One leading-edge technology is the programmable automation controller (PAC), a hybrid of a programmable logic controller (PLC) and personal computer (PC). With these devices, plus Web-enabled technologies and platforms such as Microsoft’s CE or .Net, the user now has access to cheaper, more effective tools.
Device size matters, says Don Lupo, process products applications manager at Wixom, Mi.-based Acromag (www.acromag.com). “Generally speaking, the smaller the size for the input/output (I/O), the higher the value for the customer. Basically, more information is packed within less space. This should translate into cost savings for customers and the ability to make better use of their plant floors.”
Similar Ethernet-associated advances are being made. “We’re seeing more dramatic advancements annually, especially in the development-tools arena. Newer Ethernet products include auto-10/100-megabit-per-second detection, support for up to 10 sockets and built-in Web pages for free and easy point-and-click user configuration,” Lupo adds.
Generally, industrial wireless applications still lag wired ones, he observes. “The cost of implementing and supporting an industrial wireless Ethernet network is still coming down. [But] for now, critical Ethernet applications in plant-wide environments seem to be over copper or fiber-optic media.”
Agreeing about smaller size and enhanced functionality of advanced DAQ systems is Advantech Automation’s (www.advantech.com) Mike Berryman, manager of the company’s e-Automation sector located in Cincinnati. A Web-enabled communications controller is actually an embedded PC. “It runs on Microsoft Windows CE. You can put all your control algorithms on it and all the Web-based technologies available for communications. It is capable of Web serving, data logging, reporting, e-mail and other Web-based technologies.” This device finds use in environmental monitoring, and also as an interface between PLCs, particularly in machine-building industries. “We’re also seeing it in automation integration—when you have islands of automation out there and the user is trying to aggregate them,” he says.
Berryman sees the coming of PACs to data acquisition. “It’s still going to be a Windows CE-type device. It will have control logic inside, as well as Web technologies and operator interface. So, we will have the human-machine interface and PLC built into the same processor,” Berryman says.
Virtual instrumentation is the mantra at National Instruments (NI, www.ni.com), the Austin, Texas, control and data acquisition system supplier. Such devices use combined software and off-the-shelf hardware technologies to exploit performance improvements and PC flexibility, says Rahul Kulkarni, NI’s industrial control product manager.
One place where cost savings have been achieved in devices is in NI’s 16-bit DAQ technology. Newer multifunction digital and analog I/O additions provide “a 30 percent and 70 percent price-per-channel reduction, respectively, compared with earlier devices with similar feature sets,” he says.
To further simplify installation and connectivity concerns for users, the company is currently involved in developing the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers 1451.4 standard for transducer electronic data sheets (TEDS). “Essentially, TEDS is a small memory chip integrated into a sensor. It provides sensor information digitally to the computer to tell it how to convert (or scale) the sensor’s voltage or current data into the proper engineering units. The TEDS standard promises a major time savings in configuration, particularly for high-channel-count sensor applications,” says Kulkarni.
C. Kenna Amos, [email protected]
