See Archive Page for earlier news.

31/12/02

Passing of former I&C publisher - We have just learned of the sudden and unexpected death of Tim Burkholder, who was the Publisher of ISA publications for the past number of years. His successes at ISA included a rejuvenation of InTech and the launch of Motion Control and Industrial Computing magazines. Under his leadership, the ISA journals made tremendous improvements in editorial quality, advertising content, and readership circulation. Tim retired from his position as Associate Executive Director, Journals and Group Publisher at the end of December, 2001. He continued to work for ISA on a consulting contract through 2002, evaluating potential publishing opportunities and contributing to the restructuring of the ISA journals programme. We at the Instrumentation Signpost would like to pay tribute to Tim whose good humour and moral support were invaluable to us when we were starting on the internet adventure way back in 1994.

New cabinets protect equipment through zone 4 seismic activity - Hoffman has announced two new seismic cabinets designed to protect mission-critical LAN/WAN and voice/data equipment and servers in sites where the risks of seismic activity or heavy vibration can cause equipment failures or loss of performance. Each of the new cabinets is designed to safeguard at least 1,000 lbs (453.6 kg) of installed equipment and 100 lbs (45.4 kg) of top cable weight through Zone 4 (highest risk) seismic activity, based on N EBS-Telcordia G R-63-CORE standard vibration testing. The two seven-foot (2134 mm) cabinet models each accommodate 19" equipment.

Fitting website! - Omnifit, one of the world's leading suppliers of high performance, inert fluidic components for laboratory instrumentation, has just re-launched its website. The new site is quick and easy to navigate and provides a host of useful information for both end users and instrument manufacturers. It features full product information on Omnifit's range of connectors and fittings, valves, liquid handling apparatus, chromatography columns and bottle caps. In addition, a specialist 'OEM Services' section for instrument manufacturers provides in-depth case studies of problems solved as a guide to Omnifit's custom design capabilities.
Exhibition success despite strike action - The French transport strikes which marred the opening day of Pollutec failed to make an appreciable difference last month when over 62000 vistors attended showing a 4.3% increase on the previous show. The next show is scheduled for Paris 2nd to 5th December 2003.

New Logic Developer PDA Software for Convenient, Time-Saving Access to PLCs - The new Cimplicity Machine Edition Logic Developer PDA software from GE Fanuc Automation allows users to interface a Palm handheld device to any of their Series 90 and VersaMax PLC. With Logic Developer PDA, users can perform PLC monitoring, diagnostics and maintenance quickly and easily at any PLC location in the manufacturing facility - which can save time and increase productivity. GE Fanuc will be showcasing the new software at National Manufacturing Week in Chicago next March (3-6).

New additions to industrial connector family - Harting has made a number of new additions to its Han(R) Q/8 industrial connector range, adding flexibility and higher density for motor, convertor and starter applications. Enhancements to the range include new hoods and housings with different mounting options and a new high-density insert offering additional contacts in an extremely compact package.

Engine combustion pressure analysis package - An engine combustion analysis package for use with Yokogawa's digital oscilloscopes and data-acquisition systems is now available. The new software package enables engine combustion pressures to be analysed for engines using a variety of fuels, with versions available for both gasoline and natural-gas engines. The natural-gas analysis package can be used to analyse specific heat ratio and polytrol index.
Flexible and simple solution for scalable power - Increased pressure to reduce costs, smaller production runs and the need for shorter time-to-market means power architects are seeking alternatives to the traditional approach of a unique, individual power supply for each different high power DC requirement. Advanced Power Conversion PLC has responded to this challenge by offering a component based approach that provides a very simple, quick and totally scalable solution for distributed and modular power systems. Using modules from the APC range of 500W or 200W industry standard size full brick DC:DC Converters (117 x 61 x 12.7mm) which require just a single wire to connect the units in parallel, total output power can very easily expanded by simply adding extra modules. This "Power Building Brick" approach is limited only by physical constraints and it is theoretically possible to use this method to quickly produce a power supply from 400W right up to many KILOWATTS.
Major order for the Gulf of Mexica - The Honeywell Industry Solutions business has received an $11.4 million order for automation systems and services in support of the Magnolia Deepwater Development Project operated by Conoco Inc., a subsidiary of ConocoPhillips. The Magnolia development, located 180 miles off the coast of Louisiana, is the initial development project in ConocoPhillips' Deepwater Gulf of Mexico program.
Communication with PLCs - There is a growing interest in networking existing Siemens PLC's on the factory floor using standard Ethernet and the TCP/IP protocol. Historically, Siemens PLC products have primarily been networked using proprietary Siemens networks, such as MPI, PPI or Profibus. INAT GmbH, a specialist German company started by ex-Siemens engineers, who have developed proven methods of achieving software and hardware links between existing Siemens automation equipment and Ethernet.

Digital automation system to be installed on a major research and educational pilot plant at leading British University - The University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) have announced the selection of Emerson Process Management to automate the CEMIST (Chemical Engineering Measurement by In-Situ Techniques) process plant within their Chemical Engineering department. Previously known as the "pilot plant", the CEMIST facility has 14 separate processing areas spread across five floors. The plant's scale of operation within a university based research facility makes it unique worldwide.
Striving for Perfection! - Details of the next International Conference of the very active Ireland ISA Section have just been announced and published on their web site. The conference is called Striving for Perfection in a Regulated Environment - an End User View and is scheduled for February.

Accurate and immune current transmitter - Many measurement and monitoring applications in the utility and process industries need a standard AC signal converted into a 4-2QmA current output for onwards transmission to a control or telemetry system. Typical examples include current consumption of AC Drives or to check the current being drawn by pumps which may be under-rated in power terms. Lee-Dickens new APT35L module is supremely suited to this function. It is housed in a DIN-rail package that can be fitted in any convenient location, for examp!e to interface process measurements to a control room or SCADA function. It comes calibrated to accept both 0 to lA AC signal and a 0 to 5A AC signal - the customer selects which to use by wiring to different points on the instrument's terminal block. Accuracy is better than +/-0.1% of span for a pure sinusoidal input and with excellent input-output isolation, high surge current capability and high output signal-to-noise ratio the device is immune to ground loop signals and REI problems as well.

European appointments announced and exclusive launch of exciting new product and nails its flag firmly to the LINUX mast! - As part of its intention to expand and accelerate European operations, and in particular its business development initiatives across the wider EMBA regions, Brian Ahern of Verano announced two key executive sales and business development appointments. Hugh Thomas-Davies and Rob Stew are to spearhead sales and business development initiatives across EMEA regions. In the low key announcement in the heart of old London he also announced the launch of a new product Performux Scaleable real-time software platforms to manage plant operations and large scale distributed industrial assets. It thus becomes the first company to adopt LINUX for highly mission critical operational management and control of large infrastructure projects. This is so new that it probably is not up on their website yet so we've included the details as a separate page.

LIMS Expands to Reach Across the Enterprise - The data in Laboratory Information Management Systems (LIMS) was once the private domain of the test laboratory. Now, these applications are going beyond merely the efficiency of the lab and crossing traditional boundaries to improve the productivity of the entire enterprise. The urgency to reduce cost due to dwindling resources along with new regulatory standards will drive significant growth in the LIMS market. The worldwide market is expected to grow at a Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 4.8 percent over the next five years. The market will produce revenues of us$275 million in 2002 and is forecasted to be over us$347 million in 2007, according to a new ARC Advisory Group study.
Holding a corporate network license eases problems in accessing instrumentation standards - Through a company's intranet, the entire staff can access individual ISA standards, the complete standards library, or any other electronic document from ISA. That means no more buying multiple copies of the same standard. No more waiting for a document. This will without doubt save time and money and increase productivity. For more information on how you can better manage your technical resources, visit the ISA network licence pages
New VP appointed to power conversion equipment company - Artesyn Technologies has announced the appointment of Stephen Nolan as Vice President of Worldwide Sales for Standard Products, for the company's Power Conversion group. He will assume immediate responsibility for all standard product sales. Stephen Nolan has extensive experience of the electronics industry, having held senior management positions in sales and marketing with a number of leading power supply manufacturers over the past 16 years. Immediately prior to joining Artesyn, he was Vice President of North American Sales and Marketing for Celetron USA. Inc., an electronic manufacturing service provider which last year acquired the power supply company, EOS Corporation.

New appointment helps users get the most out of their plants - Tom Kinney, former Director of Invensys Advanced Technology Division has joined ExperTune. At ExperTune, Tom is responsible for taking ExperTune's customers to the next level in getting the most out of their plants. Tom's prior experience with working with large clients, worldwide, on a variety of process applications makes him ideally suited to address client requirements with the breakthrough solution, PlantTriage.

Useful handbook for computer based measurement and control systems - This is a comprehensive overview of the issues that influence the selection and use of equipment for computerised data acquisition and controil. Primarily a guide to building test and measurement systems that use a PC as a controller and a variety of plug-in boards and external instruments to gather data nd control external processes, it covers industries and applications as diverse as factory automation, semiconductors, optoelectronics, telecommunications, automotive, medical, computers, peripharals, aerospace, research and education.
"Data Acquisition and Control Handbook," (2001) Keithley
Joining forces on the international trade fair landscape - The organisers of Interkama in Duesseldorf, Germany and IAC, TME & Sensor China in Shanghai, China, have signed a cooperation agreement stipulating extensive mutuaL support in multiple fields. In 2003, Interkama China, which will debut from 18 to 21 March 2003 at the new Pudong/Shanghai fairgrounds, is has IAC as non-material sponsor. IAC, TME & Sensor will now not take place in 2003 and all resources will therefore favour the Interkama event.

Linear motor driven stage brings 'nano-positionng' capability to large-travel applications - Baldor has released a unique new type of X-Y positioning stage, which provides rapid sub-micron positioning over very large working areas. Based on a combination of stepper and piezo-electric linear motors for coarse and fine positioning, the stage is available with travels of up to 3 x 1.5 m, for payloads of up to 1.8 kg. These features provide scope for OEMs to improve productivity on a wide range of test, inspection and handling equipment involving ultra-fine positioning, such as wafer probing, fibre optic assembly, and biomedical sample manipulation. Downloadable video clips available from www.baldorlinear.com/video.htm

Tough 'control-and-connectivity' module answers emergent industrial/aerospace control & instrumentation needs - Io Ltd has launched a novel new control module offering real-time control capability combined with Ethernet connectivity. Rugged and expandable, the module offers exceptional flexibility for implementing control and instrumentation in application areas including industry and aerospace. Called CNet50, the module is designed around the NetSilicon NET+ARM processor. This system-on-a-chip (SoC) combines full 32-bit RISC processor capability with 10/100 Mbits/sec Ethernet connectivity, providing performance to spare for creating powerful, distributed, real-time systems.

pH and Conductivity Transmitter with Isolated Output - Omega's New CDTX-300 is a pH and Conductivity transmitter in one unit. It has been designed especially for the user who needs both measurements at the same location. The high accuracy transmitter is particularly useful in difficult conditions where electrical ground loops can occure and is ideal for remote applications. By galvanically isolating the signals, any interference is prevented from reaching the transmitter. The conductivity transmitter uses top of the line, 4-ring potentiometric probes, which eliminate the polarization effect by splitting the four rings into 2 current electrodes and 2 voltage electrodes. The CDTX-300 requires low voltage dc for it's power requirements, making it safe and versatile.
IEC Multilingual Dictionary on CD-ROM - The edition 5 of its best selling Multilingual Dictionary on CD-ROM features all parts of the world famous International Electrotechnical Vocabulary. With 13 languages, over 19 200 terms with definitions in English and French, the edition 5 will also feature a Spanish index as well as new parts and amendments. Those customers who have already purchased the Multilingual Dictionary on CD-ROM will be able to upgrade their copy to the new improved edition 5.
IEV online Need to find an electrotechnical term in English, French or German? Consult the IEV (International Electrotechnical Vocabulary) online. The IEV online offers free of charge a valuable tool to anyone whose work requires an understanding of electrotechnical terms in an international environment. As a complement to the Multilingual Dictionary on CD-ROM, this online database offers all IEV terms in English, French and German. It also provides definitions in English and French for the parts of the IEV that deal with general concepts.

Installation sets benchmark for the pulp & paper industry - The Fieldbus Foundation has announced that Celulosa Arauco y Constitucion S.A. has selected Foundation fieldbus for automation of a new pulp mill near the city of Valdivia, Chile. The project will be one of the largest installations of this technology in the pulp and paper industry.