Automation Fair 2002: Electronic and design tools enlarge tool box

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Anaheim, CA

– Is it possible for an engineer to have too many tools? Rockwell Automation unveiled several electronic and design tools at the recent Automation Fair with a view to making things easier for customers.

Rockwell Automation Integrated Software Environment (RAISE) configurator, PLC and I/O Product Line Selectors, Safety Navigator , and Medium Voltage Center of Power Solutions guide users through specification requirements to identify the most effective component solution. By walking users through pull-down menus and prompts, the tools automatically select products that are compatible with application criteria.

Motion Book, Integrated Architecture Builder (IAB) software, and CenterONE help users automatically calculate complex data and complete system set-up from sizing, selection, and analysis to programming, commissioning, and maintenance. The tools generate a graphical representation of the system, performance estimates, comprehensive reports, and detailed bill-of-materials.

For more information, see www.ab.com/e-tools .

Rockwell Automation design tools use the FactoryTalk data collaboration model to describe manufacturing processes supporting modular control system configurations, reusable control and visualization code, and simultaneous design and engineering.

RSAutomation Desktop is a Microsoft .Net-based application that acts as a central repository for design data. Multiple users can collaborate, share data, enforce standards, eliminate redundancy in data-entry, and automate tag creation for automation projects. Users can create re-usable logic, HMI, documentation, and other data type templates from previous projects to speed program development. Since data is centralized, users can access personal views of the design project from any workstation. The application manages application versions and licensing, and reduces integration testing by eliminating tag mismatches and reusing pre-tested code.

RSView Studio version 3.0, Microsoft Windows-based application development software for creating HMI screens and supervisory control schemes, supports the Rockwell Automation ViewAnyWare strategy by including the Allen-Bradley PanelView Plus operator interface in a supported programming environment.

Control Engineering Daily News DeskGary A. Mintchell, senior editor gmintchell@reedbusiness.com

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