Automating Hazardous Gas Delivery
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Automating Hazardous Gas Delivery

When a highly flammable, toxic and corrosive gas delivery system for semiconductor production tools became unreliable, Headway Technologies contracted with system integrator KCC Software for the needed upgrades. KCC Software’s experience and expertise led to the successful replacement of a failing automation system with a new automatic gas control (AGC) system.
Improving Pivot Irrigation Systems with AutomationDirect
AgricultureApplicationApplication StoriesAutomation NotebookHMIIndustryIssue 37 - 2017Learning ResourcesNotebook IssueOperator InterfaceProcess ControlProductProgrammable Control

Improving Pivot Irrigation Systems with AutomationDirect

If you’ve ever taken a long road trip, you’ve probably passed large fields of crops, which every now and then contained odd looking metal pipe structures on wheels stretching across the fields. These metal monsters, known as pivot irrigation systems, are used extensively in agriculture and have greatly improved the efficiency of the crop irrigation…
The Halloween Box
ApplicationApplication StoriesEducation/DIYEntertainmentHMIIndustryMachine ControlOnline OnlyOperator InterfacePLCPneumaticsPneumaticsProductProgrammable ControlVariable Speed Drives

The Halloween Box

In every haunted house, you’ll find automated props: chairs that rock on their own, slamming doors, rattling chains, drawers opening and closing as if by some supernatural force. These “tricks” enhance the “treat” of getting the life scared out of you. The process behind making a Halloween prop can be quite simple. Here is just…
Machine Produces Nanofibers for Biomedical Research
ApplicationApplication StoriesAutomation NotebookAutomationDirect SpotlightDrivesEducation/DIYIndustryIssue 36 - 2016Learning ResourcesMachine ControlMechanical Power TransmissionMotion ControlNotebook IssueOperator InterfaceProductProgrammable ControlStudent SpotlightStudent Spotlight

Machine Produces Nanofibers for Biomedical Research

If you can’t buy it, you have to build it. This was the situation our group of engineering students encountered when we needed to grow vascular tissue for a bioengineering project at Walla Walla University, and found existing solutions were not acceptable.
Layered Security Goes Beyond Hardware In IIoT Implementations
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Layered Security Goes Beyond Hardware In IIoT Implementations

Industry is certainly starting to take note of the IIoT, which raises cybersecurity issues because it requires connecting field devices and other automation system components to the outside world, often through the internet. Connectivity capability is built into many automation components, typically via an Ethernet port, but can these connections be made secure?
A Quick View of SCADA in Oil and Gas
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A Quick View of SCADA in Oil and Gas

For quick and secure access to production and process data, a PC-based supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system is often the best solution. Whether upstream, midstream or downstream in the process, data can be collected by the SCADA system using a variety of built-in tools. Once collected from controllers and smart devices, the data…