Team Mojavaton Tackles DARPA’s Latest “Urban Challenge”
ApplicationApplication StoriesAutomation NotebookEducation/DIYIndustryIssue 8 – 2007Learning ResourcesMachine ControlNotebook IssuePLCProductProgrammable ControlTechnology Brief

Team Mojavaton Tackles DARPA’s Latest “Urban Challenge”

The 2007 Urban Challenge, held by DARPA, is the third in a series of races for unmanned vehicles. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is the central research and development organization for the Department of Defense (DOD). DARPA is using the series of races to foster advances in technology for autonomous vehicles to meet…
Poultry Farm Utilizes PLC Control To Increase Efficiency
AgricultureApplicationApplication StoriesAutomation NotebookFeature StoryFood and BeverageIndustryIssue 8 – 2007Learning ResourcesNotebook IssuePLCProcess ControlProductProgrammable Control

Poultry Farm Utilizes PLC Control To Increase Efficiency

In the New England town of Monroe, New Hampshire, you’ll find picturesque settings filled with family-owned dairy and poultry farms. Situated in the Connecticut River valley at the edge of the White Mountain National Forest is a poultry farm, called Pete and Gerry’s Organics, with something to crow about. Pete and Gerry’s Organics has found…
Improving Factory Workers’ Efficiency is All in a Name
ApplicationApplication StoriesAutomation NotebookData CollectionHMIIndustryIssue 7 – 2006Learning ResourcesManufacturingManufacturingNotebook IssueOperator InterfaceProductProgrammable ControlUser Solutions

Improving Factory Workers’ Efficiency is All in a Name

As most everyone is aware, from a business standpoint, we live in a numbers-based society. In all businesses, whether a small company with a dozen employees or a large conglomerate of thousands, the focus is on the bottom line. Executives are scrutinizing annual, quarterly, monthly, weekly, and even daily reports to determine how productivity is…
System Integrator Slashes Retrofit Price While Adding Value
ApplicationApplication StoriesAutomation NotebookIndustryIssue 6 – 2006Learning ResourcesMachine ControlMotorsNotebook IssueOperator InterfacePackagingPLCProductProgrammable ControlUser SolutionsVariable Speed Drives

System Integrator Slashes Retrofit Price While Adding Value

Box Making Machine Retrofit Project in Ravenna, OH CorrTech, Inc. is an industrial machinery services company that focuses on the corrugated paper and container industry. One of their customers, Smurfit Stone Enterprises in Ravenna, Ohio, recently requested the retrofit of a heavy-duty box-making machine built in the US circa 1970. The S&S ZLR Flexo Folder…
DL205 Performs in Theatrics
ApplicationApplication StoriesAutomation NotebookAutomationDirect SpotlightEntertainmentIndustryIssue 6 – 2006Learning ResourcesMachine ControlNotebook IssuePLCProductProgrammable ControlStudent Spotlight

DL205 Performs in Theatrics

Theatrical automation is a newly emerging field of technology. Through the use of automation, the University Of Arizona School Of Theatre Arts is enhancing the overall theatrical experience. Students Nathan Cross and Phillip Toussaint are using various types of AutomationDirect equipment to automate scenery. According to Nathan, the use of motors and computer control gives…
Dredging Up The...FUTURE
ApplicationApplication StoriesCover StoriesIndustryIssue 6 – 2006Machine ControlNotebook IssuePLCProcess ControlProductProgrammable ControlWater/Wastewater

Dredging Up The...FUTURE

People around the world are aware of the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina along the coast of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. What started around the southeastern Bahamas on August 23, 2005 as Tropical Depression number 12, quickly became the fourth hurricane of the season just 48 hours later. When her catastrophic winds finally subsided,…
Controlling Nature's Way of Cooling
ApplicationApplication StoriesAutomation NotebookEnergy/UtilitiesFacilitiesIndustryIssue 3 – 2005Learning ResourcesNotebook IssuePLCProcess ControlProductProgrammable ControlUser Solutions

Controlling Nature's Way of Cooling

When conventional air conditioning systems were no longer adequate to cool General Tool Company’s (GTC) facility in Cincinnati, OH, the company began looking for an alternative solution. A roof mist sprinkling system from Sprinkool™ Systems International, Inc. in Killen, AL, would provide evaporative cooling of the roof and ceiling zone of the plant to reduce…
2005 DARPA Grand Challenge
ApplicationApplication StoriesAutomation NotebookFeature StoryIssue 5 – 2005Learning ResourcesMachine ControlNotebook IssuePLCProductProgrammable Control

2005 DARPA Grand Challenge

“After preliminary testing of our vehicle, and the subsequent breaking of a couple of welds, we’ve come to a few conclusions. First, our steering actuator has a lot more power than we really need! Second, we never should have attempted to test the steering system without the use of the encoder feedback. And third, we…
Ever Wonder How AutomationDirect Customers Are Applying Their Products?
Application StoriesAutomation NotebookEnergy/UtilitiesIndustryIssue 2 – 2004Learning ResourcesNotebook IssuePLCProductProgrammable ControlUser SolutionsWater/Wastewater

Ever Wonder How AutomationDirect Customers Are Applying Their Products?

Check out some of the application stories we’ve collected and you’ll see that AutomationDirect products are used in a wide variety of applications across many different industries. — Jump to Application Spotlight D2-250 PLC PID Loops Control Pumps In Residential Water System We used PID loops in the D2-250 CPU to control three pumps and…
Turbine Generator Application Uses Terminator I/O
ApplicationApplication StoriesAutomation NotebookEnergy/UtilitiesIndustryIssue 1 – 2004Learning ResourcesMachine ControlNotebook IssuePLCProductProgrammable ControlUser Solutions

Turbine Generator Application Uses Terminator I/O

Turbine Diagnostic Services (TDS) is a power generation field service company that provides industrial, utility, independent power producers, and municipality power generation systems for turbine generator applications. The company’s TurboNet DASH 1® Control System is a complete DCS-structured turbine generator control system, developed to meet the needs of customers looking for a stable, “crash-free” system…