Highlights
- How Power Monitoring Can Equip You to Cut Costs, Boost Reliability, and Turbocharge Productivity
- Louisiana Sugar Mill Depends on Trusted Automation Products During the Short Harvest Season
- Electrical Circuit Protection Essentials
- University Student Engineering Team Creates Automated Compressed Straw Panel Manufacturing Solution
When it comes to keeping the plant running efficiently, there’s an element that is always present but often overlooked. It’s the power and current that runs through machines. And all that needs to be managed and protected. In this issue of NOTEBOOK, we explore all aspects of this invisible force, exploring the need for tools that can help engineers and operators avoid common power problems that may result in unplanned downtime.
In this issue of the Automation Notebook…
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…
AutomationDirect has added Eltwin solid state contactors which provide load switching control with the advantage of no moving parts, considerably extending service life and reducing maintenance costs.
BRX POM & I/O Modules Ext
August 27, 2025 – AutomationDirect has added Viking drill bits, including double-ended, jobber-length, mechanic-length, screw-machine-length, and split point step bits, which are available individually or in sets and come in titanium nitride (TiN), gold oxide, or black oxide finishes. Viking split point drill bits are self-centering and come with 118° or 135° point angles to…
August 13, 2025 – AutomationDirect has added A-coded M8 and M12 sensor and signal cables to facilitate accurate data transmission between sensors and control systems. New D-coded M12 Cat5e and X-coded M12 Cat6a Ethernet connection data cables support the high-speed Ethernet communication essential for network reliability and performance. Additional Murrelektronik A-coded 3-pin M8 and 5-pin…
July 30, 2025 – AutomationDirect has added Ardent digital multimeters, testers, and testing accessories which are ideal tools for diagnosing and maintaining electrical systems. Digital and clamp-on multimeters measure voltage, current, resistance, and continuity with high accuracy, helping identify faults and verify system performance. Ardent’s auto or manual ranging digital multimeters feature an Automatic terminal…
July 30, 2025 – AutomationDirect has added WAGO JUMPFLEX® 857 series signal conditioners and temperature transmitters which deliver reliable signal conversion in a compact 6 mm-wide housing, ideal for high-density DIN rail installations. With configurable input and output ranges, these modules adapt easily to a wide range of industrial applications. WAGO conditioners and transmitters easily convert…
June 25, 2025 – AutomationDirect has added Endress+Hauser iTHERM and iTEMP series temperature transmitters that offer precise and reliable temperature measurements with easy integration, a rugged design, flexible configurations, and IO-Link or HART communication options. Endress+Hauser’s TM311 iTHERM CompactLine integrates an RTD and transmitter in a stainless steel housing, featuring an adjustable temperature range within…
June 18, 2025 – AutomationDirect has added Define Instruments Twin Link series point-to-point wireless I/O devices, which provide a cost-effective solution for applications where wiring is difficult or impractical, such as long distances, physical obstacles, or moving equipment. They create a dedicated, bidirectional radio link between a pre-paired set to reliably transmit analog or digital…