Chris Vavra

Chris Vavra is senior editor for WTWH Media LLC.

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Workforce Development

IMTS 2024 Recap: Connecting workers, technologies together for greater change

Workforce Development

Making continuous improvements with a connected workforce

Workforce Development

Transforming manufacturers with augmented, connected workers

AI and Machine Learning

Control Engineering hot topics, August 2024

AI and Machine Learning

Top 5 Control Engineering content: August 26 to September 1, 2024

Simutech Multimedia has developed a point-and-click game that is designed to provide a real-life simulation of what could realistically happen on a manufacturing floor. Courtesy: Chris Vavra, CFE Media & Technology

Simulators, Optimizers

Teaching engineers skills through video games and simulation

Figure: Rate-predictive control (RPC) is inherently adaptive (think naturally self-tuning) to changes in process gain. In the top graph, process gain is 1.0, while in the bottom graph, process gain is 2.0. Control performance remains “perfect,” with no change to RPC tuning parameters. Courtesy: APC Performance LLC

Top 5 Control Engineering articles September 30 to October 6

Project execution with a new generation control system: Honeywell Experion PKS Honeywell Integrated Virtual Environment (HIVE) uses Lean project execution principles (the Honeywell LEAP process introduced in 2014), software and networking to decouple control applications from physical equipment, and controllers from physical input/output (I/O) devices. Modular designs allow multiple controllers to form one virtual controller. PKS stands for process knowledge system. Courtesy: Honeywell Process Solutions

Process Instrumentation and Sensors

Control Engineering hot topics, September 2019

Project execution with a new generation control system: Honeywell Experion PKS Honeywell Integrated Virtual Environment (HIVE) uses Lean project execution principles (the Honeywell LEAP process introduced in 2014), software and networking to decouple control applications from physical equipment, and controllers from physical input/output (I/O) devices. Modular designs allow multiple controllers to form one virtual controller. PKS stands for process knowledge system. Courtesy: Honeywell Process Solutions

Process Instrumentation and Sensors

Top 5 Control Engineering articles September 23-29

Endress+Hauser’s booth at WEFTEC had several sensors and tools designed to gather quick and accurate readings that could be sent to a display for the user so they know when something is wrong. Courtesy: Chris Vavra, CFE Media

Process Instrumentation and Sensors

Water, wastewater industry is going digital and getting smarter

The Emerson Minneapolis Interactive Plant Environment in Shakopee, Minn. provides a safe training environment using more than 400 automation devices and products and more than 500 input/output (I/O) points, along with Emerson’s DeltaV distributed control system and other enabling software. Courtesy: Emerson and Rick Peters, InsideOut Studios Inc.

Process Instrumentation and Sensors

Top 5 Control Engineering articles September 16-22

Up to four communication protocols, including leading IT protocols such as Modbus TCP/IP and FTP, can be used simultaneously with high-performance HMIs. Courtesy: IDEC

IIoT, Industrie 4.0

Top 5 Control Engineering articles September 9-15

Figure 3: Here the block diagram from figure 2 has been rearranged into a more familiar configuration that is functionally identical to a traditional feedback controller (blue) equipped with a setpoint filter (green) and a feedforward path (red). Most commercial feedback controllers include setpoint filtering and feedforward as standard options, making this version of model-following control simpler than the original version, and much easier to implement. Source: Control Engineering

Top 5 Control Engineering articles September 2-8

Figure 1: Using this handheld loop valve tester, it takes an average of only five minutes for a technician to assess the performance of a proportional smart valve. Courtesy: Fluke Corp.

Process Instrumentation and Sensors

Top 5 Control Engineering articles August 26 to September 1

Figure 3: Three eXtended Reality (XR) technologies, such as augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR) and virtual reality (VR), and digital twin models can add value to manufacturer applications. Courtesy: Industrial Internet Consortium

Workforce Development

Control Engineering hot topics, August 2019

Figure 1: Using this handheld loop valve tester, it takes an average of only five minutes for a technician to assess the performance of a proportional smart valve. Courtesy: Fluke Corp.

Process Instrumentation and Sensors

Top 5 Control Engineering articles August 19-25

Figure 3: Three eXtended Reality (XR) technologies, such as augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR) and virtual reality (VR), and digital twin models can add value to manufacturer applications. Courtesy: Industrial Internet Consortium

Motors and Drives

Top 5 Control Engineering articles August 12-18