Top 5 Control Engineering articles, September 10 to October 9: The first PLC, future of the PLC, System Integrator Giants, more
Articles about the competition for the first PLC, the PLC’s future, System Integrator Giants of 2014, cascade control fundamentals, and open- vs. closed-loop controls were Control Engineering’s top 5 reader favorites from September 10 to October 9. You can catch up here.
Control Engineering Top 5 most read articles online, for Sept. 10 to Oct. 9, the competition to make the first PLC, the PLC’s future, System Integrator Giants of 2014, cascade control fundamentals, and open- vs. closed-loop control. Link to each article below.
1. Inside the competition for the first PLC
The race to develop the first programmable logic controllers was underway inside General Motors’ Hydra-Matic Transmission Division in Ypsilanti, Michigan, in 1970. Three finalists had very different architectures.
PLCs are evolving and continue to be the best option for a variety of industrial automation applications. Greater programming flexibility and ease, scalability, more memory, smaller sizes, very high-speed (Gigabit) Ethernet, and built-in wireless are among evolving programmable logic controller features.
3. System Integrator Giants of 2014
The 2014 System Integrator Giants boast a $396 million increase in system integration revenue, a greater concern for the economy’s impact on the automation integrator market, and a strong belief in educational and mentoring programs for employees.
4. Fundamentals of cascade control
Sometimes two controllers can do a better job of keeping one process variable where you want it.
5. Open- vs. closed-loop control
The list was developed using CFE Media’s web analytics for stories viewed on controleng.com, from September 10 to October 9, for articles published within the last two months.
– Chris Vavra, production editor, CFE Media, cvavra@cfemedia.com.
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