IIoT projects should begin incrementally at the edge, using proven combinations of fieldbuses and controllers. Basic hardwired connectivity has long been typical for automation system designs. However, this approach is shifting as digital transformation and IIoT initiatives are expanding. InTech April 2023 features an article titled Field-Level Comms Improve IIoT Implementations, where Bill Dehner at…
This automated car wash supplier needed a better way to connect with a multitude of remotely-located digital systems, and it found the solution with AutomationDirect StrideLinx. Industrial automation isn’t just for factories, as it surrounds us and provides safe, reliable, and consistent performance for elevators, traffic lights, and even the neighborhood carwash. Aulio Gil is…
Users are increasingly using AutomationDirect HMI, PLC, and router technologies to provide easy and secure industrial mobile access. Bill Dehner, technical marketing engineer for AutomationDirect, wrote an article for the November/December 2021 issue of Industrial Equipment News titled Evaluating Mobile Access Options. Here’s a summary, click on the link above for the full text. Using…
Programmable logic controllers (PLCs) are now gaining information technology (IT) abilities to interact directly with the internet, creating new automation and information possibilities. Bill Dehner, a Technical Marketing Manager at AutomationDirect, authored an article for the July 2019 issue of Control Engineering titled Benefits of Connecting a PLC to the Internet. Here’s a summary, click…
Ethernet is the most widely used network in industrial plants and facilities, here’s a primer covering its foundational concepts. By: Bill Dehner, AutomationDirect Ethernet was first conceived and deployed in a research setting in the 1970s and was soon standardized in the early 1980s under IEEE 802.3. This quickly led to commercial adoption in office…
Things that go bump in the night takes on a whole new meaning with AutomationDirect’s latest Halloween project. The recent installment in their long-running Halloween DIY How To Prop series shows how quick and simple it is to create a Haunted Automated Door with AutomationDirect parts and service. You and your spooky decorations are guaranteed to…
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System Integrator and AutomationDirect partner Affinity Energy Designed, Built and Installed a Research Chamber Temperature Control System
The University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill spends almost $1 billion on research annually, ranking eighth among universities in the U.S. However, it was spending too much money and time supporting an existing temperature chamber control system.
Let’s take a minute to think about how far we have advanced with innovation and technology. It is truly amazing when you look at the devices and products we develop these days. From a simple small piece of wood with a spring-loaded thin u-shaped metal rod and an extremely simple trigger mechanism designed to reduce…
You get a call from the production floor because a machine is not running right. You go check it and find out that the motor is acting up, has corrosion damage inside the junction box, which is probably also contributing to the imminent death of the motor. Now you need to replace it but don’t…
Most of us have a basic idea of what power surge means. We know it is something that affects the electric power we receive and that it can cause serious damage to industrial equipment, computers, and sensitive electronics. To offer a simple definition, a power surge is a fluctuation of the voltage coming in through…