Presentations available! - The presentations in the Automation Connections Theater and the Standards Theater from the ISAExpo 2006 show are now accessible online on the ISA website.

User's conference announced - ExperTune and TiPS have announced their 2007 User's Conference, to be held April 17-19, in Austin, Texas (US). The conference theme, "Build a Stronger Automation Foundation", captures the essence of the event, which will focus on technologies and techniques that restore and strengthen your automation infrastructure

Major investment in Irish plant - CRH plc, the international building materials group, has just announced that its Irish subsidiary, Irish Cement Limited, is commencing a €200m investment project to modernise its Platin Cement Works near Drogheda (IRL). The new plant - CRH's largest ever single investment in Ireland - comprises a new kiln line and milling facility and will replace the older of the two existing kilns. It will increase the cement capacity of Platin Works from approximately 2 million tonnes to 2.8 million tonnes and will ensure that adequate supplies of cement are available in Ireland for the future.

Worldwide total process automation market to reach nearly $79 billion - Manufacturing companies continue to increase investments in capital expenditures for automation equipment as they clearly recognize the role of automation in the fierce global market. As a result, the worldwide market for total process automa-tion will grow robustly, with ARC expecting a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.4% over the next five years. The market was nearly $58 billion in 2005 and is forecasted to reach nearly $79 billion in 2010, according to a new ARC Advisory Group study. "Modern process automation plays a key role in enabling integration of real-time visibility, agility, and speed into the performance management system so that the enterprise re-mains on course in improving business performance," according to Senior Analyst Himanshu Shah, the principal author of ARC's "Automation for the Process Industries Worldwide Outlook".

High speed machine vision - Speed was a recurrent theme at the GigE Vision™and Gen Cam technology day hosted by Firstsight Vision at the RBS Williams F1 Conference Centre in Oxfordshire (GB). Through a series of presentations, details of the GigE Vision™and Genicam standards and their interrelation were explained together with a discussion of their future importance.

Free seminar on Dioxin monitoring - Quantitech has issued an open invitation to attend a seminar on techniques and technologies to monitor Dioxins. The seminar will take place at the Open University in Milton Keynes (GB) on Thursday 22nd February 2007. An expert from specialist instrument manufacturer TCR Tecora will speak at the seminar on an automated version of the long-established manual method. The new system is uniquely able to comply with both EN1948 and USEPA Method 23.

CompactPCI Dual PMC SBC utilizes Intel® Core™ 2 Duo processor - Concurrent Technologies announces the release of an Intel® Core™ 2 Duo processor based CompactPCI single board computers (SBC) as a performance upgrade from the PP 410/03x released earlier in the year. The PP 412/03x uses the latest mobile dual core processor from the Intel® embedded roadmap, the 2.16 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7400 processor, giving an even greater improvement in measured performance/watt. The PP 412/03x can access up to 4 Gbytes DDR2-400 ECC SDRAM at up to 6.4 Gbytes/s. And for I/O flexibility there are two high performance PMC sites supporting both front and rear I/O, three Gigabit Ethernet interfaces, PICMG® 2.16 (Ethernet fabric), PICMG 2.9 (IPMI) and PICMG 2.1 (hot swap).

Providing complete data acquisition system for stress analysis testing- Vishay Intertechnology has released their System 7000. Designed for use with Vishay Micro-Measurements StrainSmart® software, System 7000 has all the features needed to acquire, reduce, and present data from strain gages and related sensors for stress analysis testing. Able to address a wide range of precision strain measurement needs, System 7000 can be configured with a virtually unlimited number of sensors. Applications include design verification of engineered products like aircraft, automobiles, construction machinery, bridges, buildings, as well as analysis of component failures from industrial (ventilating equipment, pumps, compressors, shafts, bearings) to computers (printed circuit boards, display screens, key boards, hard drives, peripheral devices) to medical (respirators, pumps, prostheses, autoclaves, dental implants) to consumer (sports equipment, cell phones, electronic gaming, lawn and garden equipment, bicycles).

Capacitive liquid level sensor - Gill Sensors, has developed a new capacitive liquid level sensor designed specifically to cater for WRC, Touring Car, Sports Car and similar applications. Available for either gasoline/petroleum, oil or bio-fuel medium, the R-Series sensor is a solid-state device and utilises the same capacitive measurement technology as the Gill custom motorsport range of sensors successfully campaigned in F1, IRL, CHAMP and LMP for many years.
Gill Sensors will be exhibiting at the mtec 2006 show in February

High performance, budget-priced weighing cells - In a price leadership move, long-established measurement specialist RDP Electronics has announced a range of high performance single point weighing cells that will appeal to volume purchasers for embodiment in products such as electronic weighing machines. Without compromising quality or performance and backed by their well respected technical support, the company are offering weighing cells for less than £25 after quantity discounts - representing significant savings.

Documenting SCADA projects with one click - Independent software innovators COPA-DATA announce a new built-in documentation wizard that creates project documentation easily in a fully automated process, furthermore it comes as standard for zenOn 6.2 customers as part of the new service pack 4.
Even the smallest project requires documentation, whether it is simply a book explaining the symbols in the SCADA project (inputs and outputs, colour coding, etc) or a full, picture by picture definition of all symbols and variables. It can take system integrators weeks to document a typical SCADA system. This represents significant engineering cost and short cuts can result in a lack of proper documentation which leads to future problems.

Drives work wonders for woodworkers - A plant wide energy efficiency installation is already saving 120,000GBP a year in the woodworking shops at door and mouldings company BLP in Doncaster. The new system, based on variable speed drives, PLCs and HMIs from Mitsubishi Electric, is being expanded into a third building, bringing even greater gains in the near future.

Rodless cylinders win ATEX approval - ATEX dust certification has been achieved by Hoerbiger-Origa rodless pneumatic cylinders, the first such actuators to have this now-critical approval. This complements the existing ATEX gas approval that the cylinders already hold.

The ultimate truly open enhanced RTU for utility industry applications - Sixnet has announced its latest addition to their IPm product line, the Mini-VersaTRAK mIPm PLUS RTU. The mIPm+ (which stands for mini-IPm PLUS) is a compact unit with Ethernet, up to 4 serial ports and a built-in mix of 26 discrete and analog I/O. Like all of their IPm Controllers and RTUs it is pre-loaded with open-source Linux and the IPm firmware which offers many advanced automation, control and data acquisition capabilities.

Process standardisation - PI (ProfiBus & ProfiNETInternational) is standardising the use of ProfiNET in process automation. After completing the integration of ProfiBus PA in ProfiNET IO, work was extended to include the integration of HART and Foundation Fieldbus. The particular requirements of process automation for PROFINET are being drawn up by the PI working group "DCS Requirements", in conjunction with NAMUR. These requirements will then be implemented by several working groups simultaneously. A particularly important aspect of this is the compatible extension of the PROFIBUS application profiles, which have been proven in many process-control applications.
More on our Fieldbus News Page

Transition year students participate in RoboCup Ireland 2007 - Students from Alexandra College, Dublin are one of 44 teams across the country who will participate in 'RoboCup Ireland 2007'. RoboCup Ireland 2007 is a national competition where students design, develop, build and programme a fully functional robot to battle it out against other robots, designed by other schools. Students participate in three individual competition categories - Soccer, Rescue and Dance. In 2006 team Ireland won three awards at the RoboCup International finals in Bremen, Germany.
Students who are sports-minded must prepare their robot to play a game of soccer by programming the robot to identify an infrared ball and move the ball towards the opposition's goal.
Dance orientated students have to develop a robot which can perform to dance music with the robots being judged on creativity, costume and dance moves.
Students aspiring to a life in the rescue service will be pitted against each other to develop a robot which can help identify fictitious accident victims and negotiate a number of obstacles in order to rescue the victim.

Key analogue and RF workshop comes to Belgium - AMI Semiconductor, leading designer and manufacturer of state-of-the-art integrated mixed-signal and structured digital products for the automotive, medical and industrial markets, has announced that it will be organising the 16th annual Advances in Analogue Circuit Design (AACD) Workshop in Belgium. IMEC, Europe's leading independent nanoelectronics research institute, will technically co-sponsor the conference in cooperation with the IEEE Solid-State Circuits Society (SSCS) Benelux chapter. The 2007 will take place from 27th to 29th March in Ostend,(B).

Wireless aircraft weighing system - Vishay Intertechnology has released the Vishay Revere JetWeigh-W™ wireless aircraft weighing system. The new JetWeigh-W system, which integrates wireless communication, digital weighing, and high-accuracy load cell technologies, eliminates the need for cable connections. It is an accurate and easy-to-use system that ensures correct weighing even under severe vibration and oscillation conditions.

Customisable ball valve offers patented performance features - Flowserve's Worcester CPT valves offer many customizable features that enable them to be used for some of the processing industries' highest-precision applications. CPT series valves can be used in systems that control steam pressure or pH levels, operate in low temperature cryogenic conditions or up to 1000°F (538°C), and meet EPA and OSHA specifications for containing toxic chemicals. Widely used in the oil and gas industry, the CPT has been approved by Factory Mutual for fuel gas safety shutoff service and flow control.

New real time marketing solutions at retail business show - Comtech M2M, a leading Machine-to-Machine (M2M) Solution Provider, will showcase its new Real-time Marketing Solutions at the joint Retail Business Show and Screen Expo on 31st January and 1st February 2007 in London, England. Comtech will be demonstrating real-time remote managed marketing solutions on stand F73, which provide control and monitoring "from afar" to optimise marketing campaigns, ensure compliance and improve consumer awareness.

Short stroke position transducers are ideal for wet or submersible applications - When accurate measurement or control is called for in wet production locations such as pulp and paper plants or in the water industry, then the DCW range of short-stroke LVDT position transducers from RDP Electronics will fit the bill. In fact these LVDTs, complete with integral signal conditioning electronics, are fully tested for totally submersed operations such as cable laying too!

Plant-wide control system for chemical plant - Yokogawa has been awarded a contract by K Home International Ltd. to supply, install and commission integrated CENTUM CS3000 distributed control and ProSafe RS safety systems for a new ETFE process plant at the AGC Chemicals Europe (AGCCE) manufacturing plant at Thornton Cleveleys, near Blackpool, Lancashire.
AGCCE is one of the world's leading producers of fluorochemicals and fluoropolymer materials, and the Thornton plant manufactures PTFE resins, dispersions and lubricant powders.
• Single-loop controllers offer improved connectivity and enhanced features - The new Yokogawa YS1000 Series is a new range of single-loop controllers which offer improved connectivity with supervisory control systems and incorporate new, enhanced features that help operators work more efficiently.

  New series of fibre-optic temperature measurement systems - The FOTEMP series of fibre-optic temperature measurement systems from Calex Electronics can provide accurate temperature measurement in situations where conventional temperature sensors cannot operate. They can be used in areas with high electromagnetic interference, microwave fields, vacuums and other areas where it is not possible to use thermocouples, platinum resistance thermometers or thermistors.

  High-performance split-core current transformers for energy-efficiency and active power monitoring - LEM has introduced the TT series of compact split-core AC current transformers. These new devices feature an innovative type of core material, enabling this technology to be the first to offer high performance coupled with an attractive price. The core material used in the transformers is a new type of ferrite with improved magnetic permeability, allowing the accurate measurement of AC signals in a extended frequency range that includes 50/60Hz.

  Certification awarded - ONG Automation Ltd has achieved the highest level of participation in the Wonderware® System Integrator (SI) Program by becoming ArchestrA® Certified. This acknowledges system integrators' expertise with building products that leverage ArchestrA technology and specifically the Wonderware Industrial Application Server. Wonderware products are marketed and supported in Ireland and the UK by Pantek Limited.
  Pantek are advertisers with the Read-out Instrumentation Signpost

  Reliable weighing in hazardous areas with combustible dusts - Weighing in hazardous areas is often associated with cost-intensive, specially developed equipment and complicated accessories. The ATEX approval granted to the new Sartorius EC1XS series of stainless steel scales solves this by providing a cost efficient solution to many weighing applications. The ATEX approval permits use in zones 1 and 2 (gas) in gas group IIB and temperature class T4, as well as in zone 21 and 22 (dust) for dusts with an ignition temperature greater than 155°C.

  ARC Monthly Magazine December 2006

  Get your Blog fix! - We have recently added a Blog section to our Discussion pages. It is part of the section listing Newsgroups (remember them?). The latest that we have come across is from David Gibson of Splat. He calls it rather imaginatively In Control!

  Bench power supply reflects use of lower voltage circuitry - TTi (Thurlby Thandar Instruments) has replaced its best-selling EL302T triple-output laboratory power supply with a new model that incorporates a fully variable third output. The new EL302Tv is a linear regulated power supply with dual outputs of 0 to 30 V at 0 to 2 A. The third output is now continuously variable between 1.5 V and 5.0 V at currents of up to 2 A, replacing the fixed 3.3 V/5 V at 1 A auxiliary output of its predecessor.

Trip amps and signal converters meet safety requirements of demanding industries - Lee-Dickens tells us that its range of high quality trip amplifiers and signal converters have in most cases been assessed and awarded SIL2 rating (with a proof test interval of one year) by the independent safety integrity consultant - RM Consultants. The continuing drive to improve the performance, reliability and standardisation of safety systems led to the IEC61508 standard 'Functional Safety of electrical/ electronic/programmable electronic safety related systems', which defines safety integrity levels (SIL) as measures of the safety of a given process.

Selected for inclusion in M2M directory - Comtech M2M has been selected for the M2M 100 annual directory of top M2M technology and service provider companies for the third year running by M2M Magazine, published by Specialty Publishing Co. Comtech are one of only 41 companies that have made the M2M 100 directory every year it has been published. To put this into perspective, since the first M2M 100 directory was published in 2004, 78 companies have been removed from one year's list to the next. This highlights Comtech as an early pioneer and one of the key leaders in M2M with mature solutions delivering business value now.

World's first dry block calibrator to provide fast, accurate calibration down to -90°C - The new Jofra ATC-125 ultra cooler from Ametek Calibration Instruments is the world's first dry-block calibrator capable not only of reaching -90°C but to have a temperature range of 215°C (-90 to 125°C). Featuring patent-applied for Free Piston Stirring Cooler (FPSC) technology for cooling, together with a special heating element, the ATC-125 offers high accuracy and excellent stability. Most importantly, its extremely fast heating and cooling makes a 5 point calibration up to 5 times quicker than with an equivalent liquid bath. It can be used equally as easily in a laboratory or factory environment.

The "ABCs of the Internet Protocol" Contemporary Controls offers engineers a valuable document on the IP (Internet Protocol) portion of the TCP/IP stack as it applies to control networks. This document defines TCP/IP and other topics including data encapsulation, routers and hosts, IP addressing and the IP header. The IP is responsible for the end-to-end delivery of datagrams over an Internet. It also provides host and network addressing and the means for fragmenting datagrams into manageable packets. IP is a routable protocol and much of its complexity is due to its ability to route packets directly within a local network or indirectly through routers. Routers are not ideal for a control network since they reduce determinism and increase data latency. Download in pdf format.

Three-dimensional control and monitoring - With SafetyEYE, Pilz is opening up new horizons for factory and non-factory automation. The safe camera system for three-dimensional zone monitoring was developed by Pilz in conjunction with DaimlerChrysler. Where today's applications still require a multitude of sensors, SafetyEYE places a customised, three-dimensional protective cocoon around the danger zone. Detection zones can be configured flexibly and quickly on the PC. With this you can protect, control and monitor with just one system. Users in the safety sector benefit from increased flexibility and productivity, while the security sector benefits from uninterrupted object monitoring and access guarding.

Global DCS market growth approaches 7% through 2010 - The Distributed Control System (DCS) market experienced the strongest growth in a decade between 2004 and 2005, increasing at a rate of close to 9%. This strong growth is expected to continue through 2010, with the global market increasing at an average annual rate of almost 7%, according to the new ARC Advisory Group study, "Distributed Control System (DCS) Worldwide Outlook".

• In another study ("Human Machine Interface Software Worldwide Outlook")they report that he Human Machine Interface (HMI) software market, which totaled over $650 million in 2005, will reach $1 billion in 2010, outperforming the industrial automation market and growing at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 9% over the next five years, according to a new ARC Advisory Group study.

  Online business network for chemistry and life sciences growing rapidly - Just eight months after its launch, the LabCircle.net networking platform that is operated jointly by Chemie.DE Information Service GmbH and Munich International Trade Fairs' Analytica has welcomed its 1,000th member. The international LabCircle community has experienced continuous growth since the online network for the laboratory-technology, analysis, biotechnology, chemistry and pharmaceuticals industries was first introduced at Analytica 2006.

  Multi-million dollar automation and safety contract for Yemen grassroots LNG plant - Invensys Process Systems has been awarded a multi-million dollar contract to provide distributed control systems (DCS), safety systems and fire & gas systems for the Yemen LNG Company Ltd. plant being built at Balhaf, on Yemen's south coast. The new $2+ billion grassroots plant is the first LNG plant in Yemen, and the Foxboro implementation will be the first major DCS in Yemen.

  New web enabled controller released - Control Technology Corp has added the Model 5300 to its Blue Fusion™ line of web enabled automation controllers. It supports their patented web server technology, enabling users to securely monitor and control process variables over intranets or the Internet using a standard web browser. By using the webHMI software, customers can create graphical HMI projects that can be hosted on the 5300's web server giving any browser based device interactive HMI functionality. It is ideal for SCADA applications, especially those that require 24-hour remote access. The 5300's built-in high speed data logging capability stores time and date stamped measurements to internal or external data files for documentation and regulatory purposes.
  Other highlights include Fully modular architecture, Rugged Industrial Design, Industry Leading I/O density, Dual CPU technology and Removable Flash Disk.

  MEASUREMENT UNCERTAINTY, 4TH EDITION Ronald H. Dieck Measurement Uncertainty is designed to serve as a practical desk reference in situations that commonly confront an experimenter. The text presents the basics of the measurement uncertainty model, non-symmetrical systematic standard uncertainties, random standard uncertainties, the use of correlation, curve-fitting problems, and probability plotting, combining results from different test methods, calibration errors, and uncertainty propagation for both independent and dependent error sources. The new uncertainty technologies embodied in both U.S. and international standards have been incorporated into this text with a view toward understanding the strengths and weaknesses of both. More details, pricing, and to order

  Preparing customers for highly anticipated operating system - National Instruments has announced that NI LabVIEW, the graphical design platform for test, control and embedded system development, as well as other NI application software and device drivers will be compatible with Windows Vista. Windows Vista, the latest version of the Microsoft Windows operating system is scheduled for commercial release in early 2007 and features significant updates and changes that will impact engineering and scientific applications, including a focus on increased security, improved search capabilities, additional application programming interfaces (APIs) for controlling new aspects of the operating system and a 64-bit edition.

• National Instruments and QNX Software Systems have teamed up to extend the LabVIEW graphical dataflow environment to the QNX® Neutrino® real-time operating system (RTOS). Engineers can now use the NI LabVIEW Embedded Development Module with the QNX Neutrino RTOS to add comprehensive support for multicore processors and target any supported hardware platform for QNX Neutrino.

  New range of low voltage air circuit breakers - The Super AE-SW Series of Air Circuit Breakers from Mitsubishi Electric, offers a huge array of customer-friendly features in the most compact size yet seen on the world market and is seen as setting the standard to which competitors must aspire. With easy fitting, customised protection to meet the customer’s exact needs, class-leading performance and enhanced network support for comprehensive monitoring and control, the Super AE-SW Series packs a big punch in a small package.

• Their high-efficiency FR-FR700 series of drives has now been extended to include a new range of dust and splash-proofed drives for the building services sector – the IP54 rated FR-F746 series.

  Heavy duty actuator gets a little brother! - Hoerbiger-Origa has extended its BHD series of modular belt-driven linear actuators for heavy duty applications with the addition of a small size 20mm unit. cDeveloped to offer the advantages of a sealed mechanism and fit-and-forget installation, the BHD incorporates a precision recirculating ball bearing rail that gives it a load bearing capacity up to 2 tonnes, making it suitable for the most demanding of applications.

  Start reducing damaged returns with new smart label kits - Lamerholm Electronics has announced a special package deal for companies wanting to trial its range of damage deterrent labels. The new Combination Kit comprises 50 labels covering three weight ranges 100g, 75g and 50g. Each pack will contain a combination of ShockWatch, TiltWatch and Companion Labels, along with Alert Stickers. A significant price reduction makes this trial pack an ideal choice for companies wanting to test out these damage deterrent labels, proving that they can reduce delivery damage and save both time and money having to handle less product returns.

  Equipping a steel plant - After equipping the pilot plant for the new POSCO steel mill with flow measuring equipment, Krohne has now received the follow-up order. The plant, which uses the FINEX process, has a capacity of 1.5 million tons of steel per year and Krohne has supplied several hundred H250 all-metal variable area flowmeters for the facility. POSCO also uses several hundred OptiFlux electro-magnetic flowmeters, some of which are the two-wire version. Some of the signal converters used are IFC 300's, which offer POSCO extensive diagnostic functions that give information about the process.

Short-term temperature/humidity monitoring tool - Dickson TH800 Temperature and Humidity Chart Recorders, ideal for troubleshooting retail operations hot spots and other problematic variations in temperature and humidity conditions, are now available on the website. Battery-operated and cord-free, Dickson TH800 Chart Recorders are easily moved from place to place during short-term site monitoring and testing.

Compact, digital IR thermometer suited for applications with difficult - Raytek has expanded the capabilities of its compact, digital MI Series infrared (IR) temperature sensor. The MI sensor now features increased optical resolution, optimizing its performance in demanding process control environments and allowing direct replacement of contact probes. Due to its miniature size and broad feature set, the MI Series is one of the top-selling IR sensors in the world.

Compact, affordable spectroscopic ellipsometer for thin film measurement - "Mikropack has introduced a compact, easy-to-use, bench-top spectroscopic ellipsometer for thin film measurement. The SpecEL-2000-VIS is ideal for semi-transparent flat samples such as wafers and glass plates. It provides fast, precise measurement of layer thickness, refractive index, absorption and components ratio at the touch of a button.

Invensys again! We seem to have a large number of releases from Invensys today. Recently they held a customer conference attendedc by around 800 people. The indefatigable Walt Boyes attended and was among those who submitted the day by day reports which (as always) are worth reading. Highlights 4th Dec Highlights 5th Dec Highlights 6th Dec

New safety instrumented IO - Triconex part of Invensys Process Systems has announced a new generation of I/O subsystems for its flagship Tricon triple-modular-redundant (TMR) safety and critical control systems. The new family of I/O modules offers higher point density, higher resolution, faster scan rates, an innovative approach for per-point supervision, and user-configurable nominal load limits in the digital output modules. These new features provide increased speed and better accuracy in high-speed critical control applications, while decreasing the cost per I/O point and cost of ownership.

Partnership agreement highlights company expertise and single source capability - Amplicon has signed an agency agreement with Militram, one of Israel's largest and most successful representation companies. This partnership was a direct result of a very positive Electronica 2006 exhibition where Amplicon was showcasing a new product division, Security Automation; a new small form factor embedded PC, Impact-E, as well as an innovative workstation industrial PC to complement the already successful Amplicon Ventrix brand.

Closing force sensor protects moulds from damage - The force required to close a mould is an important parameter that needs to be monitored and controlled to protect the mould from damage. With the new strain transmitter Type 9238A, Kistler now offers a sensor that combines the measuring element and the electronics in a single housing. It measures both the small forces during mould movement and large forces during mould closure.

Multimillion dollar contract to upgrade control systems at Saudi Aramco's two largest gas plants - Invensys Process Systems has announced that it has been awarded a multi-million dollar contract from Saudi Aramco to upgrade the existing Foxboro distributed control systems (DCS) at Saudi Aramco's Shedgum and 'Uthmaniyah Gas Plants. Invensys Middle East will provide all engineering, procurement (hardware and software), and site services for the DCS upgrade project.

• In another release this company says that it has successfully completed a substantial contract to supply a revolutionary Custody Transfer System (CTS) for use on the new "Provalys" 150,000m3 Gaz de France LNG tanker. The tanker which has now completed sea trials has just started commercial operations in the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea.

  Long-term electrolyte process simulation software partnership enhanced - SimSci-Esscor (part of Invensys) and OLI Systems, have extended and enhanced a partnership for electrolytic process simulation. The agreement extends the twenty-seven-year alliance between the two companies, which integrates OLI's electrolyte algorithms and databanks with SimSci-Esscor's< process simulators.

  Clamp-on US flowmeter - The new Optisonic 6300 ultrasonic flowmeter from Krohne has already proved itself in a range of applications since its introduction. A Swiss chemical company uses the OPTISONIC 6300 to measure the volumetric flow of demineralized water for steam production. As inline measurement, with interruption of the process for the installation of measuring devices, was ruled out for the chemical company, they recommended the OPTISONIC 6300. This device is easy to install on the pipeline, in this case 2.6mm thick stainless steel pipe. The clamp-on measuring device measures the volumetric flow, which can be up to 70 m3/h.

  - Under the Vigilant Integration Partners (VIP) Initiative announced last February, Yokogawa Electric Corporation has entered into a formal mutual co-operation agreement with four control valve suppliers and is accelerating its efforts to play an active role in the global IA market.
  The VIP Initiative is an open and non-exclusive mutual technological co-operation program that Yokogawa has proposed in order to realise standard-based interoperability in control systems, sensors, and control valves in the process automation field.

  "A source of knowledge for all things static!" - Meech International, an established leader in static control, surface cleaning and compressed air solutions, has told us of its new global website at www.meech.com. This new site is a valuable source of information featuring comprehensive technical and application details for Meech's complete product range.

  Joint development effort will provide "out of the box" solution for integrating plant asset management information with business financials - The Avantis unit of Invensys Process Systems has announced that it has developed a new business system integration module for the Avantis.PRO enterprise asset management (EAM) software application. The new module, developed in conjunction with Microsoft, will provide standard integration between Avantis.PRO R4.1 and MicrosoftR DynamicsT AX Release 4.0 and Microsoft Dynamics GP Professional 9.0 business management applications. (Formerly Microsoft Axapta and Microsoft Great Plains) When available early in 2007, this important addition to the Avantis integration suite will eliminate much of the time and effort typically involved with integrating appropriate information from plant asset management systems into enterprise-level financial applications.

  Rack-mount managed Ethernet switches - Sixnet has introduced a new RK series of rack-mount industrial Ethernet managed switches offered in 16, 25 and 32-port models. The rugged 1U 19" rack-mount packaging was designed for heavy-duty carrier class and industrial applications that require high density in order to save cost and space. The RK16, RK25 and RK32 switches are extremely configurable with up to four flexible slots that accept a wide range of modules including 10/100 Mbps and 10/100/1000 Mbps copper RJ45 ports; 10, 100 or 1000 Mbps fiber optic ports for distances up to 120 km; plus Power Over Ethernet (POE) ports.

New flowmeter lowers the total installed cost of temperature compensated measurement points by 25% and reduces process variability in saturated steam applications - Emerson Process Management has announced the availability of the Rosemount MultiVariable 8800 Vortex Flowmeter. Users have traditionally preferred vortex technology in saturated steam applications due to its reliability and wide rangeability. However, users also desire a compensated mass flow output. By incorporating multivariable technology, Emerson can deliver all the benefits of proven Rosemount vortex technology and a temperature compensated mass flow output directly from the meter, reducing process variability.

World's first international open archive for research on technology-supported learning - The Kaleidoscope Network of Excellence has just launched TeLearn, the world's first internationally available Open Archive for technology-enhanced learning. TeLearn takes research results from across Europe drawn from diverse and converging disciplines such as computer, social and education sciences and puts them in one place. This contributes to one of the overarching drivers of Kaleidoscope - to reduce duplication, so shaping the scientific evolution of the field.

Sales and support in Northern Ireland for cable group - As part of its continuing commitment to industry in Northern Ireland, Lapp Group, one of the world's foremost manufacturers of cables, connectors and accessories, has appointed Donald Graham as Regional Sales Manager. Key to his new role includes reinforcing their longstanding presence in this market and promoting the company's reputation, not only as a competitive component supplier but also as a total solution provider. Donald will liase closely with their existing distribution and technical support personnel in the territory to identify specific product requirements and expand stockholding capacity to meet local needs.

Closing the communication gap - ProfiBus International has released the "ProfiNET and MES Maintenance Operations" guideline, which describes interface functions that support MES maintenance systems, thus facilitating consistent communication with PROFINET from the field level right up to top management. This makes it much easier to switch from preventive maintenance to condition monitoring in systems and machines.
The guideline can be downloaded from the ProfiBUS Website.

New parametric test software upgrade enhances parallel test, RF test, and ease of use capabilities - Keithley has announced the release of KTE V5.2, their Interactive Test Environment software for the Series S600 Parametric Test System. KTE V5.2 provides a number of features that dramatically increase throughput for leading-edge circuit materials testing, such as those requiring RF level frequencies, as well as incorporating improvements in parallel test routines used for lab and production applications. In addition, the KTE V5.2 software update offers significant improvements in ease of use that simplify testing.

Certification for rail products - The Harting Technology Group, manufacturer of heavy-duty connectors for industrial and transport applications, is the first company worldwide to receive quality certification to the new IRIS international quality standard for the railway industry.
IRIS - International Railway Industry Standard - has been created by UNIFE (the European association of the railway industry), and combines the quality requirements of ISO 9001 with the additional requirements of the railway industry.

New Ethernet I/O blocks process 96 I/O signals in a compact, stackable unit - Amplicon has introduced the new Acromag EtherStax ES2113, which features 96 discrete I/O channels that can be configured for any mix of digital inputs and outputs. These new Ethernet I/O blocks feature a copper or fibre-optic interface and support Modbus TCP/IP and peer-to-peer i2o communication. Housed in a rugged, stackable aluminium enclosure they include dual power connections and a communications watchdog for enhanced system reliability. Each model includes a built-in switch that provides dual Ethernet ports. This enables redundant communications compatible with STP, RSTP and proprietary schemes with two 10/100 Base-T copper ports. Alternatively, one copper and one multi-mode fibre port can be selected for longer distance communications.

Wireless meetings in Amsterdam - ISA's SP-100 committee, Wireless Standards for Automation, formed a new user working group (UWG) to provide input and feedback to the committee's technical working groups. This was formed to ensure that the ISA-100 standard will be consistent and provide maximum benefit to the market. The UWG will review, comment on, and provide recommendations for the work of all SP-100 technical working groups. The group will focus on both current and future industrial applications for wireless technology, and provide input that will help drive the development of ISA-100 compliant devices from multiple suppliers. "The UWG will act as a single, global voice of the end user community."
Meeting will be held 12-14 December 2006 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Bringing simplicity to the control of portable electronics - Omron has risen to the challenge of creating a compact and reliable control that provides convenient access to the growing functionality of portable consumer electronics with a new five way multifunction 'jog' style dial that sets new standards for switching performance, reliability and size.

Honouring technology leaders at 2006 Emerging Technologies Awards Banquet - Frost & Sullivan presented twenty five awards at its prestigious 2006 Emerging Technologies Awards Banquet held in Central London last week. Awards were presented for excellence in technological and product innovation across such diverse fields as homeland security, ambient intelligence, e-mail firewalls, reproductive monitoring and 3G-network technologies.


Complete list of award recipients: *2006 Technology Innovation Award - AltoBridge *2006 Technology Innovation Award - Clearswift Limited *2006 Technology Innovation Award - AlgoNomics NV *2006 Product Innovation Award - DIMACO UK Limited *2006 Technology Innovation Award - HotSip AB *2006 Excellence in Technology Award - DxS Limited *2006 Excellence in Technology Award - Aquanova *2006 Technology Leadership Award - Siemens AG, Power Transmission and Distribution *2006 Product Innovation Award - Eurotech S.p.A *2006 Product Innovation Award - Convergin *2006 Technology Innovation Award - EBI Food Safety B.V. *2006 Technology Innovation Award - EMITALL Surveillance *2005 Excellence in Technology Award - MediaCrypt - Nagravison *2006 Excellence in Technology Award - NICE Systems Ltd. *2006 Product Innovation Award - SenseAir *2006 Product Innovation Award - Ubisense *2006 Technology Innovation Award - OrSense *2006 Product Innovation Award - Modulight, Inc. *2006 Technology Innovation Award - Glycominds Limited *2006 Product Innovation Award - Lipid Nutrition B.V. *2006 Excellence in Technology Award - Bizanga Ltd. *2006 Vector Technologies for Gene Therapy and Genetic Vaccination-Technoloy Innovation of the Year Award - MOLOGEN Holding AG *2006 European Life Sciences and Pharmaceuticals - Product Innovation of the Year Award - Miltenyi Biotec *2006 Novel Skin Imaging Technology - European Technology Innovation of the Year Award –Astron Clinica *2006 Labour Monitoring Technologies - European Technology Innovation of the Year Award –Trig Medical Ltd.

Multi-million dollar automation contract for LNG offshore installation. - Invensys Process Systems has just announced that the Ras Laffan Liquefied Natural Gas Company Limited 3 (RL3) in Qatar, through its Engineering Procurement Construction Contractor - the Chiyoda (Japan) and Technip (France) joint venture - has awarded Invensys Singapore an automation contract for the LNG Trains 6 and 7 onshore expansion project. With an annual LNG capacity of 7.8 million metric tons (MMTA) each, RL3 Trains 6 and 7 will be among the world's largest LNG trains. When both new trains come on line by the end of 2008 and 2009, respectively, the RasGas LNG complex, located in Qatar's Ras Laffan City, will be the world's largest with a total LNG capacity of 36.3 MMTA.

Wireless trial pack - TDC has launched its latest addition to its wireless control product portfolio - the Trial Pack 3 from EnOcean. The EnOcean Trial Pack 3 contains everything required to try out the EnOcean batteryless and wireless technology in an existing light fitting or mains operated device. The Trial Pack 3 contains a single rocker switch and an RCM250 mains receiver used to switch mains power.

Professional development conference for test, control and design engineers - During October, National Instruments UK & Ireland hosted NIDays 2006, its annual professional development conference and exhibition for engineers and scientists, in association with the IET (Institution of Engineering and Technology - Europe's largest professional engineering society), at Savoy Place, their prestigious central London headquarters. Hundreds of engineers, scientists and industry experts from across Britain and Ireland - including representatives from AWE, Dyson, Motorola, Renishaw and Rutherford Appleton Laboratory - gathered at this one-day, multi-track event to learn about the latest developments in graphical system design and virtual instrumentation. Industry experts and fellow users described how to increase productivity and lower cost by combining off-the-shelf technologies with innovative software and modular hardware using this unique approach to embedded design, industrial control, and test and measurement.
Sessions were filmed by IET.tv for web broadcast and can be viewed, along with the presentations from the day here.

Due to circumstances beyond our control - big winds - we have been unable to keep the Signpost updated. We hope to be able to update from tomorrow 11th December 2006 weather permitting!

6/12/2006

New food brochure issued - With its current brochure for the food and beverage industry, Krohne provides users with an overview of the entire spectrum of measuring technology. It covers flow and level, pressure and temperature. The brochure includes solutions for conventional as well as difficult applications in plants of well-known companies of the industry. Illustrative aids show examples of measuring equipment in for example in beverage filling. The state-of-the-art in technology is showcased along this production chain. The brochure covers processes in breweries, juice, milk and ice cream production.

New network variables simplify communication to distributed windows and real-time targets - National Instruments has announced NI LabWindows/CVI 8.1, the latest version of the proven ANSI C integrated development environment for test, measurement and control applications. LabWindows/CVI 8.1 builds on nearly 20 years of reliability and innovation and delivers new technology that gives engineers a simplified interface for communicating between local or distributed LabWindows/CVI applications as well as a single toolchain to easily control and communicate with real-time targets.

Annual technology event themed "Changing the Playing Field" - The Fieldbus Foundation has announced that its 2007 General Assembly will be held in Houston, Texas, on February 22-23. Planned for the Houstonian Hotel, the annual event will be attended by Foundation technology suppliers, end users and other industry participants from around the world.
More on this and other Fieldbus News on our Fieldbus News Page

Quick response centre and training facility in Germany - Flowserve Corp has opened a new administrative headquarters for its Flow Solutions Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMA) operations. Located in Essen, Germany, the facility houses a Quick Response Center (QRC) that provides local sales, service, support and manufacturing of seals and associated products, and a Learning Resource Center (LRC) that offers best-practices maintenance training programs for pumps and seals for employees and customers.

European conference delivers valuable information - WBF tells us of the success of its European Conference held recently in Mechelen, (B). A record number of attendees heard from industry experts and keynote speakers Martin Zeller and Dennis Brandl. More than 150 industry professionals from 17 different countries participated in this bi-annual event sponsored by WBF and the Automation Federation. "The WBF European Conference presented attendees with unmatched technical papers, in-depth presentations, tutorials, descriptive forums, attendee networking, and knowledge sharing.
WBF is an association of end-users, vendors, consultants, and academics with a strict, non-commercial agenda.

Rotary position sensor - Gill Sensors, has developed a new non-contact 360° rotary position sensor suitable for harsh environments and will launch it at MTEC Sensors, Measurement & Instrumentation Show on 14th -15th February 2007. Small, light and robust, the Blade Rotary sensor is fully electronic with on-board processing providing considerable configuration flexibility.
More on this exhibit and other exhibitotors on our mtec Review.

Variable area flowmeters in systems engineering - As a market leader for variable area flowmeters, Krohne offers the VA 40, an impressive device for the area of industrial furnaces, particularly in heavy industry. A well-known systems engineer uses their variable area flowmeters with glass cones for measuring gases such as air, ammonia, propane, nitrogen etc. as well as fluids such as air or methanol. Typically the user would like to implement reliable and simple flow measurement, allowing on-site readings by operating personnel. Regardless of the nominal diameters and connections, the VA 40 always has the same compact installation length and this is one of the major reasons why it is so popular among systems engineers. KROHNE equips every measuring cone with a scale, designed for the medium to be measured and for the operating conditions.

Dynamic radar - VEGA have introduced enhanced electronics versions to their standard radar level transmitters by utilising components of the high dynamic range solids level device. This is especially useful for really challenging liquids applications with ultra low reflectivity and for more difficult foaming, agitated processes. To measure solids level reliably, major technological advances have been achieved in signal processing to handle the weak return signals from low reflectivity products (e.g. plastics), uneven product surfaces and heavy dust, both of which can scatter and attenuate return signals. This is achieved with enhancements to the electronics design. The solids radar was 1000 times more sensitive than standard radar when it came to the market. Now some of these benefits have been passed on to the standard liquids radar ensuring even more reliable measurement.

Advanced coriolis flow and density measurement technologies lead! - Frost & Sullivan has selected Emerson Process Management, as the recipient of a 2006 Technology Leadership Award for the company's introduction and continuing development of Micro Motion® Coriolis advanced flow and density measurement technology.
Coriolis technology, ideal for a large number of gas and liquid applications, offers high accuracy measurement for a range of operating environments. While other measurement technologies may require additional pressure and temperature devices, a single Coriolis meter measures mass and density directly for improved efficiency and reliability in the process.

State-of-the-art facility calibrates all types of flow measurement devices - Flow Technology has announced the opening of its new flowmeter calibration, service & repair center. This state-of-the-art facility is equipped with one of the industry's largest selections of primary standard flow calibrators. This service and repair center, located at the company's new headquarters in Arizona (US) can calibrate almost all types of industrial flow measurement devices, including turbine, coriolis, positive displacement and variable area meters. A variety of calibration procedures can be performed, including Reynolds Number and Universal Viscosity Curve (UVC) calibrations.

Software defined radio spec alliance announced - The VITA Standards Organization (VSO) and the Software Defined Radio Forum (SDR Forum) have announced that they will collaborate on software-defined radio specification activities underway at each organization. The initial focus of the relationship will be in the area of Digital Intermediate Frequency (DigitalIF) data transport. DigitalIF defines the signal and control data that is passed between the radio frequency (RF) subsystem and the baseband signal processing subsystem of a software- defined radio.

New application guidance on mercury monitoring - Quantitech, supplier of analytical instrumentation, has announced the publication of a new application note on the Determination of Mercury in Water by Cold Vapour Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy.
Mercury is a toxic element found throughout the environment. It is highly mobile and is able to diffuse through air, soil and water.
Fish have the ability to bio-accumulate mercury (in its methylated form) to 100,000 times the concentration of the water they inhabit and as result mercury levels in the environment are of great concern.

Going wireless - Engineers and scientists requiring connectivity to in-vehicle communication buses and sensors along with wireless communication now have more options for acquisition, design and control applications. Industry leaders such as AVIAOK International Company, Drivven and Science & Engineering Applications Datentechnik GmbH (S.E.A.) have developed custom modules for the National Instruments CompactRIO platform, adding a wide variety of functionality to the platform for automotive, aerospace and military in-vehicle applications; wireless communications; and position monitoring for mobile applications; as well as direct connectivity to in-vehicle sensors for electronic control unit (ECU) design and rapid prototyping.

Compact hollow shaft encoders offer surface-mount flexibility - Abacus Deltron is targeting automotive and home appliance markets with a new ultra-low profile shaft encoder with a height of just 3mm. The ALPS RDC083E 15mm encoder from Abacus Deltron is a new 360º hollow shaft encoder that is exceptionally compact, offering designers the flexibility of a footprint of just 15 x 15mm as well as its low profile.

UK sales strengthened by new appointment - Schaffner has appointed Chris Myers as Sales Manager for the Northern Region of the UK. Chris has joined Schaffner with seven years experience working in electrical and electronic engineering and has a great deal of expertise working on large projects in energy and industrial markets. Chris has worked with OEMs, machine builders and contractors, which will enable him to understand the EMC requirements of all sections of industry and provide the most suitable EMC solutions for their systems.

Full-featured mini OTDR sets new standards for performance, speed and ease of use - The new Yokogawa AQ7270 fiberXplorer is a mini OTDR (optical time-domain reflectometer) which sets new standards in terms of performance, speed of operation, and ease of use to aid the installation and maintenance of core, metro and access networks including FTTH (fibre to the home) and PON (passive optical networks).

Fieldbus conference in Germany - The Fieldbus Foundation held its inaugural EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) conference in Mannheim (D), in September. This year's meeting was hosted by Pepperl+Fuchs at the company's headquarters. Forty delegates participated during this three day event. Attendees included the Foundation's regional chairmen from across the continent and several experienced users of Foundation) technology. The conference was organised to discuss future developments of FF technology, exchange information between users and manufacturers and to establish the strategies for the activities of the various national Fieldbus Foundation Committees.
Next year's meeting will be hosted by MTL, Luton (GB), during the Autumn.

GOOD TUNING: A POCKET GUIDE, 2ND EDITION Gregory K. McMillan Publisher: ISA Good Tuning: A Pocket Guide includes step-by-step descriptions of the three best field-proven tuning procedures, a table of typical tuning settings, a summary of valve performance problems, logic diagrams for troubleshooting, and over 70 "rules of thumb". Wherever you have data and tuning access, you can estimate the settings for configuring new loops to review and improve the tuning of existing loops.

Don't touch! The shaft is turning! - Total solutions for non-contact torque measurement can be seen on Sensor Technology's stand at the 2007 M-Tec exhibition ( Birmingham, GB, Feb 2007). Details of their stand and other mtec news may be seen on out mtec Review
Latest reports from the organisers is that "demand for exhibition space at Mtec 2007 - Sensors, Measurement & Instrumentation has just gone through the roof".

Power conditioner provides redundant power - CA-MooreHawke, part of Moore Industries, introduces the FPS200 TrunkGuard Fieldbus Power Conditioner. The FPS200 provides conditioned power for Foundation Fieldbus (FF) H1 networks in general purpose and non-incendive applications. It is available in both simplex (non-redundant) and duplex (redundant) models. The simplex configuration allows up to eight FPS200 power conditioner modules to be installed on a single DIN-rail carrier to provide power to up to eight individual H1 fieldbus segments. Each plug-in module provides 350mA at 26V of isolated, conditioned power, fully compliant with the FF831-1 fieldbus specification. The FPS200 is FF registered.

Labels replaces engraved nameplates - Brady is now supplying its of EPREP (Engraved Plate Replacement) labels, designed to replace engraved and printed nameplates for the identification of electrical components, electrical cabinets, push-buttons and signal lights, as well as visual process instructions for instrumentation, motor control units and production lines. The new EPREP labels are based on the new material B-7593, developed by Brady, which offers high print quality and durability in the field.

Outstanding analysers For C, S, N, Cl, TOX, POX, EOX - The Analytik Jena multi® systems from Lambda Advanced Technology provide a comprehensive analysis capability for the analysis of key elements and organic components in environmental monitoring and in process and quality control. These include C. S. N. Cl, TOX, POX, EOX, NPOX, and TIC. The range includes the multi N/C®, the multi X® 2000, the multi EA® 2000 CS, the multi EA® 2000 Cl, and the multi EA® 3100.

"The fast and versatile fibre optic sensor interrogator system!" - XenICs, in a cooperation with FOS&S, has designed a novel evaluation system for fiber optic sensors based on Fiber Bragg gratings. With its high scan rate of 3.3kHz, XenICs' DynoSense enables fiber optic mea-surement technology to analyze up to 40 sensors per fiber. With this ap-proach, DynoSense 300 opens up a multitude of new applications based on fiber optics.

New business manager appointed - Peter Gordge has been appointed as Business Manager for a range of services offered by the newly formed Precision Solutions business centre of MBDA UK. Precision Solutions provides commercial organizations access to a vast array of MBDA's specialist expertise, many of which were previously only available to the military sector. Peter's specific responsibility is for the supply of a host of environmental testing facilities, as well as electromagnetic compatibility testing and radiation effects.

Push-Pull overmoulded patch cables - Harting has introduced a range of patch cables which combine the company's Push-Pull interconnection technology with overmoulding for enhanced reliability. Like the complete RJ Industrial family, the Push-Pull overmoulded devices used in the cables are based on the RJ 45 mating face, and are designed to meet the requirements of 100 Mbit/s Fast Ethernet and PROFINET in industrial applications.

A successful show - yes really! SPS/IPC/DRIVES 2006, Europe's leading exhibition for electric automation closed its doors today at 5 p.m. 1,203 exhibitors experienced three extremely successfull exhibition days. They presented their products and services to the trade visitors in eight exhibition halls (77,500 sqm). From 28 - 30 November 2006 more than 43,000 (almost 10,000 more than last year!) visitors came to Nuremberg (D) to attend the event.
SPS/IPC/DRIVES 2007 will take place at the exhibition centre Nuremberg from 27 - 29 November 2007. Sounds like a "must see" event!

A drive for all motors! - Aerotech's Ndrive® is a DSP based high-performance digital servo amplifier that provides the power for A3200 distributed control applications by processing high-speed IEEE-1394 Firewire® delivered motion commands with 20 KHz servo loop closure rates for current, velocity, and position. Easily configured for linear and rotary brushless servo motors, brushed dc motors and stepper motors, this versatile drive also handles encoder or resolver feedback and digital/analogue I/O with some models benefiting from a 10/100 Ethernet port for third party devices and PLC's.

Modular surge arrester with advanced protection features - Dehn has introduced a modular version of the DEHNguard surge arrester featuring a number of advanced protection features. The modular construction of the new unit means that it can be supplied as a single-pole surge arrester or in a number of complete pre-wired assemblies for common system configurations. Each unit features multi-function terminals on a standard spacing for the connection of conductors and busbars, and the modules can easily be assembled and exchanged using a simple module-release button.

New low-cost, full featured GPIB interface introduced - Keithley Instruments has announced the Model KPCI-488LP Low Profile GPIB Controller Interface plug-in board. A complement to Keithley's precision measurement instruments, the Model KPCI-488LP is priced at only €369, helping test engineers to further lower their cost of test and ownership. To reduce switching costs, its driver library is fully command compatible with Keithley, Capital Equipment Corporation (CEC), and National Instruments (NITM) command sets, making it plug-and-play compatible with existing applications. Providing command compatibility protects a user's software investment and lowers their overall cost of test.

Robust and Cost-effective oxygen analysis - The new Model EC600 oxygen transducer from Systech Instruments is aimed at the OEM market but is equally suitable for industrial and laboratory applications where a reliable, simple to install oxygen analysis transducer is needed. The combination of a single gas inlet with a choice of pipe fittings, in-built pressure regulation or ambient operation, simple on-site calibration and 2-wire, 420mA loop power make the EC600 ideal for a wide range of applications including monitoring glove boxes, nitrogen generators and gas shrouding systems.

'Best in Class' in report on manufacturing intelligence - Pantek, distributors of Wonderware prioducts in Britain and Ireland tell us that a recent Aberdeen Group survey has found that customers using Wonderware software solutions performed significantly better in their businesses than users of other manufacturing intelligence software in a number of critical manufacturing areas. The results were compiled in the latest Aberdeen Group Benchmark Report on Manufacturing Intelligence.