Articles and News

Improving performance using cascade control and a Smith predictor

Automation.com, January 2012 By Bill Lydon, Editor Here are my thoughts on major automation and control trends in 2012. These opinions are based on a wide range of inputs from users, suppliers and industry consultants, and from attending numerous industry forums, conferences and trade shows every year.

It is possible to create a documentation format that works for design and construction and then can be gradually “morphed” into a format that meets the needs of production

Automation.com, January 2012 By Rockwell Automation To harness the wealth of untapped “manufacturing intelligence,” companies must overcome the barriers to collecting, correlating, visualizing and sharing plantfloor information with the overall operation.

Automation.com, January 2012 By Bill Lydon, Editor The 17th Annual PI North America General Assembly Meeting was held October 4-6, 2011 in Phoenix, AZ and included vendors and users who provided updates on PROFIBUS and PROFINET technologies. Topics included PROFINET survey, GE IP, Chrysler-Fiat, Wireless and PROFIenergy.

Automation.com, January 2012 By Bill Lydon At the recent PI North America General Assembly Meeting, Bernie Anger of GE Intelligent Platforms discussed why they chose PROFINET as the backbone for their Programmable Automation Controller portfolio. The PROFINET philosophy fits with GE's evolving legacy of high performance distributed systems.

Operator effectiveness is often overlooked but is an area that can improve the performance and safety of your control system or plant.

Automation.com, December 2011 By Bill Lydon, Editor Companies are looking for ways to improve efficiency and profits but the use of and Real-Time Optimization (RTO) including Advanced Process Control (APC) is still limited. Why?

MEMS development stems from microelectronics industry and combines conventional techniques developed for IC processing with MEMS-specific processes

Guidelines for the tuning and the evaluation of decentralized and decoupling controllers for processes with recirculation

Test time for tuning temperature control can be reduced by using the near-integrating method. It identifies the deadtime and initial ramp rate.

Automation.com, December 2011 By Bill Lydon, Editor An enthusiastic OMAC Packaging Working Group recently presented plans for packaging machine standards. Bryan Griffen from Nestle explained their packaging philosophy and current vision centered on OMAC standards and how they want to optimize control systems in three ways.

IEC 6-1131-3

If on a trend recording a change in an input flow or speed (load) associated with a primary process loop causes a significant change in the primary process variable, there is an opportunity for feedfo

Automation.com, December 2011 By Jerry Belanger, Honeywell Process Solutions Industrial plants need solutions guaranteeing their controls system investments are safeguarded. They want to increase the efficiency of production process, but also reduce the long-term total cost of ownership (TCO) of automation assets.

There is too much hype about the smart grid without looking at the core problems from an engineering and business point of view.

Eliminating Difficult Start-ups with State Based Controls

Linear programs and real-time optimization need the prediction to violation of constraints inherent in MPC.

There’s nothing worse in one’s work life than when the relationship with one’s manager is not working correctly.

Automation.com, November 2011 By Bill Lydon, Editor I was recently introduced to a new HMI software offering, Tatsoft FactoryStudio. My first reaction was - Why does the industry need another HMI software product? I interviewed Tatsoft CEO and founder, Marcos Taccolini to learn more.