Articles and News

PcVue will monitor and control ventilation systems and 200 programmable controllers at CERN, the largest particle accelerator in the world.

Water and Wastewater Consultant Resource Catalog (CRC) helps consulting engineers specify automation and control products and solutions more easily.

The machine is used by a large aerospace components manufacturer in Chihuahua, Mexico, to produce spur, helical and crown gears with complex profiles.

ARC expects the GMC market will experience modest growth in 2010, as businesses slowly start investing in capital equipment.

PowerSecure will use GE Fanuc PLCs as part of its solution to meet utilities’ stringent requirements for the protection and control of distributed generation systems.

The co-branded e-newsletters will be distributed to Automation.com’s subscribers, InTech subscribers, and ISA members and customers, creating a combined total distribution of more than 90,000 world-wide automation professionals.

Factivity fit Swanson Industries with its shop floor technology, replacing pen-to-paper with a PC based manufacturing execution system (MES).

By Physik Instrumente Paper describes the development and lifetime tests of PI's ceramic encapsulated actuators in comparison with conventional polymer coated piezo actuators. Several graphs enable the quick calculation of lifetime under different operational and environmental conditions.

This implementation guide, by the OMAC Packaging Workgroup, has been created to aid software developers in achieving a clean and efficient implementation of PackML.

Siemens Energy & Automation, Siemens Transportation Systems, Siemens Building Technologies, and Siemens VAI Services merged into a new company, Siemens Industry.

Grand opening ceremonies will feature machining and productivity seminars. Both centers will have Okuma CNC lathes and machining centers on display.

OPTOCODE rotary encoders with PROFINET I/O interfaces are now certified for IRT (isochronous real-time) data transfer protocols.

Website covers actuators, ball screws and lead screws, clutches and brakes, linear bearings and guides, linear motion systems, precision balls and planetary gearheads.

Software Toolbox products listed in the Siemens catalog include TOP Server and TOP Server UCON for Siemens Simatic WinCC and WinCC flexible products.

Rockwell Automation expects to host more than 8,000 attendees in Anaheim, CA, Nov. 11 and 12 at its 18th annual Automation Fair event.

Deadline for conformity with EN ISO 13849-1 or EN/IEC 62061 remains 29 Dec 2009. Extension of EN 954 1 to be considered at December meeting.

Fryer Machine Systems selected the Sinumerik 840D numerical control, together with Siemens’ ShopMill and ShopTurn software packages, for its job shop milling and turning machines.

Sansteel chose Proficy Process Systems for its furnace revamp project in Shanghai. The solution, valued at $300,000, will provide critical control for both the metal furnace and the plant utility system.

On June 23, 2009 in Frankfurt, Germany, the PLCopen Fluid Power Task Force had its first technical meeting to define function blocks for fluid power and hydraulic applications. Founding members of the task group include Bosch Rexroth, Eaton and Parker Hannifin bringing broad fluid power and controls experience; B&R, Eckelmann, ISG, Siemens representing control and integration expertise; 3S CoDeSys with a commitment of tightly integrated control software tools.

By Bill Lydon, Automation.com PLCopen finalized release 2.1 of the PLCopen Technical Committee 6 – XML Standard. This release 2.1 is based version 2.0 published in December 2008, as well as the feedback received from PLCopen members and the AutomationML organization. Here’s a synopsis of what the standard contains.