Top 5 Control Engineering articles September 4-10: PID benefits and challenges, ladder logic, open- or closed-loop control, more

Articles about PID challenges and benefits, ladder logic, knowing when to use open- or closed-loop control, motor efficiency, and robotics on the assembly line were Control Engineering’s five most clicked articles from September 4-10. Miss something? You can catch up here.

By Chris Vavra September 11, 2017

The top 5 most read articles online, from Sept. 4-10 for Control Engineering, covered PID challenges and benefits, ladder logic, knowing when to use open- or closed-loop control, motor efficiency, and robotics on the assembly line. Links to each article below.

1. To PID or not to PID

The venerable proportional-integral-derivative (PID) algorithm can solve a variety of feedback control problems, but not all.

2. Ladder Logic: Auto cycles and safety routines

The auto cycle command in ladder logic allows the auto cycle to start in auto mode if no faults are present and for the cycle to stop only when the auto sequence has not been started.

3. Know when to use open- or closed-loop control

Open-loop controls and closed-loop controls each have unique situations where they are needed and the operator needs to know the setting and the situation before deciding on which one to use.

4. What’s next for motor efficiency?

Motors and motor efficiency: Standards efforts continue to shift from looking at motor efficiency to measuring power use; attention to the system in the application is very important when optimizing energy use, according to NEMA Motor Generator Section representatives.

5. Robots solve assembly line production challenges

Inside Machines: An electronics manufacturer with double-digit product rejection rates used a collaborative robot that was controlled and monitored in a cloud-connected system to handle soldering, drilling, silicone dispensing, and light assembly. This helped rejects fall to near zero and increased production efficiency almost fivefold.

The list was developed using CFE Media’s web analytics for stories viewed on controleng.com, September 4-10, for articles published within the last two months.

Chris Vavra, production editor, CFE Media, cvavra@cfemedia.com.


Author Bio: Chris Vavra is web content manager for CFE Media and Technology.