CLICK PLCs and Pneumatics Team Up for Success at Ridgeline Machine
ApplicationApplication StoriesAutomation NotebookeBookIndustryIssue 34 - 2016Learning ResourcesManufacturingMaterial HandlingNotebook IssueOnline OnlyPackagingPLCPneumaticsProductProgrammable ControlSimple PLCUser Solutions

CLICK PLCs and Pneumatics Team Up for Success at Ridgeline Machine

Ridgeline Machine made extensive use of pneumatics when building a low-cost, small-footprint, portable traymaker to replace a manual process for one of their customers. Ridgeline Machine Design, LLC (RMD), founded in 2012, is primarily a packaging machinery producer, and the company’s owners have over 40 years experience designing and building custom machinery. RMD builds packaging…
Boy Scout Programming Merit Badge
Company TopicsNewsOnline OnlyProductProgrammable Control

Boy Scout Programming Merit Badge

During the summer of 2015, while many Scouts were going to traditional summer camps, a group of Scouts from the Twin Rivers Council in New York spent a week at STEM Camp where they participated in Electronics, Engineering, Surveying, and Programming Merit Badges. The Scouts were thrilled to learn how to program the same PLCs that…
The Bulgarian Bat Detector - Simulating Bat Echolocation
ApplicationApplication StoriesAutomation NotebookAutomationDirect SpotlightEducation/DIYIndustryIssue 32 - 2015Learning ResourcesMachine ControlNotebook IssuePLCProductProgrammable ControlSimple PLCSystem IntegratorsUser Solutions

The Bulgarian Bat Detector - Simulating Bat Echolocation

Over my years working as an Automation Systems Integrator, I occasionally get projects that are different from the normal industrial, process and manufacturing systems. I was recently asked to develop the controls for a museum exhibit to simulate a bat’s echolocation. The museum, Children’s Center of Sofia, in Sofia, Bulgaria, and I promptly named the…
How to Choose a Controller
+Tech TopicseBookeBook Landing PagesLearning ResourcesOnline OnlyPLC eBookProductProgrammable Control

How to Choose a Controller

Choosing the most effective controller for your application depends on a number of factors. The worksheet below serves as a checklist of things to consider when determining programmable controller requirements. It lists the most important areas to consider when choosing a system, as well as, provides space for recording determinations of your system needs. To…
Sinking and Sourcing Concepts
+Tech TopicseBookeBook Landing PagesLearning ResourcesOnline OnlyProductProgrammable Control

Sinking and Sourcing Concepts

When choosing the type of input or output module for your PLC system, it is very important to have a solid understanding of sinking and sourcing concepts. Use of these terms occurs frequently in discussion of input or output circuits. It is the goal of this post to make these concepts easy to understand, so you can make the right choice the first time…
Automation ‘Lifts’ Purdue Theater Production of Medea
ApplicationApplication StoriesAutomation NotebookAutomationDirect SpotlightEducation/DIYEntertainmentIndustryIssue 26 – 2013Learning ResourcesMachine ControlNotebook IssuePLCProductProgrammable ControlStudent SpotlightStudent Spotlight

Automation ‘Lifts’ Purdue Theater Production of Medea

From Wikipedia[1]: “A mechane (pron.: /’mɛkəniː/; Greek: μηχανή, mēkhanē) or machine was a crane used in Greek theatre, especially in the 5th and 4th centuries BC. Made of wooden beams and pulley systems, the device was used to lift an actor into the air, usually representing flight. This stage machine was particularly used to bring gods…