Saturday 27 April 2019

Beating the witches brew!

Until the Middle Ages, magical herbs and cult objects were laid around the wort copper to prevent the brewing process going wrong. The last so-called brew witch was burnt at the stake in Germany in 1591. She declared responsible for the brewer's beer going bad.

The types of beer that could be brewed depended on the season. Bottom fermented beer was brewed in winter, top fermented in the summer months. The Purity Law still did not permit yeast. That came from the air, which is why bakers were often granted brewing rights.

Today we know better. In addition to the Purity Law, which prescribes the ingredients, the "Cleanliness Law" must also be strictly adhered to.

Brewing takes place in batches in containers that hold up to 500,000 litres. So that nothing can go wrong and the consumer always gets his preferred beer type with the same taste, the temperature must be precisely controlled in all steps of the manufacturing process.

Here the rotary joint machine element is found. Mighty stirring arms, through which cooling water flows, gently stir the mash and ensure an exact temperature, which must always be constant and the same for every batch. The stationary pipeline is connected to the rotating arm by a rotary joint.

Rotary joints are not only used in the final brewing process - rotary joints or swivel joints are also used in the manufacturing of the ingredients. The airborne yeast of the mediaeval bakery has long been replaced by precisely bred brewer's yeast, which is continually turned into yeast powder in drum dryers with the help of rotary joints. This is then fed into the fermentation tank in a precise quantity and purity.

Hop cones in their original form are added to the copper nowadays in palletised form. The desiccated hops are ground and pressed into pellets. Rotary joints can prevent the overheating of the grinding and pelletising rollers here.

Compliance with the "Cleanliness Law" is indispensable in brewing technology. All materials of the containers and fittings used must therefore comply with this law. The rotary joints and swivel joints from HAAG + ZEISSLER are therefore offered in stainless steel. Electropolished versions are available if desired for reducing wettability, in addition to which versions can be supplied with food-safe flanges or dairy fittings according to DIN 11851.

#HAAGPlusZEISSLER #PAuto #Drink #Hygene

Thursday 25 April 2019

Tiger cleans up after fires!

The chemical industry has recently seen four major incidents take place. On March 17th 2019 two ITC tanks caught fire in Deer Park,  (TX USA), with five more catching fire just 12 hours later. A few days later, an explosion at the Xiangshui chemical plant resulted in the death of 78 people while severely injuring 94. On April 2, a leak caused a fire at the KMCO plant in Crosby, (TX USA), severely injuring two and killing one. In addition, a waste materials plant caught fire in Campbellfield, a suburb of Melbourne (AUS).

As a result of the explosion at the ITC tank farm, an Ion Science Tiger Select hand held gas detector is currently being used in Deer Park to assist with the clean-up process. The instrument is specifically seeking traces of benzene, which is highly toxic. A Tiger has also been purchased by members of the local community who are concerned with their own health, allowing them to monitor the air quality.

These recent incidents have seen the intervention of local government agencies and compliance with environmental and health and safety legislation, resulting in a series of violations for clean air, clean water, and environmental quality that include failure to comply with emissions rate standards, conduct stack tests, and the discharge of hazardous waste.

Although it is not yet confirmed what has caused these incidents to occur, it is speculated to have been caused by leaking materials.

In these circumstances a fixed monitoring device, such as the Titan fixed benzene specific detector or Falco fixed volatile organic compound (VOC) detector from Ion Science, is capable of continuously detecting VOCs, including benzene, ultimately preventing such catastrophic events.

The Tiger Select is a revolutionary hand held gas detector with two mode operation for the rapid and accurate detection of benzene and TACs. Utilising the high output Ion Science 10.0eV monitoring system, a reading for TACs is seen immediately on start-up. Should TACs be detected, a benzene pre-filter tube can be easily attached to ensure rapid detection and selective measurement of benzene.

Ion Science offers an array of advanced instruments that will detect and monitor a range of VOCs, including the handheld Tiger series, the Cub personal VOC detector and the Falco fixed PID detector which utilises typhoon technology, allowing effective operation within humid and harsh environments.

@ionscience #PAuto  @elhcomms

Promising enhancement for US Generators.

A very promising enhancement has been added to the product range of soniKKs® Ultrasonics Technology GmbH, this year. All ultrasonic generators are now also available with a PROFINET-Interface.

PROFINET (PROCESS FIELD NETWORK) is a modern standard, which has been developed for the automation of network-based Ethernet. The PROFINET concept is modularly constructed, meaning that user can choose functionality themselves. An easy installation technology and flexibility allows connections of different devices from various manufacturers.

Further advantages of the PROFINET standard:
  • Address resolution for field devices
  • Cyclic/acyclic I/O data transmission (parameter, diagnoses, device identification, etc.)
  • Redundancy of the transmission route
  • Device replacement
  • Profitable – Even for Profibus User
The new interface is especially interesting for machinery manufacturing companies which want to guarantee a simple, yet well-engineered communication between their machines and the ultrasonic devices.

Companies using PROFIBUS devices in their machines before will, due to a much higher flexibility, also profit from this new interface. A readjustment to the new interface without much effort is easily possible. Already acquired PROFIBUS knowledge is still valuable as the new PROFINET uses the same framework in its design.

@info_sonikks #PAuto @AllThingsPROFI 

Wednesday 24 April 2019

Asset performance management!

SolutionsPT has become exclusive distributor for the asset performance management (APM) portfolio of Aveva in Britain.

The Aveva APM software encapsulates data capture, cloud, augmented reality and analysis. It allows companies to monitor equipment in real time, identify underperforming assets and impending problems, and take informed, pre-emptive action.

The new partnership will further enhance SolutionPT’s 30+ years of expertise in helping companies use digital technology to maximise equipment efficiency and minimise unscheduled downtime.

Ian Bailey, Asset Performance Management Team Leader said: “The need for companies to reduce maintenance costs and get the maximum return on assets has arguably never been greater.

SolutionsPT has decades of expertise in digital asset management, and with our Aveva partnership we now offer the most comprehensive and innovative APM software on the market.

Our partnership will enable companies to make the vital shift from reactive maintenance to a truly proactive, predictive maintenance approach - with all the benefits to reliability, cost-efficiency and operator safety that brings.”


@SolutionsPT  #PAuto @AVEVAGroup

Wednesday 17 April 2019

Flexible and scalable SCADA.

Yokogawa has released FAST/TOOLS R10.04, the latest version of its real-time operations management and visualisation software*, and has released it for sale this month as part of its OpreXTM Control and Safety System family. A highly flexible and scalable supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) solution suitable for use in everything from smart IoT-enabled applications to enterprise-wide integrated operations spanning multiple sites and subsystems, FAST/TOOLS R10.04 will help customers derive maximum value from their investments over the entire system lifecycle.
Driven by the rising importance of factors such as the IoT, big data analytics, and the cloud, a digital transformation is underway that is leading to the convergence of information, operational, and engineering technologies (IT, OT, and ET) in unmanned, remote-controlled, and enterprise-wide operations. To benefit from near real-time transaction processing and other capabilities that already are well established in the IT domain, a growing effort is being made to achieve seamless integration and convergence with the OT domain.

As production and delivery cycles shorten and require greater flexibility, the real-time sharing of data on operational capacity/conditions and its use in production/maintenance planning and forecasting become critically important factors in improving a company’s bottom line results. A modern open SCADA platform should be able to bridge the legacy gaps between the IT and OT domains by leveraging OPC Unified Architecture (OPC UA), upcoming IoT standards, and open database interfaces. By simplifying operations, automating activities, and enhancing user insights, operating expenditure (OPEX) can be reduced.

Recognising that most enterprises will take a profit-driven approach and seek to reduce risk with their management and control solutions, Yokogawa continues to pursue innovations that will ensure its customers are able to transform their data into meaningful information and get the most out of their investments.

FAST/TOOLS R10.04 supports the digital industrial ecosystem with information models that simplify and enhance sub-system integration with the CENTUM VP integrated production control system.

1. Improved system integration capability
For improved integration with CENTUM VP, the graphics integration tool that is provided with FAST/TOOLS has been enhanced. Along with the FAST/TOOLS portfolio of supported industry standard interfaces and protocols which has the addition of support for Mitsubishi MELSEC iQ-R series controllers and the FINS protocol used by Omron programmable controllers.

2. Improved security and integrity
To make it easier to incorporate FAST/TOOLS into an existing IT infrastructure, authentication and authorisation services are now handled as one centralised process for all system users. One benefit of this is that all logged-on/off activities will be visible in one window, allowing for improved audit trailing and user management. In addition, when making use of an Active Directory (AD) for the single sign on (SSO) mapping function, users with profiles in multiple AD domains can have a merged user profile in FAST/TOOLS, in accordance with authentications and authorisation credentials. The FAST/TOOLS encryption process has also been improved to provide more secure communication between server and clients.

3. Improved engineering environment for HTML5-based visualisation
The FAST/TOOLS graphics editor is able to generate native displays to the HTML5 standard for both information-rich PC-based applications and light-view tablet and smartphone applications. An enhanced graphics editor simplifies the task of creating screens that deliver exactly the data operators require.

The main tagets markets include oil and gas upstream, midstream gas and (multi-product) liquid pipelines (for which the standard EPMS applications suite is available), petrochemicals, chemicals, renewable energy, power, pulp and paper, pharmaceuticals, food, mining, iron and steel, water distribution and wastewater treatment.

It is envisiged for use in monitoring, operation, control, data collection, and data storage for geographically distributed facilities.

 *Outline of FAST/TOOLS
Over the past decades FAST/TOOLS has evolved from centralised SCADA/MES and HMI software to an enterprise automation environment. This state-of-the-art IIoT enabled industrial SCADA software benefits our customers through improved visualisation, collaboration, decision support, configuration, communication, security, deployment, connectivity, operational alarm management/analysis, and history data storage/management. For added reliability, FAST/TOOLS can be set up to run on systems that employ Yokogawa’s advanced dual-redundant technology, enabling automatic switch-over to a backup system in the event of a hardware failure.

#SCADA @YokogawaIA #PAuto

Life Sciences Analytics Software acquisition.

Bio-G’s modelling, simulation and scheduling software helps dynamically optimise operations and streamline technology transfer

Emerson has acquired Bioproduction Group (Bio-G), a leader in simulation, modelling, and scheduling software for biomanufacturing. Bio-G’s scheduling and modelling systems combined with Emerson’s extensive life sciences technology and expertise portfolio will help companies bring therapies for cancer, diabetes and other illnesses to patients sooner.

Manufacturing facilities are complex systems with thousands of interconnected assets and tasks. Bio-G’s Real-Time Modelling System™, part of Emerson’s acquisition of Bio-G, automatically captures these relationships, enabling accurate and reliable predictive analysis for biomanufacturing.
Life sciences companies continually look to accelerate the production of patient therapies and the Bio-G Scheduling software helps them accurately predict future plant resource availability to optimise manufacturing production. The scheduling software delivers an instantaneous view, accessible across an organisation, into the current and future state of the plant, providing decision support to help increase facility uptime and reduce schedule-related product losses.

By connecting analytics and modelling tools with data from automation and operations systems—including Emerson’s DeltaV™ distributed control system and Syncade™ manufacturing execution system—the scheduling software provides a unified view of operations, maintenance, quality and corporate systems. Bio-G’s software will become a part of Emerson’s Plantweb™ digital ecosystem, a comprehensive IIoT portfolio that expands digital intelligence to the entire manufacturing enterprise.

“We continue to work closely with industry leaders to develop the manufacturing technologies and approaches needed for next-generation biomanufacturing. With this acquisition, we can deliver even more ways to accelerate life sciences manufacturing,” said Tom Snead, president of life sciences at Emerson.

Organisations invest hundreds of millions of dollars building manufacturing facilities to bring medicines and therapies to patients. The success of those efforts and their operations often depends on the facility’s actual production meeting the facility’s designed production. Bio-G’s Real-Time Modelling System™ provides debottlenecking, capacity engineering and technology transfer analytics to deliver a comprehensive evaluation of a facility’s design and provide confidence prior to project execution and capital expenditure.

The modelling framework accurately identifies and quantifies bottlenecks, as well as determines the effectiveness of proposed solutions across all areas of a manufacturing facility. This modelling system helps accelerate the process of bringing therapies from clinical trials to full-scale manufacturing to patients by validating a facility’s potential for manufacturing success.

“We’re excited to join Emerson,” said David Zhang, Bio-G’s CEO and co-founder, who will be joining Emerson. “We’re united by a common mission to help innovate and find new ways for biomanufacturing organisations to optimise operations through technology.”


@EMR_Automation  #PAuto #Bioscience

Tuesday 16 April 2019

Testing fabric tension.

Fabric tension testing guarantees the fabric being used on furniture frames meets the high quality needed for durability, comfort and support. Having the incorrect fabric tension can lead to fabric tearing, poor posture support, visually poor fabric quality and a corresponding loss of customer satisfaction and a decrease in sales and profit.

Different shapes, fabrics and styles of furniture meant two main problems.
1. No starting point of where to apply the force.
2. No consistent reference point to measure from.

Trent Thermal Technology needed to create an advanced universal fabric tension tester. To measure both fabric tension and fabric movement, even on different styles of furniture framework and fabrics.

DBBSMM accurate miniature s-beam load cell
They found that the DBBSMM miniature s-beam load cell from Applied Measurements,  was the ideal choice. Standing at only 35mm high, it was easily able to fit between the domed surface contact pad and the deflection load

Calibrated to UKAS traceable standards with an Intuitive4 load cell indicator, it was able to offset the pad weight and triggers, with less than 3 grams of force. Thanks to its high precision, the miniature s-beam load cell indicated the vertical force being applied within ±0.03% accuracy.

Plus, the miniature s-beam load cell acted as a pressure sensitive re-set switch for an industrial LVDT displacement transducer, which was used to monitor the deflection of the fabric under a pre-determined load.

On initial contact with the fabric, the output from the Intuitive4 load cell indicator triggered a secondary input to an AML/IE displacement transducer, which “zeroed” the movement range. As the weight found its natural resting position, the distance between the first point of contact and the final resting position was displayed (in mm) on an Intuitive4 lite process panel meter.

IP65 Air tight
Constructed from stainless steel, the AML/IE industrial displacement transducer has a dust-tight IP65 protection rating as standard, making it safe to use even in this high fibrous environment. We can also offer high temperature and fully submersible versions to IP68 rating to suit you.

Thanks to our industrial LVDT’s wide range of configuration options, the displacement transducer was able to be tailored to their exact application. Plus, its friction-free operation means it has an incredibly maintenance-free, long operating life.

Both the miniature s-beam load cell and the industrial LVDT were calibrated with Intuitive4 digital indicators to UKAS traceable standards, certifying their traceability to strict national standards.  The Intuitive4 digital indicators offer superior resolution and outstanding accuracy thanks to their 20 bit A/D converter and 10 point linearisation.  Plus, with their modular construction, you only pay for what you need, saving you money from your already tight budget.

These Intuitive4 digital indicators were housed in a PCC2 desktop enclosure for a portable, neatly styled and robust, on-site desktop monitoring setup. The PCC enclosures are available in different formats that are able to house up to 12 individual panel meters with custom enclosures available for greater quantities if your application demands it.

@AppMeas #Tension

They're not smirking now!

In April 2004, the first industrial camera with a USB interface from IDS Imaging Development Systems GmbH came onto the market. This makes IDS one of the pioneers of the use of this technology for high-performance digital cameras. The interface, which was already widely used in the consumer sector, was not considered suitable for industrial use at the time. Today – after 15 years – USB is firmly established in the industrial environment, too.

"Our decision to use USB was initially smirked at," recalls company founder Jürgen Hartmann. "But we made the interface suitable for industrial use. USB is very strongly driven by the consumer market and therefore the ideal solution to develop cost effective yet powerful camera applications."

Within one year, IDS successfully completed the transition from the development of analogue frame grabbers to digital industrial cameras. In the meantime, the interface, already in its third generation, has become an integral part of the market – as has IDS. With well over one million cameras sold, the company is now one of the market leaders in the industrial camera sector.

The product portfolio has expanded significantly compared to 2004. The product range now includes over 600 models with USB 2.0, 3.0 and 3.1 Gen1 interfaces. Currently, the vision app-based industrial cameras IDS NXT with artificial intelligence provide groundbreaking developments and additional benefits for their users.

 @IDS_Imaging #USB #Camera

Magmeter for water & wastewater applications.

The electromagnetic flowmeter is suitable for all municipal and industrial water and wastewater applications.

Endress+Hauser launches its Proline Promag W 300/500. Promag W 300 is the new compact version with multiple I/Os, while the existing remote version, Promag W 500, is now available as a digital remote transmitter. The digital remote transmitter allows a maximum connecting cable length of up to 300 m (1,000 ft).
The Promag W flowmeters feature all options to fulfill the requirements of the water and wastewater industry. They possess the necessary custody transfer approvals, Ex approvals as well as IP68 for underwater and buried installations. The devices are available with welded flanges as well as with lap-joint flanges. The 0 DN inlet option allows for guaranteed measurement performance of ±0.5% or better even when the meter is installed immediately after any obstruction. The three liner options, hard rubber, polyurethane and PTFE, have all necessary international drinking water approvals such as KTW/W270, WRAS, NSF 61 und ACS. The Promag W sensor is available in line sizes starting at 1” up to 90”. The device is calibrated according to ISO/IEC 17025.

Proline 300/500 transmitters include a web server as a standard. Using a standard Ethernet cable and a laptop – or wireless over WLAN, users have direct access to all diagnostic, configuration and device data without additional software or hardware. This enables targeted and time-saving maintenance and service.

Heartbeat Technology testing function is integrated into all Proline measuring devices and enables permanent self-diagnostics with the highest diagnostic coverage (>95%) as well as a TÜV-tested, metrologically traceable device verification without process interruption. All of this reduces complexity and hazards in a plant and increases its reliability and availability.

The one-of-a-kind data storage concept (HistoROM) ensures maximum data security – before, during and after service. All calibration data and device parameters are stored securely on the HistoROM data storage module and are automatically reloaded after maintenance work. The HistoROM data storage module stores up to 20 timestamped event messages such as diagnostics and configuration changes. If the optional Extended HistoROM application package is selected, up to 100 of these events will be stored, along with the option to record up to 1,000 measured values via 1 to 4 channels. Installing spare parts is easy, saves time and thus reduces unnecessary downtimes.

@Endress_Hauser  #Water #Wastewater @Endress_US 

Monday 15 April 2019

High voltage PSU & chargers.

Powerstax has been appointed as distributor for the Technix range of high voltage DC power supplies and capacitor chargers in Great Britain. Technix products are in use worldwide by major OEMs and leading research laboratories.

Established in 2000, Technix designs and manufactures a wide range of high voltage DC power supplies, capacitor chargers and electron beam power systems covering voltages from 1kV to 350kV and with power ratings from 300W to beyond 500kW. The latest designs include a 4½ digit display and a voltage limitation function while parallel operation allows maximum output power to be increased if required.

Employing high efficiency zero current switching (ZCS) resonance technology, the modular design and wide range of options allows Technix to provide flexible and customized power solutions while maintaining high-reliability and fast delivery times. Outputs are available as positive, negative, reversible or floating and digital interfaces including RS232, Ethernet, Profibus or Optical Fibre may be specified. Customized analogue interfaces including 24V relay, isolated interface or user custom interface may be requested.

“We are very pleased to have been appointed as UK distributor for Technix,” said Phil James, Powerstax Sales Director. “The high voltage options now at our disposal, complement our own transformer rectifier products and considerably widen our product options and market opportunities.”

@powerstaxplc  #PAuto #PSU #Britain

Micro-location solutions.

Micro-location is a rapidly growing, multi-billion-dollar market, covering applications in such diverse industrial markets as manufacturing, healthcare, logistics and security. According to research firm MarketsandMarkets, the micro-location market will grow from US$14.1 billion (ca €12.5b)  in 2019 to US$34.1 billion (ca €30b) by 2024 at a compound annual growth rate of more than 19%. Factors driving this high growth rate include, amongst others, inefficiency of GPS solutions in shielded indoor environments and the increasing importance of asset management across various industries.

Nanotron Technologies GmbH a wholly owned subsidiary of Sensera Limited (ASX: SE1) and location silicon provider >Decawave are shortening time to revenue for micro-location solutions by facilitating the interoperability of tags from different vendors and leveraging field-proven location infrastructure provided by nanotron.

Ciaran Connell Decawave CEO  said: “Decawave and nanotron now make it very simple for customers to scale up their systems whilst still retaining their own tag designs. Nanotron’s infrastructure has been widely-deployed and proven in the field over many years and now, as the baseline software applied to Decawave’s silicon, significantly improves ease of implementation and cuts time to market.”

The Company has put more than 500 micro-location systems into service over the past 3 years with up to 5,000 tags per deployment – most of them running 24/7 in mission-critical applications such as livestock health for dairy farms, and mine safety and productivity in underground mines worldwide. Highly competitive location readers, also known as 'Edge Anchors', bring ease of deployment and scalability to location infrastructure build-outs. Edge Anchors synchronize wirelessly and function based on nanotron’s patented 'Sea of Anchor' time difference of arrival (TDOA) technology, thus eliminating system overhead costs normally associated with existing solutions.

Nanotron’s Edge Anchors using Decawave’s Ultra Wide Band (UWB) transceiver chips are now open for use with any tag device based on the same silicon, thanks to a new communication protocol named 'Blink'. A sample implementation of 'Blink' on one of Decawave’s key products, the DWM1001 module, is publicly available at the Decawave Developer Forum and at nanotron’s website.

Thanks to 'Blink', customers no longer need to deal with the complexity of location infrastructure themselves, yet still retain the ability to build their own optimized tag solution. They now directly benefit from ease of deployment and scalability by being able to build their own solutions with nanotron-provided location infrastructure resulting in lower overall cost and significantly accelerated time to revenue.

Nanotron and Decawave signed an IP License and Co-operation Agreement in July 2018, targeting development of next-generation micro-location technologies. Both companies are expanding their cooperation by jointly promoting system scalability and interoperability between tags from different vendors with nanotron-provided location infrastructure utilizing the 'Blink' protocol. The initiative is aimed at accelerating the adoption of micro-location solutions and significantly increasing the sales volumes of tags and Edge Anchors.

Dr. Jens Albers Nanotron CEO said "By combining any vendor’s tags with nanotron’s Edge Anchors, customers can easily rapidly deploy large systems consisting of thousands of tags. We expect to see these efforts generating significant incremental revenue."


@nanotron_Berlin @Decawave #PAuto 

Friday 12 April 2019

Self-laminating SBP labels.

Wrap-around markers for wire and cable print easily and able to withstand extreme heat to 110 Deg C.

TE Connectivity (TE) has made improvements to its SBP vinyl label liner to work seamlessly with TE thermal transfer printers having movable sensor positions. These labels are used to identify wire and cable in harsh industrial environments.

TE’s SBP labels are now available in two liner formats. For thermal transfer printers with a movable sensor, the left edge sensor slot on the liner provides the sensor detection for printing accuracy. Our original liner for SBP labels is still available for printing with thermal transfer printers having a fixed sensor position. These labels have three reference holes for printer sensor detection. When ordering SBP labels, a ‘T-200’ is used at the end of its description to reference the three hole liner.

The SBP labels withstand temperatures from minus 40 degrees Celsius up to 110 degrees Celsius (minus 40 F to 230 F). The label also is qualified against standards for flammability, resistance to harsh chemicals and weather. In addition, the labels have certification under the UL 817 standard for power cords as well as the UL 2238 standard for cable assemblies. The UL 817 category recognizes the flexibility of SBP labels to wrap around cables, so they are more logical and straightforward for buyers.

SBP labels can be applied indoors or outdoors as self-laminating wrap-around labels that sit flat around cables for a tidy finish or as flagging labels that stand out from cables so that maintenance technicians can sort them with ease. Their ability to withstand exposure to oil, solvents and water makes them ideal for defense, industrial, telecoms, electrical, electronics and automotive applications.

The SBP labels are based on a thermal transfer printable vinyl film with a permanent acrylic adhesive. They have a white printable area that can be over-laminated with a transparent section. The over lamination protects the printed area and enables a higher level of print durability. TE’s SBP labels come in a variety of sizes and are usable down to a 2.0mm diameter, even on Fluoropolymer wire jackets.

The labels are fully free of substances of very high concern (SVHC), in line with TE’s drive to comply with the European Community’s REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals) legislation. SBP labels do not contain any declarable or prohibited substances from the UNIFE Railway Industry Substances List. See further information covering RoHS and REACH compliance here.


@TEConnectivity #PAuto 

Cybersecurity strategies & tips.

Since 2017, Automation.com has published a series of Advancing Automation eBooks, several of which have focused on Cybersecurity. Each year, we see cyber threats continue to evolve, with more and more businesses finding themselves falling victim to attacks.

The have now compiled the 3rd Cybersecurity edition of this series. After working with prominent industry experts and leaders, the latest preparation strategies and technology tips have been compiled in order to help ward off cyber threats. This eBook includes security roadmaps and resources in order to ensure an active and successful cyber defense strategy for any organization.


@automation_com  #PAuto #Cybersecurity

Promoting STEM and women in the Netherlands.

‘We Love STEM’ event in recognition of Girlsday* sees students enjoy interactive educational activities at Emerson facilities across the Netherlands
Continuing its global commitment to promoting science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education and women in STEM, Emerson hosted a “We Love STEM” event in recognition of Girlsday at five of its facilities in the Netherlands. A total of 190 girls aged 10-17 from local primary and secondary schools visited the Emerson facilities in Rijswijk, Ede, Breda and Boxtel for a fun-filled and educational day, focused on providing exposure to STEM careers.

The students from GSR Randstad, Pieter Groen, Het Streek, Veluws College and Twizon/De Wentelwiek took part in factory tours and enjoyed a varied programme of activities and interactive workshops, giving them an insight into how the STEM subjects are applied to real-life situations in the manufacturing sector. The workshops demonstrated how automation technologies enable modern production plants to operate more efficiently, including ways that different instrumentation accurately measures parameters such as flow rates and density, and why valves are critical to plant safety.

“Emerson is renowned for the extensive support it gives to STEM education, and we greatly appreciate our students being invited to attend this exciting event,” said Jasper Vlierberg, team leader at Het Streek. “It was not only great fun, but also enabled them to engage with industry professionals, and showed how the knowledge they gain from STEM subjects can be applied in real work scenarios. The students really enjoyed their day and found the activities stimulating and highly beneficial.”

Although young women are increasingly being encouraged to study STEM subjects, there is still a significant gender gap in engineering. Emerson is committed to helping close that gap, and through its acclaimed global “We Love STEM” initiative, aims to encourage talented women students to pursue a career in engineering. In addition, Emerson’s “Women in STEM” group promotes opportunities for employees to connect, grow and promote opportunities for women in STEM at the organization and in the community.

“Manufacturing is not only facing a shortage of engineers, but also a gender gap because not enough girls are pursuing STEM subjects,” said Ximena Ariasm, regional leader for Emerson’s Women in STEM organisation in the Netherlands. “Emerson is proud to support STEM initiatives around the world and places great importance on engaging with girls to highlight the importance of STEM and develop their interest in these subjects. We hope this will lead to more talented young women joining the workforce of tomorrow, closing the gender gap and creating innovations to help the industries Emerson supports.”

* See The Netherlands Girlsday on April 12th.


#STEM @Emerson_News @WiTECeu #Netherlands

Level in IoT.

Pepperl+Fuchs new level sensor, transmits its data to a secure remote station in the industrial Internet of Things. The IoT sensor WILSEN.sonic.level is bundled into a starter package with the WILSEN.service and a business data platform, making it easier to gain an introduction to the technology. This allows users to more quickly determine the value of the IoT system for their own company.

The industrial Internet of Things connects the virtual world of information technology with the real world of machine and plant engineering and opens up new possibilities for process automation. With the help of radio sensors that transmit their data to the Internet, it is also possible to control assets that are either widely distributed or seem impossible to connect due to their mobility.

With the WILSEN.sonic.level, Pepperl+Fuchs presents an ultrasonic wireless sensor for monitoring fill levels in mobile containers, tanks, and silos. In addition, the battery-operated device determines the geolocation of the container and transmits the collected data via a GSM or LoRaWAN connection to a defined collection point on the Internet. The WILSEN.service not only ensures the secure exchange of data, but also allows centralized management of all IoT sensors in the field. In turn, software systems and data platforms for business data processing can be connected to the service.

Pepperl+Fuchs has compiled an entry-level starter kit that includes all of the components required to form a working IoT system. This time-limited, fixed-cost package allows interested parties to get started with the Internet of Things even without prior knowledge, so that they can gather experience in their own process environment as quickly as possible.

@PepperlFuchs #PAuto

Thursday 11 April 2019

Operational technology cybersecurity.

SolutionsPT and its partner Datto, a world leader in business continuity, will host an Operational Technology (OT) Cyber Security Seminar in May. The seminar will be held at the Reading (GB) the British headquarters of Datto, whose hybrid cloud technology drives SolutionPT’s Proteus disaster resilience managed service.

The event will offer pragmatic guidance on how to protect against the growing cyber security threat and embed disaster resilience in operations – the reality of which was highlighted by the recent ransomware attack suffered by Norwegian aluminium maker Norsk Hydro, which impacted 160 of its plant worldwide and has cost the company an estimated $40 million.

Detect and Recover will be key themes of the seminar, with a focus on pragmatic advice, a hands-on workshop and a real-time demonstration of technology at work.

Lee Carter
SolutionsPT’s Industrial Network and Cyber Security Product Manager, Lee Carter, says: “Protecting information control systems is a key concern for OT management and information security leaders across all industries.

“Additionally, the risk of being unable to respond instantly and effectively to potential disaster cannot be ignored, as Norsk Hydro discovered to its financial and reputational cost.

The OT Cyber Security Seminar will bring together Datto’s best in class business continuity and disaster resilience technology with SolutionPT’s operational technology expertise, to provide managers with real insight into the steps they can take to ensure that their systems can detect and protect against potential threats and demonstrate resilience in the face of potential disaster."

SolutionsPT and Datto specialists will open the seminar with a discussion about the cyber threat in 2019 and outline the technical solutions offered by the SolutionsPT and Datto partnership.

Delegates will then be guided through the five pillars of a staged approach to OT cyber security – identify, protect, detect, respond and recover.

They will learn how to detect and respond to OT cyber threats and gain insight into two key solutions that can help their company create a ‘secure by design’ framework:

Claroty continuous threat detection software – a hands-on workshop will explore Claroty’s remote access and intrusion detection functions. These offer deep visibility into industrial control networks and provide an early warning of both malicious and accidental threats, so preventive action can be taken to protect other OT networks.

Proteus managed disaster resilience, powered by Datto hybrid cloud technology – a demonstration will show how Proteus backs up operational data and stores it securely, enabling operational systems to be restored in a matter of minutes in worst case scenarios.

The experience of leading organic food producer Yeo Valley will also be shared with delegates. Yeo Valley upgraded its legacy SCADA systems and installed the Proteus managed disaster resilience service, creating a ‘virtual factory’ on a different site and reducing its recovery time objective (RTO) from several hours to just a few minutes.

The SolutionsPT OT Cyber Security Seminar will run from 10 am to 4 pm on Thursday, May 23rd at Datto’s British HQ in Longwater Avenue, Reading, GB. Attendance is free but delegates must register here.

* See "Cybersecurity chief appointed." (4/4/2019)


#cybersecurity @SolutionsPT  #PAuto @datto

Spectrum analyser.

A new Spectrum Analyzer MS9740B has been developed by Anritsu, for evaluating the output characteristics of optical active devices used by optical communications systems. The instrument keeps the same measurement-sensitivity performance, functions, and size as the predecessor MS9740A while shortening measurement processing times by 50%, further improving production-line efficiency by optimizing the Spectrum Analyzer MS9740B optical receiver bandwidth settings, most commonly used by customers. This performance upgrade slashes optical active device inspection times and increases mass production-line efficiency.

The spread of next-generation 5G mobile and Cloud communications services is expected to increase data traffic volumes massively. Networks supporting this infrastructure are experiencing explosive jumps in network traffic, which demands both increased module production and shorter inspection times to allow in-time delivery required for the rapid expansion and adoption of faster rate optical modules at 10G, 100G, and 400G bit.
Key features of The Optical Spectrum Analyzer MS9740B
Wide dynamic range and high-speed measurement at optical receiver bandwidths used commonly by customers within production lines for optical active devices
- SMSR measurement at 45 dB minimum
- Fastest measurement speed (Sweeping in Fast mode; total time required for wavelength sweep, analysis, and data transfer to remote server) of 0.35s (sweeping 30-nm wavelength)
Same key functions and performance as predecessor, supporting various production-line environments
- Wide wavelength band (600 to 1750 nm) for evaluating all optical active devices
- Nine application menus for LD-module, WDM, etc., measurements
The benchtop Optical Spectrum Analyzer MS9740B features wide dynamic range, high resolution, and fast sweep speeds over a wavelength range of 600 to 1750 nm. The device supports multimode fiber input and is ideal for manufacturing and evaluating 850-nm band VCSEL modules.

As well as keeping the same functions and performance as its predecessor, the MS9740B slashes measurement processing times by up to half (Rx bandwidth setting: 1 kHz or 200 Hz) while overcoming problems of decreased measurement sensitivity caused by increased processing speed.

Moreover, the MS9740B retains optical active device (LD-Module, DFB-LD, FP-LD, LED, WDM and Optical Amplifier (NF and Gain) measurement menu screens for evaluating devices. The device supports all-at-once measurements of key evaluation items, such as optical center wavelength, level, OSNR, spectrum width, etc., and displays these results on one screen.

@AnritsuEMEA  #TandM @NapierPR

Plant product of the year.

Seeq Corporation has earned the Gold award for Plant Analytics & Design in Plant Engineering magazine’s 2018 Product of the Year program. Plant Engineering’s Product of the Year is the premier award program for new products in manufacturing and non-manufacturing industries. The annual reader-choice award program gives Plant Engineering’s audience the opportunity to select the top new products in their fields. With 88 finalists in 15 categories, the 2018 awards mark 31 years of the Product of the Year program.

Seeq earned a Gold award in the category of Plant Analytics & Design. Seeq is an advanced analytics solution for engineers and scientists in process manufacturing organizations to rapidly wrangle, investigate, and share insights on manufacturing data. Recent releases of Seeq reflect both the growing use of Seeq for publishing analytics-based views to other employees, and the increased complexity of the use cases where engineers use Seeq.

For publishing insights, Seeq has expanded “scorecards,” a feature for the display of calculated tables in Seeq Workbench and Organizer. Scorecards are used for tabulated metrics, measurements, and other summary data, and may be presented in tables with conditional formatting support and user-defined columns—for example, roll-ups by batch or plant.

“We are pleased that Seeq was recognized by Plant Engineering readers,” said Michael Risse, Chief Marketing Officer for Seeq. “We are helping process manufacturers accelerate their digital transformation efforts. It is an honor to join the other vendors of the best products in this space as part of the Product of the Year program.”

Seeq supports all leading data historians, making it the most widely accessible and extensively used advanced analytics solution in process manufacturing companies. Supported historians include the OSIsoft PI System, GE Proficy, AspenTech InfoPlus (IP) 21, Emerson DeltaV Continuous Historian and Ovation DCS Historian, Honeywell Uniformance PHD Historian, Rockwell Automation FactoryTalk Historian, Inductive Automation’s Ignition Historian, DataParc Historian, Aveva’s WonderWare Historian, Citec SCADA, and eDNA Historian, with others in development.

@SeeqCorporation #PAuto @PlantEngMag

Wednesday 10 April 2019

National sales manager with lights.


LED Eco Lights has appointed Frank O’Donnell as National Sales Manager in Britain.  He brings an excellent track record of success in LED lighting sales to the company and will play an important role in identifying strategic new business opportunities for the company’s Goodlight range.

Frank O'Donnell
Commenting on Frank O’Donnell’s appointment, Saima Shafi, Sales and Marketing Director of LED Eco Lights said, “We are delighted to welcome Frank on board.  With over 15 years’ experience and knowledge of the LED lighting industry, he is exactly the right person to generate further business and build awareness of our new technologies.  He will be extremely valuable to us in further strengthening our position as a leader in the LED lighting market.”

Frank O’Donnell added, “I am thrilled at the opportunity to be working for such an exciting and forward-thinking company that is recognised for its outstanding quality, proven performance and comprehensive range of products.  Goodlight is an exceptional range of innovative lighting solutions and the great thing about this role is that I will have flexibility to explore all sectors in every part of our industry, which is fantastic.  This new role will be an exciting challenge and I feel that I’ve joined at the perfect time to drive sales forward in 2019 and beyond.”

Frank O’Donnell joins LED Eco Lights with extensive experience and in-depth understanding of the industry after working for over 25 years in the LED lighting and electrical wholesaler markets developing and furthering his sales career.

@Goodlight_LED #Britain

Measurement and monitoring of cell growth.

Exner’s new generation of the EXcell sensor series not only provides the end user with higher flexibility during application, but at the same time allows safer processing.

These sensors provide safe and reliable measurements in the fields of pharmaceutics and biotechnology. Their 12mm design makes them completely ideal not only for use in laboratory fermenters, but also in the later production process. The sensors allow the absorption of liquids to be determined reliably. The employed wavelength of the 850 nm LED light source also eliminates any colour influence. The sensors have thus proved their worth inter alia for the measurement of cell growth of yeast and mammal cells, concentration measurement of microorganisms such as bacteria and algae concentrations, establishment of the optimum time for feeding or cell harvesting as well as the monitoring of fermentation processes.

The launch of product categories EXcell 231 and EXcell 241 has immediately made available the new generation of the aforementioned sensor series. Updates of software and connections not only provide the end user with higher flexibility during applications, but at the same time make processing safer.

The new plug is equipped with a standard cover flap to protect the electrical contacts in autoclaving processes. Thanks to the revamp of the connections, the sensors can be implemented in a more compact way. Software innovations provide the user with more adjustment options when using the Modbus interface as well as new features when applying the EXNER ECI-03 communications interface.

#Exner #Laboratory

MES for Pharma in Middle East & Pakistan.

Werum IT Solutions has announced a new partnership with Emad Trade House. Emad Trade House is a leading trading company with over 40 years of experience in providing cost effective solutions such as raw and packaging materials as well as process equipment to the pharma, cosmetics, food and beverage industry in Pakistan and the Middle East region.
LtoR: Orchun Thakral, Senior Manager of Sales & Marketing WErum; Emad Shabbir, Director Emad; David Margetts, Managing Director Werum.

Werum’s PAS-X MES enables pharmaceutical and biotech facilities to run manufacturing processes completely paperless at the highest level and to be compliant with international GMP guidelines and FDA regulations. The requirements of the pharma industry are directly addressed by Werum’s out-of-the-box PAS-X solution without any need for expensive and time-consuming customization. Based on standard functionality and best practice content, pharma and biotech manufacturers will be able to have the number one global pharma MES up and running in a very short time.

“We’re very pleased that Emad Trade House will join us as a sales partner to expand our presence in the Middle East region and to be able to support our first activities in Pakistan to grow the PAS-X user base. We look forward to working closely with their team and to learn from their excellent understanding of the market”, says David Margetts, Managing Director, Werum IT Solutions Ltd, Thailand. “Together with Emad Trade House we will be able to increase the availability and access to cutting-edge manufacturing IT that will dramatically improve the quality and efficiency of producing important medicines in Pakistan and the Middle East.”

Mr. Emad Shabbir, Director, Emad Trade House, adds “We are looking forward to this collaboration with Werum IT Solutions having no doubt that this partnership will yield great success. With Werum's technical expertise and our strong outreach in the market, surely we will achieve new milestones together."


 @Werum #PAuto #Pharma

Ground vibration monitor.

AcSoft Sound & Vibration has recently supplied two Menhir (Modular Enhanced Intelligent Recorder) ground vibration monitors from Semex Engcon to their long-standing customer, Pace Consult, for a Rydon Construction Ltd project at The Broadway in Ealing (GB), which comprised demolition work on residential properties and derelict warehouses.

Pace Consult is a market leading multidisciplinary consultancy, offering a full suite of ‘concept to completion’ services across three dedicated divisions: acoustics, vibration and air tightness. From consultancy practices nationwide, Pace Consult delivers innovative, competitive and practical solutions, ensuring projects achieve the necessary compliance on time and within budget.

The simple, flexible and robust Menhir ground vibration monitor efficiently measures vibrations, shocks and tremors generated by construction and building works, as well as mining, demolition and quarrying activities.

Joan-Carles Blanco, Associate Director at Pace Consult commented: “We have been working with AcSoft’s sister business Svantek for five years and used its leading noise and vibration instrumentation very successfully across a wide range of projects during that time.

“When we were asked to provide ground vibration monitoring to satisfy both resident and local authority requirements during major demolition works, Svantek referred us to AcSoft and its web-based, high resolution Menhir system.

“When used in conjunction with smart data centre software, the Menhir is capable of accurately recording, analysing and transferring data from complex vibration monitoring applications in harsh environments.”

The two AcSoft Menhir systems were installed at an adjacent property within the residential corridor of the construction site and inside the derelict warehouse being demolished where they provided continuous ground vibration monitoring for five months.

An optional complete analysis module is also available, allowing reports to be automatically generated and transmitted electronically in freely adjustable intervals. It incorporates a selectable alarm output to designated personnel using SMS or email.

Joan-Carles again: “The smart data centre software offers a fully integrated cloud solution which proved invaluable when power to the Menhir devices on the demolition site was cut for a period of time. It enabled us to still get quick access to data and device status at any time from PC, tablet or smartphone.

“At one point the Menhirs detected increased ground vibration when heavy plant machinery was being used and immediately sent an alarm to the site manager via SMS.”

Allowing easy operation with minimal training, the intuitive Menhir can be customised to suit individual monitoring requirements and configured for immediate set up and use. A simple configuration tool means settings can be changed at any time, with quick and full access to the monitor’s parameters and values, as well as all analytical options and results.

For maximum flexibility, the Menhir is available with internal and external SIM card slots. The latter enables the user to determine which provider is transmitting data, without having to open the device. The system can also be equipped with a low cost M2M solution.

An internal battery provides up to 48 hours operating autonomy, depending on transmission requirements. The Menhir can be placed with up to 15° offset on the ground. The innovative measurement device detects the offset and corrects it automatically. It can also be aligned with the three integrated levelling screws so no mounting platform is required.

The Menhir offers a dynamic range > 130dB at 100 measurements per second per channel, as well as a bandwidth from 1 to 400 Hz.

“Overall the Menhir ground vibration monitors worked extremely well across this project and we were given the same excellent level of service and support from the team at AcSoft that we have come to expect of their sister business, Svantek.”

@Acsoft_Sound #BAS #PAuto @_Svantek @elhcomms


@Acsoft_Sound #BAS #PAuto @_Svantek @elhcomms

Brewing at college!

Emerson is to collaborate with Colorado State University (CSU), in the United States, to build the Emerson Brewing Innovation Centre, where students will get hands-on experience using the latest automation technologies. Funded by a joint investment, the centre will serve as the main educational hub for the Fermentation Sciences and Technology programme and will reinforce advanced competencies for digital transformation as the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) era continues to evolve the industry.


With the number of US breweries increasing at a rate of 321 percent from 2007 to 2017, there is growing demand for highly skilled workers with expertise in fermentation sciences and proficiency in automation technologies. Emerson’s advanced automation solutions enable brewing companies to optimise operations, detect and address quality issues in real time, reduce downtime and shorten changeovers that occur when one beverage is changed out for another in production.

The CSU Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition attracts diverse, top-notch students to address the industry’s growing technology demand.

“Partnerships like these enable us to give our students experience with industry standards and help them prepare for the job market,” said Jeff Callaway, associate director of Fermentation Science and Technology at CSU. “The new centre will enhance our fermentation science academic programme while strengthening ties to the industry.”

The Emerson Brewing Innovation Centre will open this autumn in the Gifford Building on CSU’s main Fort Collins campus and feature two brewing systems that will allow students to gain experience using the latest real-world technologies driving innovation in the industry. Emerson Impact Partner Lakeside will build the systems that feature elements of Emerson’s Plantweb™ portfolio of IIoT technologies used in brewing automation: a DeltaV™ distributed control system, Micro Motion™ flow meters, Rosemount™ measurement technology and ASCO™ and Baumann™ valves.

Emerson’s collaboration with CSU is one of more than 350 secondary education partnerships worldwide that support finding solutions to address the skills gap in digital automation technologies.

“We are focused on helping train the digital workforce of the future while advancing education, innovation and diversity in the industry,” said Lal Karsanbhai, executive president of Emerson’s Automation Solutions business. “The Emerson Brewing Innovation Centre will mark the beginning of a strong and continued partnership with CSU.”

Emerson is donating $10,000 towards a CSU diversity fellowship to help set up the Brewing Innovation Centre and a scholarship for the fermentation programme.

@EMR_Automation #PAuto @ColoradoStateU #USA @HHC_Lewis 

Tuesday 9 April 2019

Gas detection expert to watch!

Ion Science featured as one of The Sunday Times Profit Track Ones to Watch, in the 20th annual Sunday Times BDO Profit Track 100*, published in the Business section on Sunday 7th April 2019.

The Profit Track Ones to Watch represents the best of the rest of the companies whose profit growth falls just short of the main league table, but who have shown good profit growth in the past and are set to grow rapidly in the future.

Ion Science products are used in the manufacturing, automotive and oil and gas sectors, and in research laboratories, airports and even high-rise buildings.

Growth has been driven by the increasing awareness of environmental harm that can be
caused by certain gases, and underpinned by health and safety regulation.

China and India are among Ion Science fastest-growing markets, and 70% of sales are international.

* Read their Profile .


 @ionscience #PAuto @thesundaytimes

Machine vision conference.

The 2019 Stemmer Imaging CVB Technical Summit is scheduled 22-23 May 2019 near Munich (D). The meeting is designed to provide delegates with a rich program of events involving the Common Vision Blox machine vision programming library. These will include hands-on demonstrations, technical presentations, training and application examples. There will also be invaluable opportunities to network and share experiences with the CVB user community and experts from the company.

Topics to be covered include a preview of CVB's upcoming DNC 3D tool and how rapid prototyping can be facilitated through Python support in CVB. There’s also a chance to find out how the new CVB OPC UA tool allows information to be communicated and shared in a connected factory environment. For those interested in the innovative Intel 400 Series of RealSense stereo cameras and depth modules, Stemmer Imaging has created a GenICam Transport Layer so that they can be handled in the same way as GigE Vision and USB3 Vision cameras.

Many interesting application areas will be covered from the state of modular embedded systems to the use of hyperspectral imaging to open up applications that have not previously been possible, especially in the food and pharmaceutical industries. The interactive application sessions also provide the opportunities to hear how other users have created innovative solutions using CVB and for any participant to present their own application experiences.

The event will feature a number of useful training sessions to help users to get the most out of CVB. In addition to a training course for complete beginners, there is also the opportunity to find out how to get started with 3D applications. More advanced users can find out how to use machine learning methods within CVB and how the new CVB++, CVB.NET/ CVBpy APIs can make life easier.

@stemmerimaging #PAuto

Rugged Single Board Computer.

Abaco Systems has announced the SBC3511 3U OpenVPX rugged single board computer, which provides a unique combination of high performance, advanced security and leading edge thermal management. Target applications for the new platform include C4ISR (Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) and the most demanding industrial applications.

The SBC3511’s high performance derives from the new, highly integrated Intel® Xeon® E-2176M 6-core/12-thread processor (formerly known as Coffee Lake) operating at 2.7GHz with TurboBoost up to 4.4GHz, 32 GBytes of DDR4 RAM and the inclusion of up to 256 GBytes of nVME SSD. It also features a 40 Gigabit Ethernet data plane, delivering not only a high speed interconnect but also alignment with the SOSA™ technical standard.

SOSA – Sensor Open Systems Architecture - creates a common framework for transitioning sensor systems to an open systems architecture, based on key interfaces and open standards established by industry-government consensus.

The new single board computer includes a range of security features designed to assist with user-defined Anti-Tamper and Information Assurance strategies. The onboard Xilinx® Zynq® UltraScale+™ MPSoC’s built-in security capabilities include a physical unclonable function (PUF), user-accessible hardened cryptographic blocks, asymmetric authentication, side channel attack protection, and other silicon-based AT features. It can be utilized to instantiate a range of Abaco-defined security features, or by customers to embed application-specific features. Support is also provided for Intel’s Trusted Execution Technology.

The SBC3511 features a unique thermal management design which allows deterministic high performance even at the extended temperatures typical of deployment on space-constrained platforms in combat zones. This is in contrast to less efficient thermal management designs that see a processor’s performance throttled back at high temperatures.

“The SBC3511 is the result of extensive feedback from our customers about what they want,” said Peter Thompson, Vice President, Product Management at Abaco Systems. “Their priorities are maximum processing power under all conditions for advanced applications; comprehensive provision for security; and interoperability. The SBC3511 not only delivers on these requirements, but is also supported by Abaco’s extensive ecosystem that includes graphics processors, FPGA and DSP boards, switches and carrier cards to enable the creation of complete systems.”

Development kits, including starter cages and accessories, are also available.

The SBC3511 also includes a x8 PCIe™ Gen 3 XMC site; one USB 2.0 port and one USB 3.1 port; a DisplayPort™ interface; two serial ports; a SATA port; and up to eight GPIO pins.

Also included is a rich range of software options. AMI UEFI includes support of BIOS Guard for signed image execution. Open Linux® (Fedora), Red Hat Enterprise Linux, CentOS (Linux), Wind River Linux, VxWorks® 7, Windows® 10 will also be available, as will comprehensive deployed test software (PBIT, CBIT and IBIT).

@AbacoSys #PAuto 

New automation on-line periodical!

InTech Focus is an e-magazine to cover fundamental automation topics, applications, and strategies to enhance automation professionals’ on-the-job success. It will be a great source for "inside knowledge from industry thought leaders and subject matter experts in an easy to read digital format."

The inaugural issue of InTech Focus, which is from the ISA stable of automation publicationscovers flow and level instrumentation. "From real-world case studies to strategic maintenance tips and expert analysis of the new tools, this issue has everything that today’s process professionals will need to safely and efficiently enhance the value of their organizations."


@ISA_Interchange  #PAuto

Monday 8 April 2019

Flexible particle monitoring.

As concern grows with the effects of both indoor and outdoor particulate pollution, Air Monitors has launched a new range of advanced monitors, Particles Plus monitors,  that improve the flexibility with which measurements can be undertaken.

Compliant with strict international standards, the Particles Plus monitors employ a range of patented technologies to simplify the collection of accurate air quality data including particulates, temperature, and relative humidity. The instruments monitor PM1, PM 2.5, PM5, PM10 and TPM (and any other PM size specified by the user) with an easy-to-use Channel Management control panel. Each instrument has alarm capability and also monitors flow, sensor status, date of last calibration, serial number and laser on-time.

Particulates are measured by passing the sample through a thin laser beam and scattered light is measured by a sensitive optical detector. The signal is amplified into an electrical pulse, the height of which corresponds to the size of the particulate. The height of each pulse is measured and ‘binned’ according to size and counted, and at the end of the sampling period, the counts in each bin or channel are reported. This provides users with detailed measurement of the size fractions, which is vitally important because of their health implications, and because size apportionment helps with source attribution.

A key feature of the Particles Plus instruments is their connectivity – they can be connected to a PC, a router, and the internet via an Ethernet connection. The instruments are also supplied with internal Wi-Fi or RS-232/RS485 capability. This means that users can access their monitors remotely, and also enables remote connection for updates, diagnostics and configuration.

Advanced, patented, power management is designed to extend battery life and ensure long runtimes. This is achieved with features such as sleep mode and a lower power profile when idle.

Each instrument can store up to 45,000 data records, so at 1 sample per minute, the instrument can record a full month’s worth of data before older records are overwritten. 15 minute sampling would facilitate the storage of more than 15 months of data from up to 1,000 user defined locations. Furthermore, data can be annotated – to note sampling conditions for example.

Summarising, Air Monitors MD Jim Mills says: “The Particles Plus monitors are a major addition to our product portfolio, offering customers enormous flexibility in the measurement of workplace and ambient dust and aerosols. With a range of instruments available, we will be able to recommend the best instrument for applications ranging from the heaviest PM pollution to the cleanest of cleanrooms.

“The instruments are small enough to be used as survey instruments, but powerful enough to be left to log data for extended periods, with remote communications reducing significantly lowering costs and labour requirements.”


@airmonitors  #Environment

Plea to US and EU co-operation on tariffs.

Joining a roundtable with the US government’s Department of Commerce to discuss US/European Union trade arrangements during the Hannover Fair, Analog Devices urged both sides to step up efforts to break down non-tariff barriers to trade in technology components and systems.

Patrick Wilson US Dept of Commerce
with Josef Lechner, Analog Devices
Analog Devices told Patrick Wilson, Office of Business Liaison Director at the Department of Commerce, that regulatory burdens imposed by both the EU and the US impeded the transatlantic exchange of components and systems in important markets for high technology such as industrial and building automation, communications, automotive, and aerospace and defense equipment.

The Department of Commerce had invited Analog Devices to participate in the roundtable discussion. It was part of a four-month long consultation organized by the Office of Business Liaison, the goal of which is to help US trade negotiators better understand the issues that US exporters and multinationals, such as Analog Devices, face when doing business in the EU.

This consultation follows a pledge made by President Donald Trump in October 2018 to negotiate a trade agreement with the EU. Trade between the EU and the US is worth some $1.1tn a year.

As part of his consultation with large US-based multinationals, Patrick Wilson visited the company Stand at Hannover Messe, which had earlier been on the route of a tour of the exhibition made by Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel. Mr Wilson saw how the company’s sophisticated solutions consisting of semiconductor hardware and software, including embedded artificial intelligence, are integrated into robotics, wind turbines and smart asset management tools. End products such as these depend on a fast-moving and intricate transatlantic supply chain for high-technology components and systems.

Analog Devices’ representative at the roundtable, EMEA Senior Sales Director Josef Lechner, said to Mr. Wilson that while electronics components such as semiconductors were not subject to damaging tariffs, compliance with onerous regulations such as the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) or the US’s International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) inhibited the export trade in technology components and systems.

Mr Lechner told Mr Wilson that Analog Devices would like to see ITAR compliance streamlined for certified companies operating in member nations of the NATO alliance.

Analog Devices also called for EU funding for technology and innovation initiatives to be available as readily to the European subsidiaries of US companies as it is to large indigenous European companies.

@ADI_News @CommerceGov #Technology #Trade @EU_Commission