Control Engineering 2006 Engineers’ Choice Awards Winners

-- Control Engineering, 4/17/2007

Control Engineering 2006 Engineers’ Choice Awards
Innovative control, automation and instrumentation new products introduced between December 2005 and Dec 2006

Stand Out Technologies
Every year, hundreds of new products are introduced, but only a few go on to greatness. At Control Engineering, we try to predict which those will be.

2007 Awards Nomination Instructions and Timeline
Information to come

Previous Editors' Choice and Engineers' Choice award winners

• Seal of Approval: Best Technologies of 2005
• 2004 Editors' Choice Awards
• Archive of earlier winners

2006 New Product Compendium
Nominated 2006 New Products by Category

• Human-Machine Interfaces and Industrial PCs
  • HMI Hardware
  • HMI Software
  • Industrial PCs
    
• Instrumentation, Process Sensors, Control Components
  • Analysis instrumentation
  • Connectors
  • Process Sensors
• Machine and Embedded Control
  • Controllers
  • Discrete sensors and readers
  • Embedded products
    
• Motors, Drives and Motion Control
  • Drives
  • Motion control
  • Motors
    
• Networks/Communications Hardware and Software
  • I/O products and cabling
  • Switches, routers and hubs
  • Wireless solutions
• Process and Advanced Control
  • Advanced control
  • Process control
• Software
  • Enterprise integration
  • Programming

Additional New Products Introduced in 2006

Machine Control, Embedded
Freescale Semiconductor MC9RS08KA MCU
An ultra-low-end, sub-50-cent 8-bit MCU small enough to fit in the head of an electric toothbrush, ideal for traditional electro-mechanical and portable applications such as motor control.

Machine Control, Embedded
Freescale Semiconductor MR2A16A MRAM
The 4-Mbit MR2A16A device uses magnetic materials combined with conventional silicon circuitry to deliver the speed of SRAM with the non-volatility of Flash in a single, high endurance device.

Instrumentation and control components, Process sensors
Schneider Electric Sensor Competency Center Hyde Park Virtu 30
The new Virtu 30 mm by Hyde Park is an ultrasonic sensor available in a 30 mm barrel body style that breaks new ground for the cost-conscious customer. These compact sensors solve a greater number of applications with an increased sensing distance of 4' (102 mm) to 39' (1m) with the option of being normally open, normally closed or a teachable output. Protection ratings of NEMA 4X and IP67 makes the Virtu™ 30 versatile in many harsh environments by resisting most acids and bases. These new sensors can be used in such applications as conveyor systems, food and beverage, pharmaceutical and automotive. The Virtu 30 is teachable with an external, removable pushbutton that provides convenience and prevents tampering once the sensor is installed.

Motors, drives, and motion control, Drives
Yaskawa Electric Sigma FSP Servo System
The Sigma FSP is an indexing servo amplifier, which uses real-time adaptive tuning that dramatically reduces tracking error and settling time.

Motors, drives, and motion control, Motion control
B&R Industrial Automation X67 Stepper motor modules X67SM2436 and X67SM4320
The new X67 stepper motor modules from B&R provide machine builders a more efficient and cost effective solution to controlling stepper motors.

Machine Control, Embedded
B&R Industrial Automation X20 Compact CPUs
The new X20 Compact CPUs from B&R are extremely compact (only 37.5 mm wide) yet are extremely powerful and simple to integrate into the X20 I/O system.

Human machine interfaces and industrial PCs, HMI hardware
B&R Industrial Automation Automation Panel 800
The Automation Panel 800 is characterized by its high degree of flexibility thus allowing the customer to build an operator interface according to their requirements.

Human-machine interfaces and industrial PCs HMI hardware
Beijer Electronics Exter K30m
Robust yet slim lightweight operator terminal

Machine Control Discrete sensor
Dataforth Accelerometer Input Module, Model SCM5B4-01
An isolated accelerometer input module for IEPE sensors with field configurable excitation current, signal gain, and high-pass and low-pass filter cutoff frequencies.

Networks, communications hardware/software Switches, routers, hubs
Hirschmann Automation Eagle Industrial Firewall and Router
The Eagle is a firewall and router, allowing users to securely access and segment networks.

HMIs and industrial PCs HMI hardware
IKEY DW-860 Industrial Wireless Keyboard
Wireless industrial keyboard with integrated pointing device and NEMA 4X protection

Instrumentation and control components, Components
ITS Enclousres Industrial Kiosk Solutions - ISK66
ITSEnclosures' Kiosk is designed to enclose a variety of equipment such as a PC, LCD Display and Panel Mounted Keyboard

Software, Enterprise & Analysis software
Matrikon Matrikon Operational Insight Lite
Matrikon Operational Insight Lite allows users to access, display, trend and analyze their process data from their desktop.

Process and advanced control, Process control
Watlow EZ-ZONE™ ST Integrated Control Loop
EZ-ZONE ST is the first product to integrate temperature control, power control, safety shut-down and power disconnect in a single package

Network hardware and I/O, I/O products and cabling
Acromag EtherStax™ Model ES2113
EtherStax™ I/O blocks provide a ruggedized, high-density solution to interface a very large quantity of discrete I/O signals to your control system

Instrumentation, Process sensor
Ametek Inc. Western Research® Model IPS-4
Integrated Process Spectrophotometer Integrated process spectrophotometer for the UV-VIS spectroscopy of liquids and gases

Motors, drives, and motion control, Motors
Ametek Inc. GEN II INFIN-A-TEK switched reluctance vacuum motor
This next generation of switched-reluctance vacuum motors incorporates the latest advancements in digital control technology, materials manufacturing and electric circuitry design

Software, Design software
Autodesk AutoCADElectrical 2007
AutoCAD Electrical is the leading application built specifically to create and modify electrical control designs, faster and more accurately than ever before.

_______________________
ONLINE extra
Prior Engineers' Choice winners.

Links to some prior Editors' Choice winners follow.
Seal of Approval Best Technologies of 2005
2004 winners: Flurry of Innovation