See Archive Page for earlier news.

29/9/01

• Happy Birthday - IDC Technologies marks its birthday wityh special offers on its publications. But hurry the offer closes at the end of October. Gos straight to their Bookstore and tell them that the Signpost sent you...
• New sinusoidal output filters increase motor life and system reliability - EMC filter specialist, Schaffner has introduced a new high-performance range of sinusoidal output filters for frequency inverters. The range offers a cost-effective solution for many problems related to modern motor drive systems. The FN 5010 output filter significantly restricts the excessive dv/dt and overvoltage stress on the motor windings caused by the inverter's PWM-signal. This effectively increases the service life of the motor by reducing the likelihood of failure, and the significant down-time costs associated with maintenance or replacement.
• Pneumatic products - SagaIndia manufacture high quality pneumatic products such as air filter regulators, air pressure regulators, air lock relays etc. since 1991. Their products are working trouble free in various projects all over India, including petrochemical plants, refineries, thermal power stations, fertilizer plants, paper mills, process industries etc. as well as OEMs to reputable valve and actuator manufacturers.
• Temperature sensor design guide for engineers - Peak Sensorss, the temperature measurement and control solutions provider, have launched their latest CD ROM design guide and product catalogue. The CD ROM combines valuable sources of knowledge and expertise in this specialist field, which helps you to research and select the best sensor / sheath combination for your requirements. The design guide is aimed as a simple to use and time saving way to choose the most suited product to your needs by providing in depth and accurate information on sensors, sheaths, components, instrumentation and the services provided. The CD ROM is provided completely free of charge by Peak Sensors, so contact them whilst stocks last.
• Digital Delay / PulseGenerator - Berkeley Nucleonics's new Digital Delay / Pulse Generator offers 1 nanosecond time resolution of both edges (Delay and Pulse Width) in 2, 4 or 8 channel options. These benchtop signal generators are widely used for timing, syncing, gating and triggering research experiments. This new product sells for about 1/2 the price of others on the market and has new software-controlled output modes and features (nested bursts, duty-cycle limiting, divide-by-N, etc.) BNC has been a manufacturer of Signal Generators since 1963.
• Event postponed - Due to the uncertainties posed in the aftermath of the atrocities of September 11 the ISA's District 12 European Conference scheduled for Bretby later this month has been postponed until spring.

See our INTERKAMA Review

• Cost effective moisture monitoring - Michell Instruments' Cermax industrial dewpoint hygrometer provides accurate, portable, and cost-effective humidity monitoring in polymer chip drying applications, with spot measurements across the range from -1 000C to +200C dewpoint and indication down to 120C and up to +30C dewpoint. CermaxÕs easy operation and fast response to industrial dewpoint make it the ideal instrument for monitoring multiple drying facilities with minimum personnel.
• Acquisition finalised - GE Fanuc Automation North America, Inc., a division of GE Industrial Systems, today announced that it has finalized the acquisition of VMIC, a manufacturer of single board PC computers (CPUs), communication and network products such as reflective memory networks, Fibre Channel and SCSI host adapters, gigabit Ethernet, and data acquisition and control products. Ê

• Compact DINrail mounted embedded PC for demanding industrial applications - SBS Technologie has introduced an addition to its PCcompact family, the P06, a rugged embedded PC with dual Ethernet capability to maximize utilization of all three expansion slots, and allow data collection and data uplinks to occur simultaneously. Designed ready for DINrail mounting, it features a Pentium compatible processor (333 MHz) and integrated power supply.
• Fastest embedded controllers - National Instruments has announced the fastest, highest-performance 3U embedded controllers on the market for PXI/CompactPCI, the NI 8171 Series. These feature Pentium III and Celeron. The controllers incorporate an extensive set of standard and extended peripherals, such as hard drive, floppy drive, Ethernet, and GPIB ? into a single module for easier integration and less cabling among PXI modules. In addition, the controllers offer the instrumentation features of an external SMB connection and internal circuitry to route timing and synchronisation signals to or from the internal PXI Trigger Bus.
• New Synchronous Communication PCI Board - Quatech Inc., the manufacturer of data communication and data acquisition products for PC-based systems, today introduced a new PCI board which provides a single synchronous RS-232 serial port to a PC. With this announcement, Quatech further expands one of the most complete serial communication lines in the industry, and becomes one of only a few suppliers to provide a synchronous serial interface via the PCI bus.

• A mobile office in different versions - The new, highly robust mobile PC family from Kontron consists of three modules. It is especially suitable for use in police, ambulance and fire brigade vehicles as well as in cars and trucks, where there is a regular occurrence of splash water and uneven terrain. A waterproof version, the ÒMobile 04Ó, and a rainproof version ÒEnVoyÓ are also available.
• Latest Issue - Please e-mail registration@read-out.net and ask for a copy.
• Valve connectors feature rapid termination system - A new range of valve connectors featuring the HARAX¨ rapid termination system has been introduced by Harting. The new connectors offer the scope for dramatic reductions in installation time and costs in applications such as solenoid valves in pneumatic and hydraulic systems or sensors in process instrumentation and control.

• Brushless drives - Baldor has launched a new generation of its intelligent brushless servo drive, which integrates a full motion controller with fieldbus capability to provide a cost-effective solution for implementing distributed motion control. Called MintDrive II, the new drive extends performance in a variety of ways including plug-on configuration of fieldbus and encoder interfacing, much higher throughput, and operation from three-phase supplies.
• ISA Show closed early - Personal Account of ISA'01 by Heather Angus of Canada's Manufacturing Automation
  ISA 01 Review

Ireland's joins US in mourning - President McAleese's address on the occasion of the National Day of Mourning Friday 14th September 2001. Text of the address.

• In keeping with the day of mourning the Instrumentation Signpost was removed from the server during this 24 hour period and replaced with a Page of Mourning.

• 091101 - The Irish Government has designated tomorrow, September 14, as a National Day of Mourning for all those killed and bereaved in the wave of terrorist attacks in the US. People have been urged to attend their places of worship; schools, Government departments and most businesses will be closed. Bar and restaurant owners have been advised by their representative associations to close for the day.
  The tragedy has been felt very deeply here, not just for the enormity of it all but because of the close personal links which so many Irish people have with the US and with New York in particular. Little else is being talked about, RTE has devoted many hours of coverage to events as they unfolded and switched over to CNN overnight on Tuesday. The first known Irish victims are Cork woman Ruth McCourt (45) and her daughter Juliana (4), who were travelling from Boston on the United Airlines flight which crashed into one of the towers. Her brother, who survived, was in the World Trade Centre at the time. It later emerged that Patrick Currivan, who was on the American Airlines flight from Boston to LA, was a TCD graduate from Dublin who had been living in France. There are also fears for the life of Sligo man Kieran Gorman (35) who was working on an upper floor of one of the buildings. Of course many Irish-born and many of Irish descent will be among the members of the police and fire departments who have perished.
  Picture shows firemen bearing the body of their chaplan, Irish American Franciscan, Fr Mychal Judge from the scene in Lower Manhattan

• New advert on Fieldbus page -
  
  See it in situ on our Fieldbus Page
  

  The Publishers of the Read-Out Instrumentation Signpost extend their deepest sympathy and prayers for all those effected by the terrible events of the 11th September 2001 in the United States of America. We weep with you! May God bless us all. Reaction of the President of Ireland (Real Audio on Irish TV website)

• Software available on-line - Cyco Software, providers of document management solutions for the design and engineering environment, today announced that it has made AutoManager View, their award-winning document viewer for the CAD and office environment, available for purchase on their Webstore in order to satisfy strong customer demand.
• Germany provides largest market in Europe for drives - Germany was the largest single European market for high power rated electric drives followed by Britain, France and Italy. The European High Power Rated Drives: Regional Analysis is the fourth from Frost & Sullivan's European Electric Drives Market Service: a new wide-ranging market research service aimed at providing a fundamental analysis of all aspects the market. The high power rated drives market has been defined as all electrical drives that have a power rating exceeding 75kW. The market includes alternating current (AC) drives and direct current (DC) drives.

• Acquisition to strengthen group in Asia-Pacific - FCx Pegler Beacon Australia, part of the global FCx flow control group, has acquired instrumentation specialists Control And Sensors Pty Ltd from Perth, Western Australia. The acquisition - successfully completed early in July - cqntinues a strategy by FCx Pegler Beacon to become the market leader in flow control and instrumentation distribution in the Asia Pacific region. Control And Sensors has a long established history in the Australian market. A tightly managed, successful business, it has a small band of key staff members and a solid record of sales and profit growth over the years.
• Multi-Million-Dollar contract awarded - GE Fanuc announced on Friday that it has been selected to provide Nissan North America, Inc., a multi-million-dollar contract for a manufacturing execution system (MES). The GE Fanuc CIMPLICITY Business will provide the MES system -- which includes consulting solutions and software - from design, onsite implementation, and startup to support as the Canton, Miss., facility comes online. The new 2.6 million sq ft, $930-million production complex will have the capacity to produce 250,000 units per year, including full-size pickups, sport utility vehicles and minivans.

• New dynamic force sensors measure in 3 directions - The new models 260A from POB Piezotronics, (Techni Measure), are quartz force sensors with three separate sensing elements capable of simultaneous measurement of dynamic force in three orthogonal directions, X, Y, and Z. They have been specifically designed for use in force-limited vibration testing, cutting tools, dynomometers, engine mount analysis, biomechanics research and modal analysis.
• New system analyses used in dry film lamination process - Sensor Products Inc. introduces the Topaq Pressure Analysis System. Used in conjunction with Pressurex/Fuji Prescale stress indicating films, it provides a unique perspective of the distribution and actual magnitude (PSI) of pressure between any contacting or impacting surfaces. Pressurex/Fuji Prescale films instantaneously and permanently change color in proportion to the amount of pressure applied to them. Topaq, a Windows based system, scans and interprets the exposed film and produces digitally enhanced images and statistical reports.

• Smaller and smarter, up-rated conditioner family now handles ÔsmartÕ digital signals - A brand new generation of signal conditioning modules is being launched by instrumentation specialist Lee-Dickens, whose AIphaDIN and AIphaMINI modules have been 'signal conditioners of choice' for engineers, electricians, system integrators, designers, panel builders, technicians and maintenance staff in all areas of industry. The functionality of the Alpha series is being migrated across to the new Beta series, which is also up-rated to accommodate the smart digital signals used by protocols such as HART.

• PDA software for Nip calculations - Sensor-Experts.com has introduced a software program, Nip-Stat, enabling fast calculation of many different nip roller equations for Palm based platforms. It allows the engineer to easily perform the following web oriented calculations: crown correction, cover deflection, crown of roll and crown at station, P&J to modulus, water cooling, speed differential, desphande (for hard-to-soft roll nip width prediction; soft at 2 P&J and softer) and hertzian stress formulas (for hard on hard applications of 1 P&J or harder).
• The automation world drives foeward! - The SPS/IPC/DRIVES in Nuremberg is EuropeÕs leading special interest exhibition for electrical automation technologies. More than 690 German and foreign companies will be exhibiting on 40,000 sqm from 27 Ð 29 November 2001. The event will be host to the full spectrum of automation products, from components right through to the complete system solution.
  See our Events Page for more shows
• PXI Digitizer with World's Fastest Sampling Rate - LeCroy Corporation introduces the PXD222 digitizer featuring the worldÕs fastest single shot sampling rate of 2.5 GS/s, 200 MHz bandwidth and the ability to accommodate up to 300 Volts. Combining high-end performance with an economical price, this is a general purpose digitizer that is ideal for configuration in systems designed for a wide variety of applications, including analytical instrumentation for high-speed physics, radar, disk drive, aerospace/defense, and automotive.

• New line of compact clamp meters - Fluke, a world leader in compact, professional electronic test tools, has introduced a brand new series of compact clamp meters, most models featuring a large backlit display and True RMS measurement. Their Fluke 330 Clamp Meter Series includes 5 different models, all of which have the same small form factor enabling ease-of-use even in the tightest places. Working closely with customers throughout the entire design process, The series was created for the way electricians, technicians, and HVAC professionals actually work.
• American analysis instrumentation manufacturer taken over by European I&C company - The Endress+Hauser group has acquired all of the shares of Wedgewood Technology Inc., the American analysis instrumentation manufacturer. The Californian company is based in San Jose and was integrated into Conducta GmbH, the competence centre for analysis in-strumentation of the group.
• PXI development starter kit - PX Instrument Technology (PXIT) has announced the PXI Development Starter Kit. They have enhanced their PX2000-107 PXI Breadboard product to provide a Starter Kit for developers of custom PXI modules or OEMÕs commencing PXI product development. The package is designed to allow PXI system integrators and designers to quickly realise user-specific PXI functions. The kit provides highly cost effective route to learning how to address the hardware and software issues of realising a custom PXI module.

• Huge takeover announced - Hewlett-Packard Company and Compaq Computer Corporation announced today a definitive merger agreement to create an $87 billion global technology leader rivalling "the Big Blue". This release on the Compaq website.

Latest additions to Signpost - Our New Page lists the latest additions to the site month on month. This page is updated at the end of each month. Our statistics based on figures up to the end of August are published on our Statistics Page. They continue to show substantial rises and this month saw the largest number of "hits" since we started taking records at over 37000 during the month of August. The previous highest was during May when we topped 34000 hits.