere has networked variable speed fan drives into its heating and ventilating system during a major refit of the 40-year-old building.

		Collision Sensors Machine Design, February 2008 By Charles Bates Collision sensors detect when robot arms encounter obstructions. One shop incorporated a RAD Ultimatic Collision sensor as a compliance device with a signal to determine how much the robot needed to adjust its positioning in response to Grinding wheel wear.

		Actuators Ensure Precision Assembly, February 2008 MacGregor Welding Systems manufactures micro-resistance and pulsed micro-arc equipment. Recently, the company designed and built a fully automated machine to produce miniature sensor modules using a network of pneumatic and electrical actuators supplied by Festo.

		Hands Across the Water Control Design, March 2008 Trumpf uses Tele-Diagnostics to fix 90% of its machine problems. Sensors embedded in each machine allow technicians to diagnose remotely. Data is transmitted by an analog phone line using the software package PCAnyWhere and through the Internet via WebEx, provided that the customer’s machine has Internet access that is not blocked by a firewall.

		Milking Robot Uses Ethernet for Data Control Design, March 2008 Dutch company Lely Industries’ Astronaut robotic milking system uses sensor technologies and integrated data management to create a total dairy farm management solution. Westermo’s SDW 550 Ethernet switches are used for real-time data communication management between the peripherals and the central supervision PC.

		A Machine Renaissance Control Design, March 2008 By Joe Morrissey, Conflex Conflex, a builder of shrink-wrapping machines, substantially redesigned each machine in its product line and converted to Beckhoff’s DIN-rail-mounted embedded PC and IEC 61131-3-compliant automation and motion control software.

		NI software and hardware controls particle accelerator Using LabVIEW software with R Series reconfigurable PXI I/O hardware, the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) developed a motion control system capable of intercepting misguided or unstable particle beams.

		Moving Coil Actuators test Diesel Injectors - 02/07/08 SMAC Moving Coil Actuators help SPE, a manufacturer of diesel injectors, to reduce emissions by using an actuator to determine the spring characteristics in their injectors.

		DL205 Performs in Theatrics By T.J. Johns The University of Arizona School of Theater Arts uses motors, computers and Automation Direct’s DL205 I/O to change scenes rapidly. The set has six hydraulic lifts, a rising "throne wall," seven telescoping metal trees and two steel doors hanging from the ceiling, all of which move independently to various positions.

		Connecting SmartMotors to Ethernet networks Industrial Embedded Systems, January 2008 By Rahul Shah, Lantronix Connecting an embedded device server to an Animatics SmartMotor provided all the networking hardware and software required to connect the motor to an Ethernet network or the Internet.

		Robots Insert LEDs into Automotive Raised Stoplights Robotics On Line, January 2008 By Wolfgang Jeutter, Manz Automation Hella Hueck KG, a German supplier of car electronics and automotive lighting, uses Manz OCP-1 (4-axis robot and 3-axis clinch tool) cell and magazine loading and unloading devices. The PCBs are automatically moved into the machine cell, where pre-inserted resistors are measured.

		Baldor PowerLink system controls tube-bending production cell - 01/24/08 The Ethernet-compatible Powerlink system controls four axes of motion, plus the I/O needed for the continuous operation of the process.

		WEG Supplies Automation For World’s Second Largest Crane Process & Control Today, January 2008 WEG supplied transformers, MV motors, and MV frequency inverters to automate the second largest overhead crane in the world, at the Usiminas steel plant in Brazil. The crane provides a 260-ton lifting capacity while transporting molten steel at speeds of up to 8 metres per minute.

		Fabricator of Large Parts Moves to Wenzel CMM American Machinist, December 2007 Webco Manufacturing replaced a remanufactured CM it had recently acquired with a new Wenzel 12.30.10. The CMM has a measuring range of 1200 mm (X axis) (47.24 in.) by 3000 mm (Y axis) (118.11 in.) by 1000 mm (Z axis) (39.37 in.) with a standard accuracy, using a Renishaw TP200 Probe, of U3 2.6+L300.

		Robots Pay for Themselves in Seven Months Assembly, January 2008 Keihin IPT Mfg manufactures automotive air and fuel-line components. It upgraded the line it uses to add heat inserts and collars to plastic intake manifolds by installing a series of five HP20, six-axis robots from Motoman. The five robots were able to pay for themselves in just seven months.

		Pittman gearmotors help TUG robot make hospital rounds - 12/19/07 TUG robotic indoor transport system navigates autonomously to help eliminate repetitive and mundane tasks, reduce costs, and improve staff productivity.

		Sensor Technology's TorqSense sensor checks gearboxes - 12/17/07 Centa Transmissions uses TorqSense to guarantee that the precision gearboxes it supplies to the nuclear industry will never fail prematurely.

		PLC functionality provides application flexibility Plant Engineering, October 2007 By Jack Smith, Managing Editor International Harvester uses PLCs to control the automated machines that place aluminum rivets on sheeting to be attached to the semi cab frames. The truck manufacturer required speed, product quality, part consistency and a system that was easy to use.

		Controls Ease Startup Control Engineering, September 2007 Systems integrator Drivex Inc., Livermore, CA, used Siemens Simatic WinCC to replace an automation and control system. Drivex builds web tension controls for the pharmaceutical, converting, and vacuum coating industries.

		Automated Coil Centering Relies On Double-Act Process and Control Today, September 2007 By John Houston The HepcoMotion profile driven unit (PDU2) belt driven linear transmission is used on Conwy Dolgarrog Aluminium’s four-high cold mill process line, a finishing rolling mill consisting of four rollers. The coil centering system comprises the DAPDU2 actuator that spans the width of the in-going side of the mill, two reflecting lasers mounted on each carriage, and two pull wire encoders.

		Machine controls optimize cell performance American Machinist, September 2007 Smith’s Machine, Cottondale, Ala., supplies machined parts to the Mercedes Benz U.S. International facility in Tuscaloosa County, Ala. It has specialized work cells that contain DMG Twin mill-turn centers fed by robotic parts handlers. All machine motions are handled by Siemens Sinumerik 840D CNCs.

		All My Best Ideas are Stolen Control Engineering, September 2007 By C.G. Masi, Control Engineering The best way to improve your control engineering efforts is to copy tips and techniques from others. Here are four motion control examples to get you started.

		Grinder cuts cycle times to the bone American Machinist, September 2007 Corin Group used milling operations to produce rasps that took four hours per part. Then, the company installed an Anca TX7+ precision CNC grinder with UGS NXCAM for post processing output and Cimulator3D for verification. The company saw its production time drop to under one hour.

		Just the facts, ma'am (About Belts) Motion System Design, September 2007 By Eric W. Steele, Optibelt Corp. Belt drive performance can be compromised in several ways. Most often, trouble arises when misguided assumptions are made about belts, their structure, or their application. But knowing the facts can help you extend belt life and boost their power potential.

		Leisurely linear actuation Motion System Design, September 2007 Controlling motion at extremely slow speeds is a new technology, primarily in the nanotech world. But with these tips and tactics, achieving slow motion is a walk in the park.

		Mechatronics Meets Kinetic Architecture for Arizona Cardinals Stadium Design News, August 2007 At Cardinals Stadium Uni-Systems engineers devised a patented cable-driven system for safely transporting the roof panels along a sloped path. Key elements in the system include: ABB ACS800 drives, ProfiBus, GE Fanuc VersaMax I/O and Series 9030 PLCs, and Turck proximity switches and encoders.

		Custom Submersible Motor Assembly Makes Waves Control Engineering, August 2007 By Rick Halstead, Empire Magnetics One of Empire’s custom motor gearbox assemblies made its way into show business as an unnoticed yet essential co-star in “O” by Cirque du Soleil at Bellagio in Las Vegas, NV.

		Motion Control Meets Medical Imaging Control Engineering, August 2007 By Kevin Steele, Bosch Rexroth Medical imaging OEMs are turning to motion control platforms that help control costs, streamline production, and deliver high-quality clinical images.

		Paper mill combines ac and dc drives to reach upgrade goals Control Engineering, August 2007 By Jeremy Nighan, ABB, Low Voltage Drives A paper mill decided to rebuild its slitter-rewinder, and incorporate the latest technology. The goal was to improve roll quality, increase machine speed, and eliminate costly shutdowns.

		Should We Switch to Servos? Control Design, August 2007 In this installment of The Answer column, a reader learns that to achieve accurate positioning using steppers in machine centers they now need to operate more slowly, but are there advantages in changing to AC servos?

		Safe, Quick Jam Clearing - 08/05/07 Control Engineering, July 2007 By Mark Nehrkorn, Omron STI Machine Services Hasko Machines set out to develop a machine control system for wood cutting that would maintain speed while incorporating safeguards and circuits that meet ANSI/ASSE Z244.1-2003.

		Pharmaceutical Packaging Get Flexible with Motion Control Motion Control OnLine, August 2007 By Kristin Lewotsky, contributing editor Motion control is helping pharmaceutical manufacturers remain competitive while dealing with a tough marketplace, a challenging regulatory environment and the ongoing threat of piracy.

		Encoder Track Design Improves Position Control - 08/05/07 DesignWorld, July 2007 by Tom Wyatt, HEIDENHAIN Corporation Your choice of position encoders influences such important motor properties as positioning accuracy, speed stability, and bandwidth for drive command-signal response and disturbance rejection, as well as power loss and size.

		Packaging Application: Box Taper - 08/05/07 By Bison Gear In the packaging industry, applications for gearmotors can be found in equipment used to automate the assembly, filling, and closing of cardboard boxes. One of these applications is a machine used to automatically close the top and tape it shut.

		Keeping Metal on the Move Process and Control Today, July 2007 By John Houston, Editor A transport system needed to be robust enough not only to carry the products, weighing eight tonnes each, but also the two tonne carriages that support the products as they are moved between stations. Engineers at SCM Materials Handling used equipment from Bosch Rexroth.

		Equipped for the Future Control Engineering, June 2007 When a housewares manufacturer modernized its manufacturing process, it gained an automated grinding and polishing system based on four robotic cells.

		Control platform aids injection, extrusion Control Design, June 2007 By Jim Montague, Executive Editor Cincinnati Milacron added a new control platform, including an intuitive data screen, pushbuttons for machine movements, and operation-software wizards, to its machines that make plastic-composite decking.

		Capsule filler has new IPC Control System Process and Control Today, June 2007 By John Houston, Editor Lenze IPC and automation software achieved a more effective operator interface on the Bosch GKF701 capsule filling machine. After research to define the optimum operator processes, Bosch chose the Lenze PCMatic automation solution as it provided the functionality required at a good price to performance ratio.

		SCM and EEU collaborate for CNC solution Process and Control Today, June 2007 By John Houston, Editor Italian woodworking machine tool manufacturer SCM approached Yaskawa Engineering Europe (EEU) in Milan for a solution to a problem on the X-axis of one of its existing SCM Record 2-111/8695 CNC routers in use at furniture manufacturer Ferrari snc in Verona.

		Servo drives trim fish with accuracy Process and Control Today, May 2007 By John Houston, Editor Multi-axis servo drives from Lenze are used to trim salmon fillets at high speed and to a precise profile. The ITM fish trimming machine made by Marel hf of Reykjavik automatically trims salmon fillets into pre-defined shapes using an advanced vision system linked to servo drives

		Phantom of the Opera Chandelier at Venetian Hotel Thrills Audiences Design News, May 2007 John Dodge, Editor-in-Chief Anyone who has seen Phantom of the Opera knows that the crashing chandelier scene in the Paris Opera House climaxes the performance. When you get right down to it, the whole rig is like a 32-axis robot hanging from the ceiling.

		Aylesbury Automation aligns correctly for Kenwood Process and Control Today, April 2007 By John Houston, Editor The potential for separation and misalignment of components during manufacture of Kenwood water filters, has been overcome by the design and construction of an automatic rotary indexing machine from Aylesbury Automation Limited.

		Revolvo’s SRB bearings operate in abrasive solution on Zambezi Rapid Water ride Process and Control Today, April 2007 By John Houston, Editor Revolvo’s SRB split roller bearings are providing a reliable solution to the problem of support for the twin 11-metre long Archimedes ascender screws that deliver water to the massive Zambezi Rapid Water ride in the Gold Reef City theme park, Johannesburg, RSA.

		Redesign keeps painting robot safe - off the floor Control Design, May 2007 By Jim Montague, Executive Editor Dürr Paint Systems inverted its robot design, so it could be installed on walls and ceilings for better access, more accurate painting and better coverage.

		Precise cutting kept well in-hand Control Design, May 2007 By Deron Roberts, Jet Edge Inc. This global designer and manufacturer of ultra-high-pressure waterjet systems helped develop a full-featured, water-resistant pendant that works with its PC-based motion control system.

		Improve Your Application’s Performance By John Mazurkiewicz, Baldor Electric Servomotors can be used in applications requiring numerous starting, stopping, and reversals, and applications requiring precise control over position and speed.

		A Rainforest Grows in Cleveland Control Engineering, April 2007 C.G. Masi, Control Engineering Variable-speed drives help maintain temperature, humidity of “The RainForest” at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo.

		Extreme Machine: Compact Precision Robotics II Control Engineering, April 2007 By Mike Babb, Control Engineering International The European winner of CE’s “Extreme Machine” contest was Stork Townsend B.V. Its QX family of co-extrusion sausage makers is massive: 10 m (33 ft) wide, 6 m high, and up to 30 m in length make it the largest of the machines in the contest. It is powered by 60 variable speed motors and 18 servomotors.

		Extreme Machine: Compact Precision Robotics I Control Engineering, April 2007 By Steve Scheiber, Control Engineering Schneider Packaging of Brewerton, NY, won CE’s “Extreme Machine” contest with a robotic packaging machine that's small, nimble, and easy to use. The end-of-line robotic handling system occupies a miserly 300 sq ft.

		Advanced Controls Working At the Car Wash Design News, January 2007 By Joseph Ogando, Senior Editor With its PLCs, variable speed drives, optical sensors and Ethernet connections, the Tunnel Commander isn’t your grandfather’s car wash.

		Manual handling…in the cold Process and Control Today, March 2007 By John Houston, Editor Industrial Automation Ltd has helped First for Foodservice solve a materials handling problem at its two Regional Distribution Centres at Royton and Banbury, UK, by inventing a machine that transfers a pallet-full of trays on to a set of dolleys. The particular challenge for IAL was that the machines are operating in a chilled part of the RDC where temperatures are kept between –2oC and +2oC; this presents problems with condensation and the performance of lubricants for moving parts.

		Integrated axes crank up cold working Control Design, March 2007 By Marc St. Pierre, Ingersoll CM Systems The rolling machine includes nine to 13 arms of independent rolling axes, each arm applying a different force at a different point along the length of the crankshaft. The overall machine is controlled by a motion controller, which tightly integrates the multi-tasking PLC with the CNC and is capable of controlling up to 64 axes of motion.

		Eight heads are better than one Control Design, April 2007 By Jim Montague, Executive Editor Park Industries in St. Cloud, Minn., recently spent two years developing its Velocity decorative edge shaper/polisher machine for natural stone and stone-like materials. The new machine uses a conveyor to present 3x6 or 3x8 ft slabs of granite to a bank of 13 spindles driving one cutting/shaping head and seven polishing heads, which move in and out at 190º around the edge of the slab. These heads are directed by cam profiles and functions in a motion controller to produce six or more different decorative edges.

		Diamond is in motion Process and Control Today, April 2007 By John Houston, Editor The Diamond Light Source synchrotron ring in Oxfordshire, UK, has seven beamlines functional and more are on the way at this globally important research facility. Supplying the motion control for the project has been a challenge for Delta Tau, which has now installed over 600 axes of motion at the project.

		PatMax- The universal solution for robotic applications Process and Control Today, April 2007 By John Houston, Editor Evolut, a systems integrator in Italy, has installed more than 1100 robotic systems including 850 with Cognex vision systems enabling them to automatically recognise and identify objects with precision and to measure and inspect them. Article describes how Evolut uses Cognex vision systems in robot applications.

		Latest Mitsubishi Robot Installed In ‘High Tech Garden Shed’ Process and Control Today, April 2007 By John Houston, Editor Brass Products employs a comprehensive level of automation at its three-man operation near Ashford, UK. Barr & Paatz installed and commissioned one of the latest generation of Mitsubishi six-axis articulated robots for feeding a CNC milling machine, a previously tedious and potentially hazardous manual operation.

		Automated Metal Dome Placement Machine Design News, Motion Networks Supplement, April 2007 Terry Persun, Contributing Writer Snaptron of Windsor, CO, tackled the problem of tactile metal dome placement in production situations. Snaptron designed a machine that would place domes in pockets, primarily for membrane applications, using an upgraded motion system for faster, more efficient operation.

		High Speed Tab Inserter Systems From UMG Technologies Operate 24/7 24/7 automated operation has become an industry standard for UMG Technologies high speed tab inserters used in the manufacture of electronic printed circuit devices. These systems are designed for continuous, unattended operation with minimal maintenance due largely to top notch design engineering and the use of the latest and best off-the-shelf component technology. Click here to read full article...

		Smart drives make cable winder whirl Machine Design, February 2007 Two Baldor H2 smart drives replaced the original ac drives and PLC control that wound custom cables of different diameters onto large drums at Centrilift Cable, Claremore, Okla. Electronic gearing in the H2 drives lets both motors operate as if connected with mechanical gears to assure the cable winds properly onto the drum. The two smart drives let Centrilift eliminate the PLC and complicated manual programming steps. The new setup also got rid of many signal wires for a cleaner installation with more reliable operation. The change improved productivity more than 25%.

		Variable-speed drives keep Rain Forest Temperate Behind the scenes, a lot of mechanical engineering goes into creating and maintaining a tropical rainforest near Lake Erie, just 40 miles from the Canadian border. It is a feat accomplished by Cleveland (Ohio) Metroparks, a recreational authority that provides an “emerald necklace” of woodlands, golf courses, hiking trails and other attractions surrounding this Midwestern city -- known as much for its sports teams as its world-class orchestra and Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame. Without state-of-the-art HVAC technology, it is doubtful this unique tropical habitat -- located within the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo complex -- could exist; and it continues to benefit from equipment improvements, such as advanced motor and drive design.

		Controller Lends Touch of Reality to Simulator By Lawrence D. Maloney, Contributing Editor of Design News Case history article describes how a MasterLift simulator from GlobalSim, Salt Lake City, UT, is used to train heavy equipment crane operators. The simulator provides a virtual environment that accurately replicates the physical and operating characteristics of a crane. To create realistic, precise motion in the simulator, the seat that is encased in the cab of the base unit of the MasterLift model 4000 is attached to a motion base controlled by a DMC-1240 4-axis motion controller from Galil Motion Control, Rocklin, CA

Automation.com Real-time Information for the Automation Professional May. 25, 2012

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