Pneumatic Cylinders
+Tech TopicsAutomation NotebookFYIIssue 15 – 2009Learning ResourcesNotebook IssuePneumaticsProduct

Pneumatic Cylinders

Check out this Q&A about all things pneumatic cylinders! Q. What pneumatic cylinders and accessories are available from AutomationDirect?  A. The NITRA A-Series non-repairable stainless steel round body cylinders includes bore sizes from 7/16” to 2” and stroke lengths from 1/2” to 18” to meet a broad range of applications. These high quality cylinders are…
Fuses or Circuit Breakers: Which should you use?
+Tech TopicsAutomation NotebookCircuit ProtectionIssue 14 – 2009Learning ResourcesNotebook IssueProductTechnology Brief

Fuses or Circuit Breakers: Which should you use?

Circuit Protection For most of us who work in the electrical design field, the question of circuit protection is omnipresent in our day-to-day efforts. There are a myriad of circuit protection technologies available that address phenomenon such as high voltage transients, inductive kick-back, capacitive coupling, high inrush currents and ground faults, just to name a…
Motor Questions Answered
+Tech TopicsAutomation NotebookFYIIssue 10 – 2008Learning ResourcesMotorsNotebook IssueProductVariable Speed Drives

Motor Questions Answered

FAQS Question: Can IronHorse™ motors be used with a drive? Answer: IronHorse™ motors can be used with drives, but there are some limitations. Depending on your application, there may be good reasons to step up to an inverter-duty motor in your application. Question: What’s the difference between a General Purpose motor and an Inverter Duty motor? Answer: General…
Understanding the Advanced Recipe Function of the C-more® Touch Panel
+Tech TopicsAutomation NotebookIssue 10 – 2008Learning ResourcesNotebook IssueOperator InterfaceProductTech ThreadWhy HMI

Understanding the Advanced Recipe Function of the C-more® Touch Panel

Recipes are used in a multitude of control applications including batch processing for the food, beverage, chemical and pharmaceutical industries, as well as complex applications such as robotics. Recipes, when used with an HMI, provide a simple and effective way to change the data in a large number of tags with the push of a…
Future Adjustable Speed Motor Technology
+Tech TopicsAutomation NotebookFeature StoryIssue 10 – 2008Learning ResourcesMotorsNotebook IssueProduct

Future Adjustable Speed Motor Technology

High pole count motors have existed for years, and are in use today in some specialty industrial applications. They typically provide slower operation (without a drive), but the horsepower is reduced as the pole count increases. A new concept for high pole count motors has recently been patented by DynaMotors, Inc of Cleveland, OH. The…
Match The Motor To The Load For Maximum Efficiency
+Tech TopicsAutomation NotebookCover StoriesIssue 10 – 2008Learning ResourcesMotorsNotebook IssueProduct

Match The Motor To The Load For Maximum Efficiency

A half-loaded motor uses almost as much energy as one that’s fully loaded. To save energy, optimize motor horsepower to the specific application.  When electricity was cheap, efficiency was not necessarily top of mind for many. However, current energy prices force manufacturers to further analyze where they use energy and how they spend their energy…
C-more HMI With Enhanced Allen-Bradley PLC Driver Support
+Tech TopicsAutomation NotebookIssue 12 – 2008Learning ResourcesNotebook IssueTechnical ReviewWhy HMI

C-more HMI With Enhanced Allen-Bradley PLC Driver Support

With the growing popularity of the C-more Operator Interface line, we have had many requests to add PLC protocol drivers. These drivers allow customers with different PLC brands to standardize on the C-more HMI product. This article takes a look at C-more’s PLC drivers and demonstrates how to import/export tags and optimize communication. Due to the abundance…
Designing a PLC Ladder Program
+Tech TopicsAutomation NotebookIssue 12 – 2008Learning ResourcesNotebook IssueProductProgrammable ControlTech Thread

Designing a PLC Ladder Program

Thinking back on my first Computer Programming course, the instructor was adamant about flow charting, documenting, and using good tools to design the program. I was 18 at the time and thought, “Anyone can write a good program and documentation isn’t needed. Write it correctly and it’s done.” It didn’t take long to see just…