Jeanine Katzel

Control Engineering anniversary recalls impact of technology on industry, life

Transistors, microprocessors pave way to modern manufacturing, automation, and control: Reflections on six decades of publishing reveal how developments in computer hardware, software, storage, and displays dissolved communications barriers, promoted systems integration, added intelligence to simple components, and led to once-thought-impossible achievements today—and a no-holds-barred tomorrow.

Gigabit Industrial Ethernet: networks and tunneling processes to increase quality, reduce costs

Digital Edition Exclusive: Removing the communication bottleneck improves automated machinery precision by adding extra capacity, collecting more data, and better monitoring diagnostic information.

Building an integration strategy

Few technical barriers stand in the way of plant-to-enterprise integration today. It promises real-time data for making better decisions and optimizing production. But without a comprehensive corporate plan that sets goals and outlines results, mere connectivity is doomed to disappoint.

Information systems: The exploding power of HMI software

Once a hardware-driven technology, HMI systems now depend on the power of software to control operations and applications. Led by advancements in programming languages and innovations in interfaces and mobility, these workhorses of manufacturing are playing expanded roles throughout the enterprise—and with the influence of a new-age workforce are looking to add greater functionality in the future.

Next-generation control engineer advice

The next-generation workforce: Are young automation and control engineers hard to find? If so, what can be done about it? What are they talking about at the LinkedIn Automation & Control Engineering Group, moderated by CFE Media’s Control Engineering magazine?

Information systems: The evolution of the HMI

From push buttons to PCs, from text-based to graphical, from CRT to LCD, the shape and role of what has come to be called “visualization” has changed dramatically over a few short years. The move from islands of automation to sophisticated control and analytics reflects unprecedented growth, and the journey is far from over.

Cloud computing, alarm management

Engineering social media: What topics are hot in the LinkedIn Automation & Control Engineering Group? Cloud computing and alarm presentation provoke lively dialogue.

Information systems: Adding video to your HMI

Growing demand for a more precise, accurate eye on operations—on the plant floor and in remote locations—is fueling the use of video-enabled displays. And advances in cameras, processing power, storage capacity, and connectivity are creating the perfect storm to put this technology within reach of nearly every plant.

U.S. manufacturing: Engineering social media

Social media engineering topics include manufacturing trends: Is industry returning to the United States? What are they talking about when they say “Made in the USA”?

How safe are your electrical system work practices?

Survey results show many don’t always follow the rules when working on industrial control equipment. Is failure to wear required protective equipment a foolish choice or an acceptable risk? Clamor for regulatory reform among survey respondents tells the story.

Power of the Cloud

Cloud computing is everywhere, including manufacturing! This latest computing craze may seem like just another buzzword, but “the cloud” and its advanced computing technologies are here to stay, holding a stockpile of benefits, few downsides, and the promise to give industry untold opportunities to do more and better business more profitably.

Learn more about the cloud: A resource guide

Information, examples, and tutorials about the cloud and computing abound on the Internet. Here are a dozen links to a few cloud-related resources that can help you get started in learning more about this new technology.

Simplified safety: taking safety beyond the MCC

When integrating safety into a motor control center, be sure to think outside the box to the components and devices in the plant that are under its control.

Cover story: Integrating Disparate Control Systems

Advancements in open systems and network technologies are showing vendors and manufacturers alike that ‘playing nice on the same wire’ can build bridges among once-isolated islands of automation and reap benefits for everyone.

Multiple flavors of Ethernet

The evolution and proliferation of Ethernet has smoothed the path to integrating the automation space, enabling open protocols such as OPC to function optimally. This is part of a Control Engineering December cover story.

Fan coil unit controllers: Relays, power supplies are integrated, on-board

Configurable ECC-PFCU series of fan coil unit controllers from Distech Controls control the space temperature for equipment with up to 4 stages of cooling or heating, 2 floating valves, and up to 3 fan speeds.

Managing Alarms

Technology is good, so more technology must be better. Right? Wrong. More is not always better. The advent of the microprocessor and the proliferation of the modern distributed control system (DCS) made it easy to alarm something…everything, in fact…at little or no cost. As a result, many facilities today have an overwhelming number of notifications daily, leading to frustrating, s...

The Amazing World of Nanotechnology

The body of information surrounding nanotechnology is incredible. If you search the subject on Google, you will find well over a million entries. Interest in the field is unquestionable, and the buzz about its possibilities and potential increases daily, fueled by media hype and science fiction such as Michael Crichton's novel Prey.

Bioterrorism Act: Burden or Benefit?

The event that has come to be known as 911 changed forever the American way of life. Around the world, in an instant, people recognized their vulnerability to catastrophe. In its wake grew new policies, procedures, and laws to attempt to prevent, or at least mitigate, future incidents. Among the most notable of those measures is the Bioterrorism Act of 2002, the basis for regulations governing ...

Virtual Instruments

A number of years ago, a professor was researching the impact of drugs on human tissue. A presentation he gave one day included a slide of a computer-generated strip-chart recorder illustrating data from a biological monitoring system. "I can't even program my name in BASIC [programming language]," he told his audience, then showed them the virtual instrument he'd created and data he'd obtained...

In-line Instrumentation

In-line measuring, monitoring, and analysis is found in all process industries. Whether involving liquids or gases, in-line methodologies provide a variety of benefits over sporadic grab samples, including greater data reliability, accuracy, and consistency (primarily because of automatic calibration and verification); more, faster, repeatable measurements; fewer man-hours required; and tighter...

HMI investment reflects a growing market

If one area of automation and control has experienced change and growth of late, it is the human-machine interface (HMI). Advancements in hardware and software technology have brought sophistication and precision to the display and the systems it controls. Elaborate graphics and animation and the ability to perform more complex functions, coupled with enhanced wireless and connectivity capabili...

Many Facets, One Point

Life is not a destination, it is a journey, many major philosophers say. So is security, it appears. As with life, the circumstances surrounding security measures are dynamic. Situations change, and automation and controls engineers concerned about security need to stay on top of those changes. Today, in an environment fraught with terrorism, computer viruses, litigation, and privacy issues, th...

What in the World is Sarbanes-Oxley?

When the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) became law in the 1970s, a line heard often was "OSHA is not a small town in Wisconsin." Similarly, those faced with implementing the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in their plants today might hear: "What in the world is Sarbanes-Oxley?" The answer is not a simple one.

Flat Panels: Thin Is In

They're everywhere! In your living room, at the ATM, on your desk, and most especially as part of your automation and control system. Taking form most commonly as LCDs (liquid crystal displays), flat panels have finally made it to the big time, replacing with ever-increasing frequency those bulky, heavy CRTs (cathode ray tubes) with sleek and slender units that boast many benefits beyond being ...

Is Turnkey HMI Right For You?

The cheese stands alone, the cheese stands alone." The phrase may have made sense in a childhood nursery rhyme, but when it comes to human-machine interfaces and visualization systems, the concept just doesn't apply. Once simple, self-contained entities of switches and push buttons, HMIs no longer stand alone in the manufacturing environment.

Beyond Flow

New technology flowmeters really aren't very new. Many of these devices—defined by most as encompassing Coriolis, ultrasonic, electomagnetic, vortex, and occasionally multivariable and thermal types—have been around for years. They are new, however, in that they are distinguishable from even older, traditional mechanical flow technologies (such as positive displacement, Venturi, and...

Smarter Devices Point to Better Maintenance, Precise Operation, Market Growth

Like people, control valves come in all types, shapes, and sizes. They are found in homes, utility services, institutions, and nearly every manufacturing operation imaginable. These common control components are equally important in a domestic water system as in a large oil or gas distribution line. Valve types range from ball and butterfly to diaphragm and globe; they carry water, air, or gas ...

HMIs in Robotics

In complex, sophisticated manufacturing environments where robots are increasingly deployed, it is imperative to know at every moment what your robots are doing now as well as what they've done in the past. Whether the process involves initialization and commissioning, operations, or repair and maintenance, abundant information must be gathered, analyzed, and available at a moment's notice.

Technology and Peiople Connections: Keys to the Future

Click here to read the original print article. Intelligent devices, integrated systems, distributed architectures… Dow engineers cite past advances and call on controls field to be ready for further change. Participating in this Control Engineering 50th anniversary interview were Jerry Gipson ( jgipson@dow.com ), director of Engineering Technology, and Eric C.

Technology and People Connections: Keys to the Future

Participating in this Control Engineering 50th anniversary interview were Jerry Gipson (jgipson@dow.com), director of Engineering Technology, and Eric C. Cosman (eccosman@dow.com), automation architect, from The Dow Chemical Co., Midland, MI. In your experience, what do you consider to be the top three advances made in control and automation over the past 50 years? Which one of these do you th...

Choosing HMI Data Entry Tools

Imagine, if you will, an operator on a plant floor monitoring a process...any process. The person is wearing a headset that includes a tiny display. An alarm sounds. The operator glances around, then speaks into the mouthpiece attached to the headset, verbally acknowledging the event and adjusting a setpoint.

Have HMI, Will Travel

PDAs—personal digital assistants—you see them almost everywhere these days. And their increased application in the automation and controls environment is no exception. Use of PDAs as human-machine interfaces (HMIs) is growing remarkably, and the market is expected to explode over the next few years.

Tools for HMI ApplicationsIncludes Online Extras

Building an effective human-machine interface (HMI) for your operation is an intensely personal undertaking. Every installation is different, with different requirements, goals and needs. Achieving just the right interface screens for your operation means understanding your processes and all their surrounding systems thoroughly.

November Product Focus: operator interfacesMore capabilities meet more demands

This is an expanded version of November Product Focus To Read the printed version click here . FOCUS: operator interfacesMore capabilities meet more demands Operator interfaces(OI)—more elaborate, more efficient, more powerful. Today’s OI systems are more complex than ever before, bringing more precise monitoring and control to the processes they oversee.

Use a system integrator to meet display needs efficiently, economically

OEMs and plant managers require information displays for applications of all types. That application could be a system for controlling semiconductor fabrication machinery, a monitoring and control system for a nuclear power plant, a patient monitor in a hospital, a human-machine interface in a process control application, or an information transfer system for aircraft carriers. Choosing the right display solution is a complex task.