Top Control Engineering articles, December 2010

Most visited articles at www.controleng.com during December 2010 included motor efficiency, a new ac drive, automation value video, System Integrator of the Year winners 2011, Coriolis flowmeter, and how to choose wireless technologies, among others.

December 2010’s leading Control Engineering online stories included:

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.

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.

Video: Where is the value in automation? In a video interview, Peter Martin, consultant for Invensys, explains how to show users the value of automation.

The best in automation system integration, 2011 – Control Engineering recognizes the best in automation, controls, and instrumentation system integration with our fifth annual System Integrator of the Year awards, the cover story in the 2011 Automation Integrator Guide, part of the December 2010 Control Engineering and Plant Engineering issues. The 2011 winners are ….

Are Coriolis flowmeters a universal technology? Just a flowmeter? The capabilities of current designs can put them among the most versatile devices in your plant. Coriolis meters can measure mass flow of liquid and gas, density, temperature, and viscosity. One instrument makes the measurements without additional devices or sampling lines, simplifying measurement systems and reducing life cycle costs.

How to choose wireless technology for industrial applications – Wireless technologies are being adopted for simple monitoring, control to supervisory control and data acquisition. Wireless provides reliable data communications in interference-heavy environments. Information follows to help choose the best wireless technology for an industrial application.

Training Approaches for Using Simulators to Teach Process Control Systems – Simulators are a powerful tool for training operators, but how you use them has a major effect on overall effectiveness. Don’t let technology make you forget the human factors. Insufficient perceptions and philosophies of adult learning and out-of-date training methodologies stubbornly persist. These can diminish the effectiveness of training, regardless of the sophistication of the simulators employed.

Back to Basics: How gain scheduling works – Gain scheduling facilitates process control when the gains and the time constants vary with the current value of the process variable. Gain scheduling is particularly appropriate for processes that speed up or slow down as the process variable rises and falls. It also works if the process…

Top Control Engineering articles, November 2010

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