Top Control Engineering articles, January 2011

Most visited articles at www.controleng.com during January 2011 included features about PLCs, PACs and IPCs; drives; top stories; system integrators; and motion control retrofit advice, among other articles.

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Most visited articles at www.controleng.com during January 2011 included articles about PLCs, PACs and IPCs; drives; top stories; system integrators; and motion control retrofit advice, among other articles.

January 2011’s leading Control Engineering online stories included:

Cover Story: Balancing PLCs, PACs, IPCs - Do you need a PLC, PAC, or IPC for your next control application? Will programmable logic controllers (PLCs) evolve into programmable automation controllers (PACs) or industrial PCs (IPCs)? Whatever the name, get the best features and software for your control applications.

PLCS, PACs, IPCs – Does it matter? - Get the right functionality and most-advantageous programming software for your next controller application, no matter what the technology. Here’s a sampling of controllers for your next set of applications. Watch for the January Control Engineering cover story on the future of industrial controllers.

A-B PowerFlex 755 AC Drive - Rockwell Automation A-B PowerFlex 755 AC Drive from Rockwell Automation is designed for ease of use, integration, application flexibility and performance. It represents the first drive from the new Allen-Bradley PowerFlex 750 series. Rockwell says the drive meets global user needs for versatile motor control, ease of integration and high performance to help increase productivity.

Top 20 Control Engineering articles of 2010 at www.controleng.com - Link to the most-read Control Engineering articles of 2010 at www.controleng.com. Energy-efficient motor technology topics, pushed by a Dec. 19 regulatory deadline and increased sustainable engineering efforts, ranked very high. Also very popular were industrial communications technologies, wireless and Ethernet, various Tips and Tricks tutorial-type advice, as well as awards recognition. This was the topic of the January 2010 Think Again column.

Video: Meet the 2011 System Integrator of the Year Winners – Control Engineering’s Vance VanDoren talks to the presidents of the winning companies, Martin Control Systems, ASECO Integrated Systems, and Maverick Technologies.

Motion controller can rejuvenate your machine – Adding an electro-hydraulic motion controller can increase machine productivity. PLCs typically do not have instruction sets that are tailored for this function, and machine scan times can vary from scan to scan, making it difficult to deal precisely with feedback information. Old machine can add new life with a motion controller retrofit. See more photos and motion control diagram.

Cover story: Energy - Efficient Electric Motors - How to get the most out of energy-efficient motors: You have to do more than just look at the motor nameplate to get maximum energy savings. Are you ready for Dec. 19, 2010, the next major U.S. motor efficiency compliance deadline? Those truly interested in increasing efficiency will take a holistic view of overall machine design. Here's how to get inside motor efficiency to maximize savings.

Top Control Engineering articles, December 2010 - Most visited articles at www.controleng.com during December 2010 included motor efficiency, video about the value of automation, System Integrator of the Year winners 2011, Coriolis flowmeter, and how to choose wireless technologies, among other articles.

Among the most popular pages...

Magazine archives www.controleng.com/archive

Process control http://www.controleng.com/channels/process-control.html

Machine control http://www.controleng.com/channels/machine-control.html

Education Center www.controleng.com/education

2011 Manufacturing and Automation Summit www.controleng.com/summit

- Edited by Mark T. Hoske, CFE Media, Control Engineering, www.controleng.com