FIRST Robotics Team Sponsored By AutomationDirect Hits The Ground Running The Forsyth Alliance is a team of Atlanta area high school students, sponsored by AutomationDirect, participating in the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) organization’s 15th Annual Robotics competition. They spent the fall months of 2005 building the previous year’s game robot to…
We have added several exciting products since our last edition of the Automation Notebook. Here are some highlights about some of those new products including: SureServo, Thin-FInger Wire Duct, Sensor Line Extended, Communication Modules for DL05 & DL06, Relay Line Expanded, 22mm Metal Pushbuttons Offered Without Contact Blocks, DirectSoft5 Launch. SureServo™ Now Shipping AutomationDirect has released the SureServo family of fully digital AC…
Automation NotebookCompany TopicsFeature StoryIssue 6 – 2006Learning ResourcesNotebook IssueOperator InterfaceProduct
It Takes Teamwork to Launch Products
In the early 1990s, many automation suppliers thought that using a direct catalog channel to offer automation products was too risky to attempt. There were concerns such as getting customers to buy from a company they couldn’t physically see, assisting them in selecting products, technical support, return and warranty issues and so on. Because of…
+Tech TopicsAutomation NotebookElectrical PowerEnergy/UtilitiesIndustryIssue 6 – 2006Learning ResourcesNotebook IssueProductTechnology Brief
Dealing with Low-voltage Power Issues
Voltage Dip and Power Failure Voltage dip and power failure – these are two events that can cause everything in a manufacturing and processing facility to go dim. When a machine or processing line goes down due to a power failure, it can cost a company thousands of dollars in as little as an hour….
AutomationDirect has released its totally new and radically improved operator touch panel line, C-more, manufactured by parent company Koyo Electronics, part of the multi-billion dollar Seiko group. C-more touch panels are programmed using C-more programming software and provide power and flexibility through a vast set of features. The panel displays are available in either grayscale (15 shades of gray)…
ApplicationApplication StoriesCover StoriesIndustryIssue 6 – 2006Machine ControlNotebook IssuePLCProcess ControlProductProgrammable ControlWater/Wastewater
Dredging Up The...FUTURE
People around the world are aware of the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina along the coast of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. What started around the southeastern Bahamas on August 23, 2005 as Tropical Depression number 12, quickly became the fourth hurricane of the season just 48 hours later. When her catastrophic winds finally subsided,…
In each issue of the Automation Notebook we feature a section of brainteasers. These are the brainteaser answers from Issue 3, 2005 of the Automation Notebook. The brainteaser questions are repeated in black. The answers to the brainteaser questions are highlighted in red with explanations. You can view the brainteasers from Issue 3, 2005 without the answers here: http://library.automationdirect.com/brainteasers-issue-3-2005/…
1. “Next Day Air” An AutomationDirect purchasing agent flies from our Cumming, GA facility to visit one of our vendors on the most economical flight she can find (two stops, one plane change). The average speed of the outbound trip (including the stops) is 120 mph. For the return trip, a jet is chartered to…
ApplicationAutomation NotebookDiscrete SensingFYIIssue 3 – 2005Learning ResourcesNotebook IssueProductTest and Measurement
New Spherical Optics Technology for Sensing in Small Areas
The Challenge Diffuse sensors enjoy great popularity with users. With diffuse sensors, pulsed light from an emitting diode falls on an object of any shape or color and is reflected in a diffuse manner to a light-receiver, which is located in the same device (fig.1). If the intensity of the received light is sufficient, the…
+Tech TopicsAutomation NotebookIssue 3 – 2005Learning ResourcesNotebook IssueProductProgrammable ControlTech Thread
A User's Guide to Configuring Serial Ports for DirectLOGIC PLCs: A Two Part Series
The capabilities of Port 2 of the DL06, DL250-1 and DL260 CPUs are often overlooked when designing a process control network. Like Port 1, Port 2 can be used for programming the CPU or connecting other RS-232 devices, such as an operator interface panel, to the PLC. Unlike Port 1, Port 2 supports different types…