Control Engineering 2006 Engineers’ Choice Awards Winners

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.

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HMIS AND INDUSTRIAL PCS

HMI Hardware Hardened Resistive Touchscreens – Christensen Display ProductsHMi Operator Interface- Eaton Corp.

HMI Software Web Studio v6.1 – IndusoftWebHMI – Iconics

Industrial PCs C69xx Industrial PCs – BeckhoffPowerBox 1700 – Modular Industrial Computers.
MACHINE CONTROLLERS AND EMBEDDED CONTROL

Controllers CX1020 Embedded PC – Beckhoff AutomationCompactLogix 1768-L43 – Rockwell Automation

Embedded Products Fido 32-bit hard real-time microcontroller – Innovasic SemiconductorETXexpress-CD – Kontron

Discrete Sensors & Readers Dataman 7500 Series reader – CognexChecker 101E – Cognex

INSTRUMENTATION AND COMPONENTS Components & Connectors PanelMax corner wiring duct – PanduitP Series terminals – Weidmuller Instrumentation & Analysis Rosemount 3051S for HART protocol – Emerson Process ManagementPDM Series power display – Ohio Semitronics

Process Sensors AWI-P wirelss pressure transmitter – Adalet WirelessSafety-certified Coriolis meters – Emerson Process Management
MOTORS, DRIVES AND MOTION CONTROL

Drives Kinetix 7000 servo drive – Rockwell AutomationKinetix 6000 servo drive – Rockwell Automation

Motion Control Model 940 PositionServo – Lenze/AC Technology Corp.750 Series Stepper Module – Wago Corp.MSS Series gearheads – Baldor Electric

Motors NEMA motors – Siemens Energy & AutomationMR-J3 Series AC Servos – Mitsubishi Electric Automation

NETWORK HARDWARE AND I/O

Switches, Routers & Hubs SE-44M-E924 managed Ethernet switch – TurckDirect-Link industrial Ethernet switch – Woodhead Industries

I/O Products & Cabling BK9105 EtherNet/IP Bus Coupler – Beckhoff AutomationActive Ethernet I/O – Moxa TechnologiesSnap PAC R-2 – Opto 22

Wireless Solutions Channel Blanket topology – BeldenRAD-802.11XD WiFi device with security – Phoenix Contact
SOFTWARE Enterprise Integration & Analysis InFusion ECS – Invensys Process SystemsEquipment Operations Module 1.0 – Wonderware

Programming LabView 8.2 – National InstrumentsDevelopment modules for ControlLogix C applications – ProSoft Technology

PROCESS & ADVANCED CONTROL

Advanced Control Loop-Pro software suite – Control Station Inc.Profit Suite R300 – Honeywell Process Solutions

Process Control InTune v5 predictive maintenance software – ControlSoftSafetyNet for emergency shutdown – MTL Open Systems Technologies

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 – ISK66ITSEnclosures’ 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 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

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