Mastering Machine Maintenance
+Tech TopicsApplicationAutomationDirect SpotlightIssue 41 - 2019Learning ResourcesMachine ControlNotebook IssueSystem Integrators

Mastering Machine Maintenance

Machine builders, robot builders and system integrators offer advice for maintaining industrial machines. In the May 2019 issue of Control Design magazine, the cover story focus was machine maintenance. The story, titled Machine design with maintenance in mind, discussed best practices for maintaining machines, with input from numerous sources including machine builders, robot builders and…
Basic Pneumatic Circuits - White Paper from AutomationDirect
Company NewsIssue 41 - 2019NewsNotebook IssuePress ReleasesPress Releases

Basic Pneumatic Circuits - White Paper from AutomationDirect

AutomationDirect announces the release of a new White Paper, “Basic Pneumatic Circuits”, which discusses common pneumatic circuits that can be used alone or as building blocks in larger pneumatics systems. This white paper examines pneumatic design best practices and presents four basic pneumatic circuits commonly used in machine automation. The four basic pneumatic circuits examined…
Open System Provides Precise Temperature Control
ApplicationApplication StoriesAutomationDirect SpotlightFacilitiesIndustryIssue 41 - 2019Notebook IssuePLCProcess ControlProductProgrammable ControlSystem Integrators

Open System Provides Precise Temperature Control

System integrator Affinity Energy worked with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to design and install a new temperature control system for their research chambers. By Allan Evora, President of Affinity Energy The University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill was spending too much time and money supporting an existing control system….
Copley High School Student Project and Update
Automation NotebookAutomationDirect SpotlightIssue 41 - 2019Learning ResourcesNotebook IssueStudent Spotlight

Copley High School Student Project and Update

We’ve covered the engineering students at Copley High School twice in recent years here in the Student Spotlight. Copley HS is a suburban, public high school just west of Akron, Ohio.  The school’s engineering program works closely with local industry and with their disabled employees to help automate various processes to achieve additional productivity for…
Student Spotlight: Droid Names, Faraway Galaxies or Automation Components?
2018AutomationDirect SpotlightIssue 39Issue 39 - 2018ProductStudent SpotlightVariable Speed Drives

Student Spotlight: Droid Names, Faraway Galaxies or Automation Components?

VFDs, RS485, PLCs — these terms may seem like names of droids or faraway galaxies and planets in a “Star Wars” movie. However, they really refer to earthly based components that Vermont Technical College engineering student Dan Rapoza learned about when he set out to help a dairy farmer save time and money by automating…
Arduino versus BRX PLC in Industrial Automation Applications
+Tech TopicsIssue 38 - 2017Learning ResourcesNotebook IssueProductProgrammable Control

Arduino versus BRX PLC in Industrial Automation Applications

In the world of garage or basement automation and robot builders, numerous low-cost microcontrollers and related software are used for real-time control. Arduino and Raspberry Pi are perhaps two of the most popular out of dozens of options (Figure 1). These open-source controllers are available from several suppliers, but using them in a real-time industrial…
PLCs Improve Controls of Radio Broadcasts
ApplicationApplication StoriesAutomation NotebookEntertainmentIndustryIssue 38 - 2017Learning ResourcesMachine ControlNotebook IssuePLCProductProgrammable Control

PLCs Improve Controls of Radio Broadcasts

Broadcasting is a high tech industry and much of it is cutting edge, such as Ethernet-based audio over IP. Our industry employs the latest technology in many areas, such as the use of coding algorithms for bit rate reduction and remote broadcasting. But when it comes to controlling the radio signals sent out by the…
Copley High School's Automation Success
ApplicationApplication StoriesAutomationDirect SpotlightEducation/DIYIndustryIssue 38 - 2017Machine ControlNotebook IssuePLCProductProgrammable ControlSimple PLCStudent SpotlightStudent Spotlight

Copley High School's Automation Success

The Innovator team at Copley High School in Akron, Ohio needed to design a piece of equipment to snap caps together for Weaver Industries ProPak, a company that has been employing people with disabilities for about 40 years. With the existing assembly method, Weaver was struggling to meet production and contract requirements for component assembly.