HMIs and Industrial PCs Award Winners

By Control Engineering Staff February 1, 2009

HMI Hardware

EZSeries HMI with remote Internet control

EZAutomation

EZAutomation provides a dedicated human machine interface (HMI) with remote Internet control by adding Webserver/remote control technology to its EZSeries line of touch panels. Company says the technology provides remote control via the Internet for PLC HMIs. Users previously had two choices for remote Internet control: 1) Use a dedicated operating system in a touch panel, which is faster, more reliable, and needs less memory, since the microprocessor only displays graphics and communicates to PLCs. 2) Use an HMI with a Microsoft Windows CE operating system, which gives the panel Internet capability to send emails with alarms and serve Web pages for remote view. This can interfere with PLC communications and is inherently less reliable, slower, and uses a lot of memory. www.ezautomation.net

HONORABLE MENTION PanelMate ePro PS Classic Operator Interface – Eaton Corp. The PanelMate ePro PS is the next generation’s operator interface and features increased memory, better display, faster performance and a variety of model options. www.eaton.com

HMI Software

FactoryTalk View Machine Edition

Rockwell Automation

Machine-level human machine interface (HMI) that supports open and embedded operator interfaces. FactoryTalk View Machine Edition (ME) from Rockwell Automation is a machine-level human machine interface (HMI) that supports open and embedded operator interfaces to help enhance, monitor and control individual machines or small processes. It accesses information from local FactoryTalk servers and standard third-party OPC servers; tags need to be defined once and their values can be logged and displayed in the historical trend object. www.rockwellautomation.com

HONORABLE MENTION FactoryTalk ViewPoint – Rockwell Automation

Scalable, animated Web HMI applications remotely monitor plant-floor operations status: among the first commercially available, thin-client applications for manufacturing using the new Microsoft Silverlight technology.

www.rockwellautomation.com

Industrial PCs

PowerPanelPC

Modular Industrial Computers

NEMA 4X Industrial Panel PC allows the computer to be removed for service without also removing the panel monitor. Modular Industrial Computers PowerPanel PC/FS provides users the power and flexibility of Intel Core 2 Duo processor technology in a panel mounted industrial computer platform. Available as a 15-, 17-, 19- or 21-in. LCD display touchscreen, the PowerPanel PC/FS features a removable PC module that facilitates service without tools. The Field Serviceable (FS) PC module can be detached from the monitor for service or reprogramming off the plant floor. The PowerPanel PC/FS specs include Intel Core 2 Duo 1.86Ghz, 1GB DDR2 RAM, 120 GB HDD, 4 USB, 2 Serial, 10/100/1000 Base T LAN Ethernet, and rated up to 55 °C. www.mic.com

HONORABLE MENTION APL3000 Series – Pro-face

Industrial PCs that include Core Duo CPU performance plus advance data protection via exclusive integrated factory alert system, hot-swappable hard drives, and RAID-enable data redundancy.

www.profaceamerica.com