See Archive Page for earlier news.

30/10/99

• Courses in Europe - Beginning this November, ISA and Shell Global Solutions will offer five courses on a variety of process control topics. These courses, which are being taught at the Shell Learning Centre in the Netherlands, provide first-rate classrooms and equipment, hands-on training, and industry-seasoned instructors.

• Pressure in the paper and pulp and steel Industry - Research into the paper and pulp industry has resulted in the development of the Schaevitz Ceramic pressure transducer, which specifically meets the particular requirements this market seeks.
  For the last 15 years, Schaevitz (TRW Automotive) has successfully met global transducer requirements from the steel industry. With its diverse range of P900 electrical input and output product features, and ability to provide non-standard pressure ranges, a whole range of needs and applications can be met.
• Signal conditioning market targeted - The new low-cost, compact PX Series of process signal conditioning modules from Brodersen maintains data integrity, whilst at the same time taking up less than half the space of conventional products.
• OSPMA - FieldComms takes off! - Companies are already reserving space for OSPMA FieldComms 2000 following the success of the 1999 event, which ran early October in TeIford. The dates are 24-25th October 2000. This show is organised by FieldComms International.
  See also our Fieldbus Conferences Page and our Ehibitions Page.

• The future of industrial machine control in factory automation - Machine control is a critical factor in factory automation. The types and levels of factory automation available to a company in the years 2002 and 2007 are being determined by the trends for industrial machine control. Planners and implementers of factory automation need to know what these trends are. The Industrial Controls Consulting division of Bull's Eye Marketing, Inc. has conducted an in-depth survey of 343 top marketing, engineering and management persons in the machine control industry to determine the trends of machine control.
• Extended inverter range ensures healthy european sales position - Thorough research of the European manufacturing automation and process controls industries has led Matsushita Automation Controls to project that sales of its just-launch VF-C inverter range will achieve 45,OOOpcs across Europe within the first three years.
• Embedded HMI solutions for CE and NT - Nematron, designer and manufacturer of PC-based industrial automation solutions, plans to introduce a new embedded product line for small to mid-range HMI applications. The e-Series, available with a 7.7-inch or 10.4-inch flat-panel display, will provide a cost effective, high performance HMI solution without a hard disk or other moving parts. The new products will be powered by an Intel processor running either the Windows CE or NT Embedded operating system.
• Web-based ATE operating environment for test development, debug, documentation and execution - Teradyne, has introduced TestStudio/SP 99, the industry's first open-architecture, web-based operating environment for the development, debug, documentation and execution of ATE-based functional test programs. The open-architecture software designed for military/aerospace and commercial electronic product manufacturers and depot repair centers integrates all the tasks involved in test program set (TPS) development, debug, documentation and execution within a single operating environment.

• The 48th CPI Exposition - is coming to the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City November 16 through 18, 1999. The Conference will include over 35 Technical Sessions, Management Forums and Manufacturers Workshops. In the Exhibit Hall, see, test and compare the latest equipment, systems and upgrades from over 900 leading manufacturers and suppliers.
• 100 MHz programmable pulse generator - The Model 8600 pulse generator is now available from TTi (Thurlby Thandar Instruments). This is a 100 MHz programmable pulse generator offering exceptional accuracy and features.
• Largest show for Munich - Electronica 2000, Munich's 19th international trade fair for components and assemblies in electronics, looks set to become the largest yet when it takes place at the city's new trade fair centre from November 21-24 next year
• New colour-coded, high-flow, quick-disconnect couplings - Colder Products Company (CPC) has launched ChemQuikTM CQHO6 quick disconnect couplings. The new couplings are available with optional color coded flare nuts and thumb latch to simplify fluid line verification. A completely non-metallic flow path makes them ideal for critical fluid transfer applications, from aggressive chemicals to ultra-pure water, in semiconductor and related industries.
• "New maintenance and procurement strategies needed for open systems - " The development of open systems not only changes the products and systems used in the automation and process control environment, but the way they are designed, delivered, maintained and paid for. According to a new report from Datamonitor, "Opportunfties & Threats in an Open Automation Market," in order to be successful, open systems vendors will require fundamentally new strategies, rather than just new products.

• Web-Based Compare Reports Provide Hotlinks to Potential Hot Spots- MDT demonstrated MASS AutoSave ver. 3.01 of its new NT server and enhanced client software at recent shows. Included in this version are hypertext Web browser links in the E-mailed results of scheduled, checkin or demand program compares that allow you to click and view detailed logic and documentation changes that have been made to programs.
• Digital viscosity analyser systems for oil and petrochemical industries - Solartron has launched its first family of fully-customisable digital viscosity analyser systems for the oil and petrochemical industries. Built around the company's proven 7827 digital viscosity analyser - for high-precision, real-time density and viscosity measurement - and the principles of ASTM D34 1, these innovative systems bring new dimensions to process control accuracy and cost of ownership.
• Everything possible for enhanced transmitter - The Rosemount measurement division (part of the Fisher-Rosemount group) has added further enhancements to their transmitter. Whereas traditional meters measure a single variable, the Model 3095 MV is effectively three transmitters plus a flow computer in one compact package.
• The first general-purpose, plug-and-play, advanced controller - CyboSoft, a division of General Cybernation Group, Inc. has announced the introduction of CyboCon CE, an innovative Model-Free Adaptive (MFA) control instrument for adaptively controlling simple to complex industrial processes.

• Real-time published over the web - PC Soft International has launched Unity, its next generation scalable visualization software with interactive web publishing. From a central Windows NT-based development environment, applications can be downloaded to a variety of operating systems and platforms. A fundamental component of the new product is publishing of real-time data over the Internet to standard web browsers. End users and OEMs will benefit from the flexibility of the scalable architecture and the ease of use provided by the web-based visualization.
• Together again! - Chemical Engineering perhaps the world's leading technology magazine serving the chemical process industries, has rejoined ChemicalWeek, the CPI's leading global business weekly. On October 19, The McGraw-Hill ed an agreement to divest Chemical Engineering and its related products and trade show business to Chemical Week Associates, based in New York. Chemical Week Associates is an affiliate of Veronis, Suhler and Associates, an independent bank that provides private equity fund investing in the communications and publishing industries.
  Gleaned from Interkama Daily which was published during the show by Chemical Engineering.

The News Section is closed until the end of InterKama.

See News of Interkama

15/10/99

• Yokogawa and Dresser Equipment Group allies for fieldbus-integrated solutions - Yokogawa Electric Corporation and Dresser Equipment Group, Inc., a business unit of Halliburton Company, are entering into a customer-focused alliance to develop and market Foundation Fieldbus (FF) products, integrated systems and management tools to improve process availability. In a joint statement issued earlier this month, the companies announced that the alliance will focus on providing process industry customers with reduced enterprise-wide costs, compressed project schedules, and minimized technology implementation risks. The two companies will cooperate immediately on both technology and systems integration of a new FF compliant positioner.
  More fieldbus news on our Fieldbus Page.

• Chart recorder uses high-speed interface - The Yokogawa DR230 multi-channel chart recorder is now available with a high-speed Ethernet interface, allowing it to be fully integrated with a test or process-control system for data acquisition and logging as well as local display and recording.

• Remote stock system for customer sites - United Molasses has ordered TM Technology's Remote Stock Management system for installation at nine sites of one of its major customers, providing automated stock call-up and delivery of their bulk liquids and avoiding any shortages.
• Computer maintenance and repair easy and fast - Symantec Corporation has announced Norton Utilities 2000, the latest version of the industry's most effective system optimisation and problem-solving tool. Norton Utilities 2000 builds on the previous release of Norton Utilities, version 4.0, and offers consumers of all levels of expertise an easy-to-use solution for fixing, maintaining, and optimising their personal computers. An integral part of Symantec's award-winning Norton SystemWorks utilities suite, Norton Utilities 2000 includes new Windows hardware diagnostics that further ease PC maintenance.
• Dissolved hydrogen in oil - The PHA-1000 measures dissolved hydrogen in oil-filled electrical equipment for the prescence of faults. The instrument, manufactured by Morgan Schaffer Systems, measures it in less than 90 seconds using oil samples prepared using MSS unique Shake Test technique.
• Paris next year - Now that Interkama is almost upon us we can start thinking about next year. Paris will host ELEC 2000 from 11th to 15th December, 2000. This huge show covers electricity generation, transmission and distribution; automation; and electricity applications. see our Exhibitions and Conferences Page for details of other shows.
• PLC the movie - Cinema projection is no longer the cloth-capped black art of yesteryear, but is as high tech and sophisticated as the latest Speilberg epic. Jack Roe (CS) Ltd is developing the state ot the art in automated projection systems, using a design philosophy based on industrial programmable logic controllers (PLCs) from Mitsubishi.

• And now for something completely different . . . Using humor effectively in the workplace - Everyone knows a good laugh can melt away the stress of the workday. Apparently, corporate America is paying attention to the positive effects of humor in the workplace as well. From ISA's INTECH, October issue.
• Instrument recalled - Fluke Corporation, leader in compact, electrical test tools has announced a potential product malfunction in the Fluke T2 Electrical Tester. This notice includes all T2 units manufactured and shipped before September 1999, with serial numbers lower than 74165430. The safety notice includes the T2 instruments involved in a previous safety notice dated November 1998

• New insertion densitometer - Solartron redefined the limits of closed loop control with the launch of a range of advanced, explosion-proof digital insertion density transmitters, offering significant cost savings to process engineers in a wide diversity of industries in closed-loop control of pipeline, stream and tank applications.

• First prize selected from 55 - Roger Williams of System Devices was recently presented with first prize in the Pumps and Systems 1999 Awards by Andy Clutton, editor of the just launched Plant and Control Engineering. They were nominated for the Control System of the Year catagory at the UK's Processing Pumps and Systems Exhibition for its revolutionary SNAP-B3000 ENET - claimed to be the world's first industrial I/O system with built-in web server. There were 55 entries nominated by readers over the year and the winners were assessed by a panel of judges.

• New British publication - After over a year of research the IML Group have launched a new publication. Launched at OSPMA-FieldComms'99 the readership profile indicates that over 23 thousand people on in excess of 15000 sites across the whol spectrum of Britis industry will read this journal. Like a lot of British journals in our industry it does not have a web site as yet. Contact them on imlgroup@dial.pipex.com to see a copy.
• ISA Honours and Awards - ISA - the international society for measurement and control, honoured 33 individuals, 4 Sections, and 2 Divisions at its annual Honors & Awards Banquet in Philadelphia yesterday.
• Knowledge database expansion continues - As part of their dedication to expanding the knowledge database of knowledge for PC-based control, which began with the publication of two editions of their handbook - "The Practical Guide to PC-Based control & Flow Chart Programming" - Steeplechase has recently gone live with a newly designed and restructured website. The URL is www.steeplechase.com
• Low-cost Windows CE Devices with deviceOPC Intrinsyc (ICS.V) has announced the immediate availability of an important new product, deviceOPC, which brings the power of Windows DNA for Manufacturing to factory floor devices. This licensable technology allows manufacturers to quickly and affordably create powerful, yet low-cost, Windows CE based solutions that are network-compatible with the Enterprise.

• Easy rider result of networking triumph!- Triumph Motorcycles has created an industry-leading test and development facility by interconnecting three individual test cells with Mitsubishi's Control and Communications Link (CC-Link) automation networks. The facility comprises a new chassis test cell and two new engine test cells, each with its own CC-Link network. Each network is interconnected with the other two to provide a seamless communications strategy for any combination of cells.
• SCADA system proves a treat for timber pre-treatment plant control - Protim Solignum designs and installs industrial timber pre-treatment plant around the world for the past 25 years. Such plant must comply with strict safety and environmental legislation, and operate to demanding, recognised technical standards. System integrator Jotax Ltd was commissioned to re-engineer control of their plant, which had comprised an operator interface linked to a PLC. Viability of the project required a SCADA package that was powerful enough to do the job at an affordable cost. The answer they found was the Process Window SCADA system from Total Control Products.