2020 Engineers’ Choice Awards
Spotlight on innovation: Best automation, control and instrumentation products in 29 categories.
The 33rd annual Control Engineering Engineers’ Choice Awards shines a light on 29 categories of control, instrumentation and automation products, revealing the best of those introduced in 2019 as chosen by the Control Engineering print and digital audience. Review the winners and honorable mentions here to see if their innovative solutions can help resolve one of your most pressing problems.
Also, join us in congratulating these technological innovators. Let them know you learned about their solutions in Control Engineering, and tell them what problems you need solutions for next. Their continuous improvement ensures that manufacturers, machine builders, and automation system integrators can achieve the levels of agility, efficiency, and effectiveness necessary to compete—and win—in today’s global economy.
A total of 117 finalists from 57 companies were listed on the ballot for evaluation. Automation professionals from Control Engineering’s subscriber lists—all of whom are responsible for or influence technology purchases, or have hands-on day-to-day interaction with the technologies in each category—then voted to identify the products they felt were the most exceptional based on technological advancement, service to the industry, and market impact. The result is a short list of Engineers’ Choice Awards winners and honorable mentions in 29 categories. A total of 1 grand winner, 29 winners and 28 honorable mentions were named for 2020.
Control Engineering staff extends appreciation to all who nominated products and took the time to vote. Find more product innovations in the New Products for Engineers Database at www.controleng.com/NPE. The 2020 Engineers’ Choice Awards will be presented to the winners on April 27, 2020, in Chicago.
2020 Engineers’ Choice Grand Award
The Grand Award—first introduced with the 2017 program—is bestowed upon the product that received the most overall votes in the 2020 program. This year’s Grand Award recipient is the PTV Terminal Block from Phoenix Contact.
The PTV terminal block with side wire entry connection combines the clarity of screw connection with the ease of push-in connection. This enables clearer wiring and eliminates bending of wires in confined spaces. The design also allows for much clearer marking of both the terminal block and wire. The PTV features clearly arranged wiring without bending radii, and a time-saving conductor connection, thanks to tool-free push-in direct connection technology. The connection principle and conductor routing are simple to understand. The PTV terminal block is compatible with CLIPLINE complete standard accessories, simplifying inventory requirements.
2020 Engineers’ Choice Awards
Winners and Honorable Mentions by category
- Hardware – HMI, Operator Interface, Thin-Client
- Winner: EZTouch EZ7 HMI/PLC operator interface, EZAutomation, ezautomation.net
- Honorable Mention: Graphite 12.1-in. outdoor HMI, Red Lion Controls, www.redlion.net
- Hardware – Industrial PCs, CNCs
- Winner: Simatic IPC1047 industrial PC, Siemens, usa.siemens.com
- Honorable Mention: MIC-770 compact, fanless industrial PC, Advantech, advantech.com
- Industrial Internet of Things Connectivity – Edge Controller
- Winner: groov EPIC edge programmable industrial controller, Opto 22, opto22.com
- Honorable Mention: Sinumerik Edge machine tool application, Siemens, usa.siemens.com
- Industrial Internet of Things Connectivity – Gateway
- Winner: Wise-710 Industrial Internet of Things gateway, Advantech, advantech.com
- Honorable Mention: Simatic PN/J1939 Link gateway, Siemens, usa.siemens.com
- Machine & Embedded Control – PLCs
- Winner: Unistream PLC, Unitronics, https://unitronicsplc.com
- Honorable Mention: PLCnext programmable logic controller, Phoenix Contact, phoenixcontact.com/us
- Machine Vision, Code Readers
- Winner: DataMan 370 fixed-mount barcode reader, Cognex, cognex.com
- Honorable Mention: Geva 400 multiple camera vision system, Teledyne DALSA, teledynedalsa.com
- Motion Control
- Winner: Simogear KS adapter, Siemens, usa.siemens.com
- Honorable Mention: Kinetix VPH hygienic servo motor, Rockwell Automation, rockwellautomation.com
- Motion Control – Drives
- Winner: Sinamics G120X drive, Siemens, usa.siemens.com
- Honorable Mention: GA800 variable-speed drive, Yaskawa America, https://www.yaskawa.com
- Motion Control – Drives, Servo
- Winner: Sinamics S210 servo drive, Siemens, usa.siemens.com
- Honorable Mention: Kinetix 5100 servo drive, Rockwell Automation, rockwellautomation.com
- Motion Control – Linear Transport
- Winner: XTS linear transport system, Beckhoff Automation, beckhoffautomation.com
- Honorable Mention: MagneMover Lite transport system, Rockwell Automation, rockwellautomation.com
- Motion Control – Pneumatics
- Winner: Sipart PS100 electropneumatic valve positioner, Siemens, usa.siemens.com
- Honorable Mention: BPGS pneumatic gripper system, Bimba, bimba.com
- Motion Control – Robots, Robotics
- Winner: VT6L all-in-one 6-axis robot, Epson America, https://epson.com
- Honorable Mention: Robotiq Sanding Kit, Universal Robots, universal-robots.com
- Network Integration – Data Acquisition
- Winner: DA30D protocol converter, data acquisition system, Web Server and Virtual HMI, Red Lion Controls, redlion.net
- Honorable Mention: ELM314x Economy EtherCAT measurement module, Beckhoff Automation, beckhoffautomation.com
- Network Integration – Ethernet Hardware, Switches
- Winner: PROmesh P20 Ethernet/PROFINET switch, Indu-Sol GmbH, indu-sol.com/en
- Honorable Mention: P2M industrial Ethernet node, Parker Hannifin — Motion Systems Group, parker.com
- Network Integration – I/O Systems
- Winner: Simatic DP ET 200eco PN distributed fail-safe peripheral module, Siemens, usa.siemens.com
- Honorable Mention: Flex 5000 discrete safety I/O module, Rockwell Automation, rockwellautomation.com
- Network Integration – Signal Conditioning
- Winner: ECT-DIN 2-wire output-loop powered isolator, converter, Moore Industries, miinet.com
- Network Integration – Wireless
- Winner: Simatic RF615 compact UHF-RFID reader, Siemens, usa.siemens.com
- Honorable Mention: Tosibox Lock 150 industrial router, Tosibox Oy, tosibox.com
- Power – Energy, Power Protection
- Winner: MD high-density sub-metering platform, Siemens Smart Infrastructure, https://usa.siemens.com/buildingtechnologies
- Honorable Mention: Varitector PU II UL surge protection device, Weidmuller, weidmuller.com
- Power Supply, UPS
- Winner: PROtop high-end range power supply, Weidmuller, weidmuller.com
- Honorable Mention: 5P lithium-ion uninterruptible power system, Eaton, eaton.com
- Process control – Process Sensors, Transmitters
- Winner: Sitrans P320/420 pressure transmitter, Siemens, usa.siemens.com
- Honorable Mention: Rosemount 5300 level transmitter, Emerson, emerson.com
- Process Control Systems
- Winner: Simatic PCS neo V3 distributed control system, Siemens, usa.siemens.com
- Honorable Mention: ControlEdge PLC R151, Honeywell Process Solutions, honeywellprocess.com/en-US
- Safety – Machine Safety
- Winner: Simatic RF1000 access control badge reader, Siemens, usa.siemens.com
- Honorable Mention: outdoorScan3 outdoor safety laster scanner, Sick, sick.com
- Safety – Process Safety, Intrinsic Safety
- Winner: Vanguard WirelessHART toxic, combustible gas detector V1.2, United Electric Controls, ueonline.com
- Honorable Mention: SCS 24Vdc P1SIL3 I safety relay, Weidmuller, weidmuller.com
- Software – Asset Management, Reporting
- Winner: Dream Report V5.0 analytics sofware, Ocean Data Systems, https://dreamreport.net
- Honorable Mention: XLReporter V14.0 reporting software, SyTech, sytech.com
- Software – Control Design
- Winner: Connected Components Workbench V12 machine development software, Rockwell Automation, rockwellautomation.com
- Honorable Mention: Smart Commissioning, Emerson Automation, emerson.com
- Software – Data Analytics
- Winner: Seeq R21 advanced analytical software for process manufacturing, Seeq Corp., seeq.com
- Honorable Mention: TwinCAT 3 Scope software with OPC UA integration, Beckhoff Automation, beckhoffautomation.com
- Software – HMI Software
- Winner: InduSoft Web Studio V8.1 + SP4, Aveva, indusoft.com
- Honorable Mention: ThinManager V11.0 thin client management software, Rockwell Automation, rockwellautomation.com
- Software – Industrial Internet of Things Connectivity
- Winner: KEPServerEX V6.7 industrial connectivity software, Kepware, kepware.com
- Honorable Mention: Honeywell Forge for Industrial enterprise performance management software, Honeywell Process Solutions, honeywellprocess.com/en-US
- Software – Mobile Apps
- Winner: CFSWorX connected field service mobile application, Iconics, iconics.com
- Honorable Mention: WIN-911 V4.19.17 alarm notification mobile application, WIN-911 Software, win911.com
Do you have experience and expertise with the topics mentioned in this content? You should consider contributing to our WTWH Media editorial team and getting the recognition you and your company deserve. Click here to start this process.