Notebook Issue

When a plant’s main control panel went up in flames, it wasn’t a lightning strike or a voltage surge that caused the damage. The root cause was far more preventable and far more common: an undersized circuit protection device that couldn’t handle the available fault current. The result was catastrophic. The customer lost the entire…

By: Brent Purdy and David Saenz, Automation Direct Introduction Is your facility plagued by high energy costs, frequent nuisance trips, and repeated asset failures? Power monitoring could be just solution you need. Without data, it’s impossible to make informed decisions. After all, you can’t fix it if you can’t see it. Power monitors, or power…

Tie Fighter Let’s number the 4 ties that we plan to move: Then move them to these new positions: Do Your Level Best Here is a sketch of the tank with the block lowered into place.  Let h represent the height of the increased level (as shown) that we wish to determine. Let’s also label three areas:…

Tie Fighter Move only four cable ties so that the cable ties form three unique equilateral triangles. We’ve recently added a number of additional specialty cable ties and cable tie mounting products including the “winged push-in panel ties” shown in this puzzle.  Check them out here: go2adc.com/sapiselco Do Your Level Best The liquid level in the…

A wide range of products support reliable and safe electrical circuit designs for any application. By Billy Sonnenthal, AutomationDirect Nearly every electrical or control panel—whether destined for a home, office, or busy factory—features an incoming power circuit, internal power distribution, and connections to/from field devices. Careful hardware selection and compliance with electrical codes and standards…

Surge suppression provisions are now mandated for many applications, and users are recognizing the value of protecting increasingly digital and connected systems from electrical disruptions. By David Saenz, AutomationDirect For many years, surge suppression protective devices may have seemed like an optional and supplementary choice, perhaps something consumers plugged their sensitive computers and TV equipment…

Mechanical engineering students also took on the controls aspects for designing a flexible hydraulic press producing sustainable and cost-effective building insulation production. By Ben Zamachaj Worldwide, millions of people live without adequate housing. While modern building materials like fiberglass insulation, moisture wrapping, and even the humble cinderblock have markedly improved construction standards over the past…

Because the sugar mill operates in overdrive production for just four months out of the year, and recovers for the other eight months, reliable products are essential for maximizing uptime during the busy season. By Josh Camel, M.A. Patout & Son Sugar Mill At most manufacturing plants, the production year is near-constant, with occasionally scheduled…