Articles and News

Automation.com, July 2012 By Bill Lydon, Editor Bill Lydon chats with Darius Adamczyk, new President at Honeywell Process Solutions about his thoughts on managing the company and his focus on increasing services for customers.

The more knowledge an industrial engineer masters, the more valuable he or she becomes.

Automation.com, July 2012 By Inge Hübner After some teething problems, wireless technology, such as WirelessHART, is becoming more and more established in the process industry.

Part 1: Integrating Analyzers with Automation Systems

Automation.com, June 2012 By J Timothy Shea, VDC Research Group VDC partnered with Automation.com to develop market intelligence studies for Data Acquisition Solutions, including external chassis & modules, plug-in data acquisition analog I/O boards, and standalone data acquisition software.

Automation.com, June 2012 By Bill Lydon, Editor Hannover Messe provides a unique event to directly see a wide range of automation technology, its application on a wide range of equipment, and the opportunity to talk with users. These are trends and products from the fair that I think are worth noting.

Technical paper shows you how to get the most out of your PID controller, extending its functionality from basic to advanced control.

Automation.com, June 2012 By Bill Lydon, Editor Participants of the Pharmaceutical Automation Roundtable discussed the use of data, modeling and other automation technology for Intelligence-based Manufacturing. The goal is to move from responsive and reactive actions to preventative and proactive manufacturing strategies. This is part 6 of a 6 part article series.

This paper describes a case study of a control system design for a batch pharmaceutical process.

Automation.com, June 2012 By Bill Lydon, Editor Participants of the Pharmaceutical Automation Roundtable discussed the conversion of production lines from single product to multiproduct, which ultimately creates flexible manufacturing pharmaceutical plants. This is part 5 of a 6 part article series.

Automation.com, June 2012 By Jason Goerges, ACS Motion Control EtherCAT is becoming increasingly popular for control and system engineers as a robust, high-speed real-time network for machine control solutions. Here are some of the most prominent benefits of EtherCAT as they relate to motion control systems.

Automation.com, June 2012 By Rick Kaun, Honeywell Process Solutions By understanding the evolution of today's IT and control systems and proactively implementing a program to reduce vulnerabilities, plants can better position themselves to protect their assets, increase uptime and secure their critical infrastructure.

Automation.com, June 2012 By Bill Lydon, Editor Each year at Hannover Messe, I see some really interesting, innovative and cool applications of technology. Here are a few reviews of some examples that grabbed my attention, complete with videos of each application.

Automation.com, May 2012 By Bill Lydon, Editor Energy conservation and sustainability were common topics at AHR 2012 with exhibitors showing a variety of products including primary equipment, sensors, controls, services, and building automation systems. Here are a few interesting products presented at the show.

Automation.com, May 2012 By Bill Lydon, Editor As Ethernet has gained popularity in the industry and systems have evolved, the nature of Echelon's business has changed. The company has been building a business position centered on energy metering and smart grid.

Temperature is a critical condition for chemical reactions to take place. In batch process, control becomes more complicated because of the variability of level, pressure and concentrations.

Automation.com, May 2012 By Bill Lydon, Editor Plant people use all five senses (sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch) in troubleshooting, diagnosis, and determining areas for improvements. At Fluke headquarters in Everett, Washington, I experienced firsthand new products that amplify our senses and go beyond them to increase productivity and effectiveness.

Centennial College Technology Fair & Career Night in Toronto

Automation.com, May 2012 By Bill Lydon, Editor Participants of the Pharmaceutical Automation Roundtable discussed maintaining documentation for the life cycle of installed automation and control systems in pharmaceutical plants.

The primary objective of a dynamic model of a continuous process for process control is for the open loop gain, open loop time constant, and total loop deadtime be correct for the effect of each proce