31/1/05

Low cost, high spec 6-port industrial Ethernet switches - GarrettCom Europe has released a versatile range of compact, low cost 6-port industrial Ethernet switches that incorporate the latest networking technology and innovative product packaging features to serve 'edh[=[ge of the network' factory floor and utility substation applications.

Fieldbus engineer course now available at customer sites - Responding to increased demand as more and more large user organisations adopt ProfiBus as their industrial networking solution of choice, their Competency Centre (PCC) at Manchester Metropolitan University (GB) has made a substantial capital investment in the equipment necessary to present this engineer course at customer sites. Up to 8 engineers may be trained at a time. Full details and prices

New colourful fitting system for laboratory instrumentation - New flangeless Omni-Lok fittings from Bio-Chem Valve/Omnifit are designed to connect to shallow "-28 UNF PTFE ports, such as those in solenoid valves. They are also available as part of a pre-assembled PTFE tubing set to be used in laboratory instruments. Distinctively colour-coded, Omni-Lok fittings permanently fit to one or both ends of 1/16" and 1/8" O.D. sized tubing.

Single wire technology presents no problems - Single wire technology can now be specified on all Kistler sensors for monitoring cavity pressure in both multi-cavity moulds and large, single component moulds. The main benefit of the unique Kistler single wire technology is the simplification of installation as the single wire sensor, being installed without a connector, requires only a bored hole to accommodate the cable. As several cables can be threaded down a single bore, the single wire sensor is ideal for multi-cavity applications. The pre-fixed connector, on a conventional screened sensor cable, can make installation both difficult and costly as a milled channel is often needed for each sensor.

Complete product portfolio from enclosures to manifolds and accessories facilitates rapid and cost-effective support for field instrument projects - Parker Instrumentation has launched a range of rugged enclosures for field-mounted process instruments. Three sizes of enclosures are available for housing one, two or three process instruments. These shelters are supported by an assembly service that will provide them ready for field use - with manifold and tubing connections for pressure, flow, temperature or other common process variable instruments, and any accessories required. Together, the enclosures and support service provides users with a means of simplifying instrumentation projects.

Support for automation and control education - National Instruments has announced that it donated $4 million worth of NI products and $1 million in cash to more than 100 universities in 25 countries for academic research and classroom projects that improve science, technology, engineering and mathematics education. The contributions, which were funded with $2 million from a patent infringement settlement, are being used for teaching and research applications in areas such as signal processing, control systems and communications.

Worldwide electronic chemicals business sold - Merck announced today that it sold its worldwide Electronic Chemicals business to BASF AG of Ludwigshafen (D) for € 270 million in order to focus on its innovation-driven businesses of pharmaceuticals and chemicals. The transaction is still subject to approval by antitrust authorities and is expected to close in the second quarter.

Rugged Conduction Cooled VME SBC - Concurrent Technologies announces a ruggedized conduction cooled VME single board computer supporting dual PMC sites and utilizing the Intel Pentium M processor. The VP 315/022-RC supports a Pentium M (with 1 Mbyte L2 cache) operating at 1.2 GHz. Utilizing the Intel 855GME chipset the board supports 1 Gbyte of soldered 266 MHz DDR ECC DRAM. And with two 66 MHz PMC sites, connected via the Intel 6300ESB I/O Controller Hub, this single slot board includes extensive rear I/O functionality in addition to VITA 31.1 Gigabit Ethernet via the VME64x backplane. The board is aimed at harsh applications within the defense, industrial control and transportation markets. A rugged air cooled version and a range of commercial/extended temperature versions are also available including a choice of operating system board support packages.

New magic guides engineers to best level control - ExperTune has released a new software wizard to help process engineers optimize the control strategy of level control loops in all types of process vessels. The wizard uses the considerable design experience of Greg Shinskey, the famous author and control guru. Level loops present a unique challenge to process control since the control objective varies widely, from tight level control in reactors to averaging level control in surge tanks.

Accretive acquisition provides momentum for fiscal 2006 revenue growth and earnings, and provides a strong launch pad into Europe - NetSol Technologies, a developer of proprietary software applications and provider of information technology (IT) services, today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire British-based CQ Systems, the well-known provider of asset based financial solutions in the U.K. market.

Machine vision specialist targets India - Falcon-Vision Rt. is working closely with Mumbai-based Protos Engineering co Private Ltd to develop sales of its QualiLine machine vision systems throughout India. Formed in 1949, Protos has established an enviable reputation for linking Indian industry with international technology.
QualiLine inspection systems are used extensively in the automobile industry. The QualiLine-C range is used for the inspection of foundry products, including engine blocks, cylinder heads, transmission systems and brake parts. QualiLine-L systems are used for final product or work in progress inspection in a variety of different applications, including weld inspection, filament shape or the geometrical parameters of other small metal or plastic components. QualiLine-G is a specialised inspection system for use on glass tube production lines.

Two control bodies to merge? - OMAC­The Open Modular Architecture Controls Users' Group and ISA­The Instrumentation, Systems, and Automation Society are pleased to announce their intention to combine their missions to aid industry in the successful development and application of automation technologies. "The merger will allow both organizations to build on their respective strengths. The two organizations are working through the final stages of a merger that would result in OMAC functioning as a subsidiary of ISA. Remaining steps of the merger should be completed in the first half of 2005."

Billion sterling per year in wasted energy drives distributor set up - Carlo Gavazzi has set-up a new British distribution network to support customers in realizing the financial and technical benefits of its new portfolio of energy management solutions. Each new distributor has been chosen for its knowledge, skill and experience in this very fast growing market.

"The book every trouble-shooter, technician or engineer should have!" - Fluke, leader in compact, professional electronic test tools, has just released its 2005 Test Tools Catalogue. Always packed with useful information, the catalogue has become a standard work of reference for engineers, technicians and troubleshooters everywhere. The 2005 edition is even better than before, and has 76 pages in a new colour-coded layout that makes choosing product families even easier. This Catalogue contains summary pages of their most recent products, and complete descriptions of features and specifications for Fluke's full line of test tools. Sections include handheld digital multimeters (DMMs), electrical testers and clamp meters, ScopeMeters (handheld, dual-input oscilloscopes), installation testers, field calibration tools, power quality tools, clamp meters, digital thermometers and accessories.

Miniature PCB-mounting current transducers for unipolar +5V operation - LEM has added the HXS series to its range of current transducer families designed to operate from a single +5V power supply. The pinout on the primary conductor - allows the HXS 20-NP to be configured as a 5, 10 or 20 ARMS nominal model and the HXS 50-NP to be configured as a 12.5, 25 or 50 ARMS nominal model, with a measuring span of up to ±3 x IPN. The same pinout is used for both in order to be able to use the same model for a complete range of drives that use the same control PCB. The internal reference voltage (2.5V) is provided on a separate pin or can be replaced by an external reference (between 2 and 2.8V) for reference thermal drift cancellation - with a fixed gain and offset the output can be measured precisely to +/- 0.625V at IPN when the reference is used..

New CPU support offers maximum choices for new product development - Macraigor Systems is to announce early next month additional support for several new processor chips in the ARM, MIPS and PowerPC families. The debugging and control of these chips will be supported by all Macraigor debug software solutions when used with the OCDemon family of products. The OCDemon products offer the industry's most advanced, yet price-sensitive, solution for the designing, debugging and programming of hardware designs and application software.

EMC filter range improves connection - Schaffner, "world leader in EMC", has introduced new models in its highly successful FN3258 range and improvements to the means of connection via new "touch-safe" connecting terminals.

Switching product line "offers Industry's highest density half-rack switching system - Keithley Instruments, leader in solutions for emerging measurement needs, has introduced the Model 7002-HD high-density two-slot switching mainframe and cards, offering instrument grade switching at a price up to 40% less than comparable platforms. The Model 7002-HD supports up to 384 matrix crosspoints or 320 multiplexer channels in a single half-rack 2U instrument, providing the highest density half-rack 2U switching package in the test and measurement industry. Pairing the Model 7002-HD with their SourceMeter instrument, a DMM, or other instrument makes it possible to create an extremely cost-effective test system for large channel count applications.
They have also released an interactive, tutorial CD (free of charge) on reliability testing for semiconductor test engineers. "Understanding Measurements: Essential Reliability Testing Techniques" provides information related to stress measure testing of semiconductor devices, new measurement techniques, and how to improve test throughput and maintain data integrity.

Bus-programmable power supplies offer very low noise - The TSX-P Series of laboratory DC power supplies from TTi (Thurlby Thandar Instruments) have been upgraded to provide higher performance with lower noise and emissions. Power output is 360 W, and 35 V / 10 A and 18 V / 20 A models are currently available. GPIB (IEEE-488) and RS232 interfaces are fitted, and the units can be locally operated using either numeric or rotary controls. In addition to the two 4-digit meters, a third display is provided for previewing new voltage or current values, setting increments, or displaying power in watts.

New test and measurement catalogue published - Keithley Instruments, leader in solutions for emerging measurement needs, has announced the availability of its 2005 Test and Measurement Products Catalogue. This desktop reference guide offers details and specifications on their general-purpose and sensitive sourcing and measurement products, DC switching, RF switching and measurement, data acquisition solutions, semiconductor test systems, and optoelectronics test hardware. Tutorials simplify choosing solutions for specific applications.

New software aids automotive engine combustion pressure analysis - Yokogawa has introduced a new version (Version 4.0) of its automotive engine combustion analysis software, designed for use with the company's DL750 and DL708E/716 Series of digital oscilloscopes and WE7000 Series of PC-based data-acquisition systems. New features of the software package include the ability to analyse and display multiple data simultaneously, so that analysis results can be checked at the same time that online monitoring is being carried out. Also new is a USB 1.1 real-time monitor interface for the DL750, the ability to save and recall analysis conditions, and the facility for analysing additional parameters including LNV, misfire rate and cylinder-to-cylinder average value.

New LED range rewrites price performance benchmark - New LEDs introduced by Dubilier, and included in their new product catalogue, are built to high quality standards and available at very low price, enabling product developers to further cost-reduce existing and new products without compromising on quality. The new LEDs range includes standard devices in red, yellow, orange and green, and in 3mm and 5mm diameters, with radial leads. Surface mount chip LEDs in industry standard 0603 and 0805 sizes further boost the versatile range of LEDs now available through Dubilier. Available colours include red, orange and yellow, plus yellow and green, true green, and blue.

Book on Calibration published - The latest book from industry expert Mike Cable is the perfect book for anyone who calibrates instruments - or their supervisors. A comprehensive review of calibration, it provides an excellent foundation for understanding principles and applications of the most frequently performed tasks of a technician. The book is designed as a structured learning tool with questions and answers in each chapter. Topics addressed include terminology, bench vs. field calibration, loop vs. individual instrument calibration, instrument classification systems, documentation, and specific calibration techniques for temperature, pressure, level, flow, final control, and analytical instrumentation. An extensive appendix containing sample P&IDs, loop diagrams, spec sheets, sample calibration procedures, and conversion and reference tables serves as very useful reference.
Calibration: A Technician's Guide: ISBN: 1-55617-912-X: ISA; $79.00

Survey confirms long-term growth - The HART Communication Foundation (HCF) confirms that industry users and suppliers are firmly committed to the growth of the HART Communication technology for years to come. A new ARC market survey, sponsored by the HCF, recently investigated communication protocol plans of global users working in knowledgeable positions across the automation industry. Survey results corroborated long-term mass adoption trends of HART-enabled control systems and instrumentation.

Collaboration bears fruit: manufacturing recipes standard - An ISA standard, widely used for batch control, has just been released as an IEC PAS (Publicly Available Specification) in a joint effort between ISA and the IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission). ANSI/ISA-88.00.03-2003, Batch Control Part 3: General and Site Recipe Models and Representation defines a model for general and site recipes, which, in principle, can be duplicated at any plant, allowing manufacturers with multiple plants to be consistent in the quality of their production. Industry recognizes this as being important for manufacturing efficiency, keeping production costs down, and maintaining satisfied customers.

Surface-mount Hall-effect current sensor is first to integrate current path - The latest current sensor family from Allegro MicroSystems the ACS704 Series, is the first range of Hall-effect current sensors in the small-outline SOIC8 surface-mount package to have the current path integrated into the package for greater sensitivity and accuracy. The new devices, which are available in both 15 A and 5 A versions, measure bi-directional AC or DC currents by using a Hall-effect magnetic field sensor to measure the field generated by the current flow. Because there is no electrical connection between the current path and sensing circuit, a high degree of isolation (800 V minimum) is achieved without the use of additional components.

Expanded series of load cells provides weighing capabilities from 50 kg to 5000 kg in process applications - Vishay Transducers has expanded its 600 series of Vishay Tedea-Huntleigh S-type load cells to include nickel-coated alloy steel and stainless steel variants. Models 615 and 616 are suitable for harsh environments and frequent wash-down, and are sealed to IP66. For even higher resistance to ingress, Models 619 and 620 are rated to IP67 and IP68 respectively

New Ethernet catalogue reflects changing technology landscape - Contemporary Controls is making Ethernet's full benefits available to industrial users in their updated product catalog. This free catalog provides updated content from A to Z in an easy-to-read format, to help customers successfully complete their Ethernet projects.
The 74-page catalog describes new and enhanced hubs, switches and media converters. It includes Contemporary Controls’ EICP switches for industrial temperature ranges, as well as EISB B-Line switches, offering either 8, 16, or 24 port models for use in extreme environmental conditions.

4,000 free drivers - National Instruments now offers more than 4,000 instrument drivers in the NI Instrument Driver Network, "the industry's largest source for instrument drivers".
New lowest-cost NI USB devices deliver measurement-quality data acquisition - Scientists, technicians, engineers and students can now take advantage of measurement-quality data acquisition and the convenience of USB plug-and-play technology at a lower cost with the new National Instruments USB-6008 and USB-6009 data acquisition (DAQ) devices.

Fifteen vendors pass rigorous security testing criteria - ICSA Labs, a division of Cybertrust, has announced that it has certified fifteen anti-virus, firewall, IPSec and SSL vendors and thirty-eight products in Q4-2004 that all met the industry's most stringent testing criteria. Their Certification Program provides assurance to the user community that certified products meet industry-accepted product security standards worldwide.
See information on cybersecurity on our Computer Safety Page

IP67 rated motors will withstand 103bar (1500PSI) pressure cleaning - Baldor has launched a new family of all-stainless-steel servomotors, providing optimised protection for the most demanding automation applications in clean environments such as bio-pharm and food packaging and processing lines, or hostile operating situations such as inside machine tools. The new 25-strong family introduces a valuable new performance option for OEMs, allowing them to deliver higher speeds, accelerations and positioning accuracies in clean-in-place machinery and automation.

Free seminars in China, Korea and Malaysia - In June and July, 2005 CAN in Automation (CiA) is going to offer free-of-charge seminars for newcomers to CAN (Controller Area Network). The user and manufacturer group introduces the serial bus system CAN and CAN-based higher-layer protocols such as CANopen and DeviceNet, ISOBUS or J1939.
- June 6, 2005 in Beijing, China
- June 27, 2005 in Shanghai, China
- July 19, 2005 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
- July 25, 2005 in Seoul, Korea
The seminars are suitable for design and sales engineers as well as device and system designers.

Low-profile 3520 range is suited to weighing equipment and industrial applications - Vishay Intertechnology has announced that the Vishay Tedea Huntleigh 3520 range of shear beam load cells, part of the Vishay Transducers product portfolio, targets low-profile floor scales, pallet scales, and other trade or industrial process and weighing applications. The 19-mm-high load cells save space and enhance the appearance of end products. Stainless steel construction allows easy cleaning and provides high resistance to corrosion. The units are also fully sealed to meet IP67 standards.

Automation solutions digital library - The Automation Solutions Digital Library is the quickest, most cost-effective way to access ISA's extensive technical paper collection drawn from world-renowned technical conferences and symposia. With more than 2,200 papers easily searched and downloaded, the answers to your technical and business questions are available when needed. An annual, online subscription gives unprecedented access to to technical innovations and application insights from 15 technology-focused communities.

Hard metric power connector handles up to 23 A per contact - Harting has introduced a new hard metric power connector with a current rating of up to 23 A per contact at 70 degC. The new har-bus(r) HM Power connector is designed to be used in conjunction with HARTING's 2 mm har-bus(r) HM signal connectors, providing a reliable and cost-effective solution for connecting plug-in units to backplanes. Both ranges of connectors meet OBSAI (Open Base Station Architecture Initiative) specifications, and offer full compatibility and intermateability with base-station modules.

Just out! - Headlined in the first 2005 issue of Read-out, Ireland's journal of Instrumentation and Control, is the strategic co-operation between Endress & Hauser and Rockwell which certainly strengthens the FDT/DTM school of thought!
Praise is lavished on the new Manotherm website which was launched towards the end of 2004.
The Inside Front is an interesting item on the monitoring of water supplied to vessels in the Port of Dover in England and which will be of interest to all intstallation where there is the possibility of Legionella infection. This system is based on Eurotherm 5000B data recorders.

Comprehensive software radio transceiver packs FPGA processing power - Pentek, the industry pioneer of VME board-level technology, today released a complete software radio transceiver module suitable for connection to IF or RF ports of a communication system. The Model 7140 PMC module combines both transmit and receive capabilities with a high-performance Virtex II-Pro field-programmable gate array (FPGA) and supports the emerging VITA 42 XMC standard with optional switched-fabric interfaces for high-speed I/O. This module is also available in a variety of form factors including PCI, 3U and 6U cPCI and a PMC conduction-cooled version.

Force sensors ensure car door latch is withing spec! - Few of us give much thought to the mechanism that keeps the door of our car secure, yet easy to open when we want to get in or out. That mechanism, usually known as a latch, is a vital link in the chain of safety that is an essential part of modern cars. Not only must the latch operate smoothly and easily under normal conditions, it must hold the doors closed during an accident.Just one out of spec latch in a delivery can result in the whole batch of several thousand being rejected, not to mention the damaging effect on the manufacturer's reputation. One hundred per cent testing at this rate of production must be an automated part of the total production process.
The solution major supplier of these latches ArvinMeritor senior engineer, Terry Heynes, and Kistler application engineer, Eddie Jackson, developed was to use a piezoelectric sensor to measure the force needed to actuate the latch and a miniature linear displacement sensor to measure the distance travelled during latch operation. The output from the force and displacement sensors being fed into a Kistler CoMo IIS system that monitors the data to ensure that the force at critical points of operation is within specification. The CoMo IIS displays the curve of force against displacement and the preset values to provide an instant, visual confirmation that the system is operating correctly.

Load cells and instruments for China - Vishay Intertechnology has announced that Vishay Transducers, through its Vishay Nobel office in Sweden, has been awarded a contract to design and supply to customers special crane load cells and associated instruments for iron and steel manufacturing operations in China. The special 250-ton-capacity load cells are designed to perform in the extreme industrial environment of steel mills. The weighing measurement data of the load cells is used to maximize the operating efficiency of mills, and also is a critical part of the safety systems of the cranes.

New Sales and Marketing Director for Britain - Carlo Gavazzi has appointed Alan Hickman as Sales and Marketing Director to lead the company's sales and customer support operations in Britain. He comes to Carlo Gavazzi with 24 years in the process and factory automation industry and has developed a wealth of experience in the UK, European and International arenas. He joins from Danaher Industrial Controls, where he was Export Manager of the Industrial Controls Group European manufactured products. He was promoted to this position from UK Country Manager for Hengstler & West Instruments. He has also held positions with Miltronics and Compair Maxam.

Discover the magic of Smart Dust with developer kit - An all-in Smart Dust developers kit from Sequoia Technology provides designers with all the tools that they require to develop and test a prototype ‘Smart Dust’ sensor network. Smart Dust networks, based on the use of large numbers of very low cost, wirelessly connected sensors, are transforming data collection in industrial control, building automation, security, environmental and asset tracking applications

Europe reaches new frontier - Huygens lands on Titan - Today, after its seven-year journey through the Solar System on board the Cassini spacecraft, ESA's Huygens probe has successfully descended through the atmosphere of Titan, Saturn's largest moon, and safely landed on its surface. Follow progress on the European Space Agency website.

Low-cost USB 2.0 protocol analyser combines high speed with advanced protocol decoders - The new Ellisys USB Explorer 200, now available from british company Computer Solutions, is a low-cost, high-speed, non-intrusive full USB 2.0 protocol analyser. It allows users to display the bus states, the contents of packets and whole transactions sent, decode the descriptors, detect errors and incompatibilities in devices or drivers, and measure their performance. The Explorer 200 is a fully USB 2 compliant analyser which is able to operate at all the USB speeds - 1.5 Mbit/s, 12 Mbit/s and the 'high-speed' 480 Mbit/s. It will automatically detect the speed being used and adjust to it.

Enlarged specimen stage extends capability of scanning electron microscope - A new specimen stage has been introduced for the S-2600N variable pressure scanning electron microscope (SEM) from Hitachi High-Technologies. The new stage gives increased specimen movement to 40 mm in both X and Y directions, giving an increased specimen coverage of 220% compared to the previous model. The stage also benefits from Z movement from 5-35 mm, tilt of -20deg to + 90deg and rotation of 360deg.

New mobile chemical dosing trailer - ProMinent Fluid Controls has produced a new variant of its fully equipped mobile chemical dosing trailers for UK Water Authorities. This latest version is designed for dechlorination duties and can be readily transported to any location for emergency dosing of chemicals to maintain drinking water supplies. It can be used when emergency reservoirs need to be brought on line to supply potable water, or for dechlorination following emergency disinfection of a water supply.

THEY SAID IT January 2005 "The results . . . indicate that industry has been focusing its security efforts in the wrong direction." Eric Byres, British Columbia Institute of Technology ". . . any time you come out with the significant changes that we have to the core product platform, it is fundamentally a new platform . . ." Steve Young, Platform Technology Development VP, Invensys Process Systems "This participation complements our leadership in the Fieldbus Foundation as we help drive standards that cover the broadest possible range of process devices." Ken Deken , VP and Logix Netlinx business General Manager, Rockwell Automation "We finally figured out that nobody wanted to read a website that replicated a magazine." Walt Boyes, Editor-in-Chief/ Publisher, Control Magazine. Don't miss this incisive commentary on automation every month!

Training rigs for military open to process companies - GE Fanuc 90'-30 controllers with VersaMax' distributed I/O linked to Feedback Instruments' Industrial Fault-Finding Process Control Rigs are being used in training programmes run by the British Ministry of Defence, in conjunction with Flagship Training Ltd. Based at HMS SULTAN, Gosport, these courses have been developed for engineers in the Armed Forces, but where spare capacity exists, are also open to engineering companies wishing to increase their expertise in the understanding and trouble-shooting of industrial process control systems. The three Feedback 34-250 Industrial Process Trainers installed at HMS Sultan are attached to six 90-30 controllers and three VersaMax units, which are used for distributed control of I/O. Any PLC can connect to any I/O allowing complete flexibility for the instructor to allocate simulators to students as they become available. This allows students to develop and test their programs before connecting to the actual process simulator, giving a very cost effective solution.

New director on board - The Fieldbus Foundation has announced that Teruyoshi Minaki, director & executive vice president of industrial automation business for Yokogawa Electric Corporation, has been named to its board of directors. Mr. Minaki replaces board member Akira Nagashima, who has served on the foundation's board for the past four years.

State-of-the-art laboratory provides technical support to local customers - Allegro MicroSystems Europe has opened a European Sensor Applications Centre in Annecy, France, to provide technical support for the company's European customers for Hall-effect sensors in the automotive and industrial sectors. The new centre has been created as a result of Allegro's strong growth in the European market, which has made it necessary to provide local technical support. In addition, Allegro's aggressive European growth plans, particularly for automotive and industrial sensor applications, mean that the European applications centre is a natural progression in Allegro's strategy to remain a world leader in magnetic sensor technology.

New URL same service - Automtechies.com is one of the better sites in our industry., Rick Zabel advises us that they just changed our URL and are trying to get all those sites linking to them to change also. The nem URL is Automation.com and they are a Resource forIndustrial Automation, Process Control & Instrumentation Professionals providing: Daily News; Product Showcase; Suppliers/Manufacturers; Systems Integrators; Articles & White Papers; Application Tools; Job Postings.
Come to think about it sounds a lot like us!!! We have them listed on Search engines, Portals and other resources page.

Testing tensile strength of wet paper - Testing the tensile strength of wet paper is an important requirement in the development of paper products such as paper towels, kitchen roll, tissue etc. A Finch Device is available from Lloyd instruments for loop tensile testing of wet paper or board products up to 25 mm or 50 mm width. Compatible with their universal materials testing instruments, this fixture is designed to test the tensile characteristics of paper products after a short soaking period to help avoid the difficulties encountered when testing wet specimens having very low strength. With a capacity of 500N, the fixture is ideally suited for use with the LFPlus single column testing machine.

Open, portable tool supports hundreds of HART and FF instruments from more than 100 manufacturers - Emerson Process Management has announced that the 375 Field Communicator now supports 82 additional FOUNDATION fieldbus devices and 50 more HART instruments for maintenance purposes. Introduced just one year ago, it is already compatible with more than 800 HART and fieldbus instruments from a variety of manufacturers. The 375 replaces the 275 HART Communicator as the standard field device communicator used by instrument technicians. The convenient portable tool is used across industries, worldwide to increase maintenance productivity and effectiveness by supplementing networked stations that access advanced online diagnostics.

Apple unveils low-cost 'Mac mini' - Apple has unveiled a new, low-cost Macintosh computer for the masses, billed as the Mac mini. Chief executive Steve Jobs showed off the new machine at his annual MacWorld speech, in San Francisco. The modular design of Mac mini lets you upgrade your current system to the elegance, simplicity and reliability of Macintosh. If you already own a monitor, keyboard and mouse, you can get up and running in minutes.
The Signpost and Read-out are produced using a MAC

Bus protocol adopted as Chinese standard - In a striking affirmation of the ubiquitous Modbus protocol, the Standardization Administration of China (SAC) has formally launched three Modbus protocols as standards for industrial automation in the People's Republic of China.
More details on our Fieldbus News Page

Partnership announced - Abacus Polar has announced a partnership with Kane Computing Ltd, an authorised TI 3rd Party Reseller, to provide a significantly enhanced level of British technical support for Texas Instruments' range of fixed and floating point DSP Development Tools. Under the agreement, Abacus Polar customers for Texas Instruments DSP Development Tools will be supplied via Kane Computing, and as a result will be entitled to their unlimited free pre- and post-sale technical support by email and phone. Kane Computing will refer its development tool customers to Abacus Polar, for outstanding commercial and technical support on silicon for prototype and full production.

New digitiser introduced - National Instruments has announced the NI PCI-5124, a PCI version of its popular 12-bit, 200 MS/s PXI-based digitiser. The NI PXI-5124 and NI PCI-5124 digitisers use the latest commercial technology to deliver more than 75 dBc spurious-free dynamic range (SFDR) on two simultaneously sampled inputs with 150 MHz bandwidth. Both devices are based on the NI Synchronisation and Memory Core (SMC) architecture, which features up to 512 MB of onboard memory per channel, fast data transfer and tight synchronisation. Design and test engineers can synchronise SMC-based modular instruments within tens of picoseconds for high-channel-count and mixed-signal applications.

"A lot less bovver from the hover!" - Anorad, a subsidiary of Rockwell Automation has unveiled an air bearing linear axis that is suitable for general production environments. The air bearing beam uses an extruded aluminium beam rather than conventional granite and is seen as a major breakthrough in price and performance that opens up new technology for broader automation use.

Low-cost function generator has versatile display system - The TG330 function generator, new from TTi (Thurlby Thandar Instruments), is an advanced 3 MHz analogue generator with built-in sweep, amplitude modulation and simultaneous digital display of frequency and level. The new generator also incorporates an external frequency counter mode which utilises the full width of the display to provide up to 71/2 digits of resolution. The frequency range is from 5 Hz up to 120 MHz, and the input sensitivity is better than 50 m RMS. Accuracy is typically better than 10 parts in a million, and an external adjustment point allows recalibration when high accuracy is essential. A measurement period of 0.5 or 5 seconds can be selected. Reciprocal counting ensures high resolution regardless of input frequency, allowing, for example, mains frequency to be measured to a resolution of 0.001 Hz.

Distributor appointed in Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg - Ashling Microsystems, world leader in Embedded Software Development Tools and Antratek Electronics, a leading distributor of development tools and modules to the Electronics industry, have announced a distribution agreement under which Antratek will supply Ashling's development tools to its customers in Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg.

UK specialist distributor of the year announced - Connector manufacturer Harting has presented St. Helens based Northern Connectors with its Specialist Distributor of the Year Award for the second time in three years. 'Harting and Northern Connectors have always enjoyed an excellent working relationship, and with the efforts of all involved there has been a significant increase in sales and design activity with both new and existing customers', comments Doreen Sanderson, Distribution Manager with Harting's British Electronic Business Unit: 'This award is in recognition of that effort and the resulting increase in market penetration.' Keith Hewitt, Managing Director of Northern Connectors, added: 'This award is an endorsement of our customer-oriented philosophy and the growth that we have achieved through our commitment to maintaining a good stock profile, our level of expertise and our strong working relationship with Harting.'

Forum date change! - Becauseof venue proplems, the organisers have to change the dates for SMEF 2005 (Software Measurement European Forum). The new dates are March 16 - 18 2005.

New introduction "The Future of Pressure and Temperature Measurement" - Addressing a growing demand for accurate, low cost, high reliability pressure transducers, Senstronics introduces the Storm Series product range. Building on the success of its MaxiTrans product, the STORM Series presents the latest developments in sensing and thin-film technologies in minimising unwanted thermal effects generally associated with strain gauge pressure measurement. The TCAS and Thermotec technologies used in STORM provide the sensors with unique temperature stability. Combined with its own custom-designed ASIC, the transducer offers pressure measurement with accuracy better than 0.25% across a 100 degC temperature range. Add to this the option of joint temperature and pressure signals from one sensor and the STORM product offers considerable appeal and value to users.

New Year, New Solution - solve PAT in 2005 - Finally a resolution that can be kept with help from the new solution to the FDA PAT (Process Analytical Technology) Initiative. Getting 2005 off to a flying start, Dr. Robin Brooks, Managing Director of Curvaceous Software, will demonstrate how Geometric Process Control (GPC) implements PAT in Frankfurt, Germany from January 19th-21st.
The International Quality and Productivity Centre (IQPC) host a "Successfully Implementing PAT" Conference with delegates from around the globe. In recognition of the growing awareness and success of GPC as the solution to PAT Curvaceous has been invited to run a three hour GPC workshop on January 19th. This is a rare opportunity to gain an in-depth understanding of these methods. Enroll now at the IQPC website

Wall Street Journal's personal tech guru to speak at innovation event - EDN Magazine has announced that Walter Mossberg, The Wall Street Journal's personal-technology columnist and guru in spotting the best products to hit the market, will be a featured speaker at the 15th annual EDN Innovation Awards on March 7. "What's hot, what's not and why consumers will drive tech are all on Mossberg's agenda," they say and who are we to disagree?

Fault-tolerant Ethernet Switches for Deterministic Systems - Sixnet has introduced a new break-through product, the ET-5RS EtherTRAK Real-time Ring switch. This industrial strength Ethernet switch delivers reliability and performance through its ultra-fast, fault-tolerant network redundancy and other features that are essential in critical real-time systems. The ET-5RS provides all of the capabilities needed to keep networks up and running, through features like traffic prioritization and real-time fault-tolerant rings. Therefore, network utilization is improved, delivery of real-time data is assured, and priority assignments can be set by the user.

Spring training dates announced - In response to customer requests, the ISA Training Institute will bring seventeen of its most popular courses and seminars to the Hilton - Philadelphia Airport, Philadelphia, PA, on 4-8 April 2005. By bringing these courses and the equipment used for the hands-on labs, to a single convenient location, the decision to attend should be a simple one.

New plug-in module transmits energy stats - Carlo Gavazzi has introduced a new plug-in module for EM4 Energy Meters to enable quick and easy connection to Dupline field bus systems without additional cables. The module reads the actual internal value from the energy meter and connects directly with the Dupline bus to transmit the information to a central controller, reducing the risk of tampering or interfering with the monitoring system.

Groundbreaking easy range just got even better - Moeller has released the next generation of its universally popular and highly successful easy control relays. More powerful, more versatile and faster than ever before, the new units - the easy500 and easy700 - will offer engineers even more application possibilities. With a control circuit memory up to three times larger than the previous units, the range of potential applications is now significantly wider. The new models also offer 16 function blocks for features such as time relays, counters or analogue comparators. Combined with this increased memory and increased functionality is a processing speed four times faster than their predecessor.

Turning up the heat at mtec'05 - Raytek, a leading worldwide provider of infrared thermometry, introduces its new MIH non-contact infrared temperature sensor (Measurement Range: minus 40° to 600°C), which can be installed in environments with ambient temperatures up to 180°C without the need for costly water or air cooling accessories. Such cooling accessories not only add installation and maintenance costs, they can leak and contaminate products, or condensation produced by cooling can obscure the sensor's field of view and interfere with measurement accuracy. In addition, the MIH sensor includes a Teflon coated cable to withstand exposure to harsh chemical environments.
More information on this soow on our mtec Page

Memory module for the modular managed switch - Phoenix Contact's new memory modules FL IF MEM 2 TX-D are 2-port twisted-pair modules for the Modular Managed Switch. They store the complete switch configuration, including the management IP address, the password and all switch settings, e.g. the port configuration and the trap receiver. The pluggable memory module provides instant configuration when installing or exchanging devices without requiring additional tools or software. The module is simply plugged in, the switch is activated, and all parameters are immediately configured according to the stored settings. Integrating a configuration memory into an interface module doesn't use any additional interfaces. If devices are exchanged, the switch configuration is transferred when the interface modules are plugged in.

Leak detector offers flexible solutions in medical applications - The H2000 leak detector from Sensistor Technologies offers flexible detection solutions for a variety of medical applications such as testing medical implants, medical consumables, medical instrumentation and medical packaging - including the ability to locate leaks in balloon catheters, collection bags, blood bags, IV bags, and nourishment bags.
The new instrument is based on the hydrogen method, which, unlike alternative techniques using water baths, pressure decay or mass spectrometers, allows it to test with short cycle times and reliable results, regardless of temperature variations or the test objects' shape. It can be used to detect leaks that are dimensionally smaller than bacteria.

Brave move to demonstrate on site by fieldbus group - Knowing the dangers of demonstrations like this the brave Fieldbus Foundation (FF) has announced that BP Chemicals will host a field demonstration of Foundation fieldbus (FF) High Speed Ethernet (HSE) and Flexible Function Block (FFB) technology at its Lima, Ohio, USA, 1,4-butanediol (BDO) plant. The FFB demonstration team expects to begin the Factory Acceptance Test (FAT) for the FOUNDATION fieldbus system by February 2005, with final demo staging to be completed shortly thereafter. There will be a live demonstration of the combined HSE/FFB architecture on May 19, 2005, in the plant. Corporate executives and engineering managers from participating Fieldbus Foundation member companies, along with foundation staff, will attend the event and interface with trade press representatives.

Keynote addresses by European industry leaders highlight end user-oriented agenda - The Fieldbus Foundation has announced the agenda for its 2005 General Assembly, to be held on Wednesday, February 23, and Thursday, February 24, at the Intercontinental Hotel in Vienna, Austria. This year's event, themed "Plant-wide Integration: HSE+H1," will include an end user-oriented program featuring automation industry leaders, FF case studies, technical training workshops and tabletop product demonstrations.
More on our Fieldbus News Page

New Programmable Bargraphs - The "PRO" (PROgrammable) Series BG101P and BG202P bargraphs are the ideal choice for new applications, or for the replacement of switchboard meters, obsolete indicators, and set point controllers. Ametek/Dixson bargraphs are appropriate in any application where moving pointer meters have been used in the past and in applications where greater accuracy, readability, and reliability are desirable. The microprocessor-based instruments are feature-enhanced with brilliant red LED displays (optional green or amber) for excellent visibility, input signal ranges are switch-selectable and options are available to solve most common application problems.

Digital servo drive doubles accuracy of high speed cut-to-length machines - By equipping a high speed cut-to-length machine with an advanced digital servo drive, Baldor has doubled its accuracy. Since most manufacturers of downstream cutting machines - and their customers - regard cutting accuracy as the single most important parameter, the improvement is highly significant and likely to lead to increased machine sales. Manufacturers of cut-to-length products nowadays work to very precise dimensions, to avoid raw material wastage and maximise profit. As a consequence, they demand increasingly higher levels of accuracy from cutting machinery. Even small errors, over time, can account for significant wastage. A typical example is the manufacture of windshield wiper blades, where the rubber extrusion now needs to be cut to an accuracy of +/-0.02in (+/-0.5mm) - anything outside this range is likely to be deemed unacceptable. Even machines handling relatively bulky materials such as plastic drain pipes are expected to achieve a cut-to-length accuracy in the order of +/-0.04in (+/-1mm) or less.

Another forecast - Nick Denbow, editor of ProcessingTalk says "Taking this first issue for 2005 is an indicator - the new products for the year will likely feature more built-in loggers and ideas for data transfer devices, including self powered free standing transmitters with short range radio transmitters! Maybe these will use fuel cells, or solar collectors to top up other novel battery systems. Plus there will be the regular stream of further developments and refinements to the plant equipment described here like mixers and sewage pumps: all these aspects are covered within the stories added to Processingtalk.com every day."

"Industry leaders come together to offer the best PLM/MPM solution to customers" - Tecnomatix Technologies leader in manufacturing process management (MPM), has announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement for all of its outstanding equity to be acquired by Plano, Texas-based UGS, a leading global provider of product lifecycle management (PLM) software and services.

Latest brochure provides automation solutions for semiconductor and flat-panel display manufacturers - Aerotech's latest brochure provides semiconductor and flat panel display manufacturers with a wide range of automation solutions from component level positioning and motion control equipment to complete turnkey production and test systems. The resource is the latest in a series of "Automation Solutions" brochures, presenting industry specific applications to illustrate how they can help their customers to gain a competitive edge with increased speed, superior accuracy and improved reliability; resulting in higher throughput and ultimately lower-cost-of-ownership for their automation equipment.

New brushed DC motors are a great choice for high performance, low cost servo applications - MAE brand, M500 and M600 series brushed DC servomotors from PennEngineering Motion Technologies, are available for continuous torque applications from 0.1 Nm to 1.4 Nm with peak torque ratings from 0.5 Nm to 6.4 Nm. The range offers a highly dynamic, smooth and precise performance at reasonable cost when compared to brushless motors and is the preferred choice for many applications such as medical and mobility equipment, office automation, packaging machinery and CNC systems where the lower cost and simplicity of brushed DC servo control systems is a significant benefit. The M500 range has a nominal diameter of 57 mm and is available four standard lengths, the larger M600 range is 83 mm nominal diameter and available in two lengths. Both sizes are generously rated for high performance and include speeds to 6000 rpm, terminal voltage up to 60 VDC, voltage constant ranging from 9 to 25 V per 1000 rpm and torque constant in a range of 0.05 to 0.19 Nm/A. M series motors have a traditional design and can be form - fit replacements for "ElectroCraft" motors.

Injector has flow verification sensor - Blue-White's Flexflo A-100NV Variable Speed Peristaltic Metering Injector is now offered with an optional Micro-Flow FVS (Flow Verification Sensor). With this option installed, the pump's electronics will continuously monitor the Micro-Flow FVS to ensure chemical injection. If chemical should fail to inject, the pump will stop and an alarm relay will close allowing for remote alarm indication or initiation of a backup pump. Additional features include: Self priming, even against line pressure; De-gassing design eliminates gas or air accumulation in the head; Accepts 4-20mA, 0-10VDC and pulse input signals; Flow Rates to 95.1 GPD, pressure to 100 PSI; Accuracy: +/- 1% repeatability full range; No pulsation - continuous stream injection; Tube Failure Detection (TFD) Alarm System; Easy to read LCD display and controls; Corrosion resistant enclosure.

Ceramic moisture sensor - Michell Instruments' lates ceramic moisture sensor has been designed using a 360 Deg development process which looked at the needs of all potential stakeholders in the product; from the technical requirements of the customer, through ease of manufacturing and service, to the look and feel of the instrument to the user.

Almost 2million hits - The report on last years performance of the Read-out Instrumentation Signpost shows continued growth during 2004. 294.726 people visited 415.374 pages making 1.962.898 hits throughout the year. These figures are assembled by our host (Vario). The graph shows the growth in popularity of the site month on month since they started compiling records for us since July 2000.
For more details see Statistics 2004.