Students from The Infinity Math & Science Academy and Glenbrook South High School presented their Illinois Innovation and Technology Challenge solutions to Bison Gear and Engineering. The schools each proposed new ideas, identifying potential applications for Bison's new ServoNOW® motor.

Bison Gear and Engineering worked closely with associates from the Illinois Math and Science Academy (IMSA) as well as teachers from the participating high schools to bring this year's ILIT challenge to life. Each school was given a $250.00 stipend, a ServoNOW motor and tasked with producing a working prototype solution to a real-world application. Mike O'Donnell, a Bison servo expert, acted as a technical adviser. While the students took the lead on the project, Mr. O'Donnell was able to troubleshoot any issues the schools faced during the design process.

With only a few weeks to create a finished product, the students had to work fast to take their designs from initial concepts to working prototypes - both of which were inherently different. Using the ServoNOW to control the rotation of an extended output shaft equipped with special tooling for cutting, the students from Infinity Math, Science and Technology High School created a flavored ice maker where users could control not only the flavor of the ice, but also the size of drinks made.

The students from Glenbrook South took a different approach. They created a fun and unique gumball machine. Their design uses single and multi-axis movement, driven by the ServoNOW, to kick a gumball towards a pre-determined point into a waiting cup that was also driven by ServoNOW - adding a bit of entertainment while customers wait for their candy to be dispensed.

Both schools proposed their design in a creative, multimedia presentation where they highlighted what factors led to their idea, the challenges each school faced, the data they collected to test and refine their design and finally suggestions on how to market the product.

Bison Vice President of Business Development, Matt Hanson, reflected, "Since we wanted to introduce the ServoNOW as an easy way to integrate motion control into an application, it seemed like the perfect design challenge opportunity for the students. They came up with great ideas and even had suggestions for improvements to the product. All in all, it was a great experience for everyone involved."

Dissecting Stuxnet. How it works with PLCs and VFDs.

Eaton's SmartWire-DT came from its European business. Here's the original promotional video for German-speakers.

How to map devices in Modbus

How to map devices in Modbus

The Fieldbus Foundation today announced the 2011-2012 recipients of the James O. Gray-Fieldbus Foundation Scholarship Fund. The program honors the memory of James (Jim) O. Gray, a long-time leader in the Fieldbus Foundation who passed away in 2002. It establishes a perpetual $250,000 endowment fund providing scholarships to students seeking a career in the industrial automation profession.

Since 2003, the James O. Gray-Fieldbus Foundation Scholarship program has funded 26 educational scholarships for students around the world.

^{Fieldbus Foundation President and CEO Rich Timoney congratulated Ms. Thunyaporn Sathaporn, student at KMITL, Bangkok, Thailand, on being named a 2011-2012 James O. Gray Scholarship recipient.}

The 2011-2012 scholarship recipients include:

Mr. Wataru Futagoishi, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan: Wataru Futagoishi is a first-year student in master's courses within Waseda University's Department of Applied Mechanics. His course work is focused on mechanics, mathematics and other related topics. Wataru has been recognized at the head of his class in mechanical engineering and won the JSME Hatakeyama Prize, the most prestigious award for junior students in the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers. He was enrolled as a research member to address diagnostic problems using FOUNDATION fieldbus devices. Wataru is currently studying corrosion diagnostics with Coriolis mass flowmeters. He will graduate in March 2013.

Ms. Thunyaporn Sathaporn, King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang (KMITL), Bangkok, Thailand: Thunyaporn Sathapaporn is a junior majoring in Automation Engineering at KMITL. In this area of study, she has had the opportunity to learn about fieldbus technology basics and serve as a professor’s assistant in KMITL’s 2010 FOUNDATION fieldbus seminar and workshop. Thunyaporn is currently studying topics such as PID control and sequence control systems, as well as the design and configuration of fieldbus control strategies in industrial operations.

Mr. Gang Zhao, SAIT Polytechnic, Calgary, Alberta, Canada: Gang Zhao is enrolled in his second year within the Instrumentation Engineering Technology program at SAIT Polytechnic. A native of Shandong, China, Gang completed his Bachelor’s Degree in Physics in 1983 and went on to work for a power supply company. He was later employed at an environmental firm, where he was involved with a variety of lab analysis instruments. Gang intends to pursue his strong interest in instrumentation to gain additional knowledge and professional opportunities related to FOUNDATION fieldbus technology.

Fieldbus Foundation President and CEO Rich Timoney congratulated the latest scholarship recipients. He said, "Each year, the James O. Gray-Fieldbus Foundation Scholarship Fund recognizes a group of deserving students involved in the field of instrumentation and industrial automation. This unique scholarship was established with the support of control technology stakeholders around the world, whose efforts will help maintain a strong and vibrant control industry."

Fieldbus Foundation members, and those interested in the progress of the automation industry, are encouraged to participate in the James O. Gray-Fieldbus Foundation Scholarship Fund. For information on the various levels of support and more details on the scholarship program, please contact Talon Petty, Fieldbus Foundation, at 512.794.8890, ext. 21, or visit www.fieldbus.org/scholarship.

Eaton's new C441 Ethernet series of communications cards allow customers to select from Ethernet/IP, Modbus TCP, HTTP web services and Modbus RTU communication protocols in a single card. The innovation is designed to help industrial customers, machinery OEMs and panel builders with flexible communication options to configure, control and monitor their systems.

Integral web services provide an easy-to-use web-based graphical user interface (GUI) to make it easier to recognize potential problems. Using a laptop or smart device, customers can drill down to a given load by simply entering an IP address into their web browser. With four levels of access, the cards ensure only those with credentials have access to critical or sensitive functions.

An Eaton representative explained, “Integral web services allow for configuration, control, monitoring and diagnostics. Also, the flexibility in communications allows OEM customers to add value to their equipment with simple and desirable features, like supervision and control.”

The C441 is compatible with Eaton C440, XTOE and C441 electronic motor protection relays, S611 soft starters, and can be used as stand-alone input/output (IO). Now, the suite of protocols available for Eaton motor protection and soft starter solutions includes PROFIBUS, Modbus TCP and RTU, DeviceNet, and Ethernet IP.

Problems can be addressed in real time with intelligent monitoring readouts from starters and onboard available four digital inputs (120 volts alternating current or 24 volts direct current) and two discrete relay outputs. With a dual port switch, the Ethernet card allows for easy daisy chaining and reliable ring configurations. Additionally, customers have the ability to use one network for control and another for monitoring – through the Modbus serial protocol used in parallel with the Ethernet network –allowing redundant communications and greater reliability with a single card.

The five major automation foundations, including the FDT Group, Fieldbus Foundation, HART Communication Foundation, PROFIBUS & PROFINET International, and OPC Foundation have developed a single common solution for Field Device Integration (FDI). These foundations have combined their efforts to form a joint company named FDI Cooperation, LLC. The organizations is headed by a “Board of Managers”, which is composed of the representatives of the involved organizations, as well as managers of global automation suppliers including ABB, Emerson, Endress+Hauser, Honeywell, Invensys, Siemens, and Yokogawa.

FDI’s mandate is to develop a single technology for the management of information that comes from all intelligent devices throughout all areas of the plant. The mission of FDI LLC is to do the following:

• Complete the standardization of FDI under the IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission).
• Manage the FDI Specification.
• Finalize the FDI tool kits for system and device manufacturers.
• Promote and provide high quality technology support for FDI, independent of and common for the respective communication protocols.
• Preserve end users’ and automation manufacturers’ investments by providing state-of-the-art technology that is fully backward compatible.
• Ensure stability, interoperability and compatibility of FDI-based products.

In the past, the development of such uniform technology was inhibited by too many different interests from organizations and automation manufacturers, resulting in the creation of disparate technical solutions. The current solutions – EDDL (Electronic Device Description Language) in various formats and FDT (Field Device Technology) – have their strengths and weaknesses, but also overlap to a large extent and thus lead to additional expense for users and manufacturers. Efficient and economically viable device integration requires multiprotocol, standardized technology that makes device information available across systems and applications from different manufacturers.

FDI technology will provide a scalable solution that users can deploy in applications ranging from simple configuration to complex management of the most sophisticated field devices for the various tasks associated with all phases of their lifecycle, from configuration, commissioning, and diagnostics to calibration. This makes different solutions for different devices obsolete. FDI is a unified solution that addresses end user requirements across the spectrum.

FOUNDATION fieldbus, PROFIBUS, and HART all use EDDL as a core technology, but they all use slightly different variations of the technology. The FDI Cooperation has harmonized EDDL across communication protocols. This enables FDI to provide single cross protocol FDI Design and Test Tools including a common EDD Interpreter. EDDL harmonization is now complete, and this facilitates the second step -- harmonization between EDDL and FDT technologies. This is the ultimate goal of FDI.

In November of 2011 at the NAMUR meeting in Germany, FDI device packages were used for the first time to integrate FOUNDATION Fieldbus, HART, and PROFIBUS field devices from various manufacturers within an ABB process control system. Typical applications, such as parameter assignment, configuration, diagnostics, and maintenance, were demonstrated. The purpose of the working prototype was to verify the FDI concepts, apply the standard host components in a system context, and demonstrate FDI functionality. This successful demonstration leads to organizations' next steps:

• First draft of the FDI specifications was published at the end of 2011.
• Completion of Conformance test concepts to occur mid-2012.
• Completion of the validation and release of the FDI specifications for member review within the foundations (mid-2012).
• Completion of the FDI standard host components, such as EDD Engine and User Interface (UI) Engine by the FDI Cooperation (end of 2012).

The primary benefit of FDI is that end users with either an FDT or EDDL-based host will have a single source solution for managing the wealth of functionality and information from intelligent field devices. Users will no longer need to manage disparate device descriptions, which will reduce the costs associated with maintaining assets in the field.  FDI combines the advantages of FDT with those of EDDL in a single, scalable solution. FDI is applicable to a wide range of tasks over the entire lifecycle of the plant for both simple and the most complex devices, including configuration, commissioning, remote diagnostics, calibration, and more.

Industry Research Series - Current Focus: Batch and Specialty Chemicals

DrivesMag is working hard to better understand how automation, control and drives are currently being designed into and used in key industrial and manufacturing markets, assessing impact that they might have on the processes and value that they bring to users. Our focus this month is on the Batch and Specialty Chemical Markets.

If you are an expert in the field of chemical production, we'd like to ask you a few questions and will pay you for your time. Of course, we'll share our findings with you.

If you would like to participate in this study, please email us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for a link. The survey should take no longer than 20 minutes to complete. When you have finished, you can choose to be paid $45 for your time, or to give the $45 plus a $10 matching donation from DrivesMag to one of three great charities. Your answers will remain anonymous and combined with answers from others in a final report that you can choose to receive. Nobody will contact you afterwards to sell anything.

If you are in the Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) business, the recovery from the downturn happened much earlier than had been generally expected. Most PLC suppliers were pessimistic on their future business after the economic crisis of 2009 and thought their business would not recover to the level of 2008 until 2013. However, in the event, their business was back on track three years earlier than they had expected; in some countries in developing regions, such as China and India, revenues had grown even in 2009. Overall global revenues from PLCs in 2010 were nearly 30% higher than in 2009, reaching an estimated at 8.2 billion US dollars.

“Although the recovery was unexpected, it is not hard to explain,” said Alex Hong, market research analyst in IMS Research’s industrial factory automation group, “The demand for automation products in many ongoing projects stagnated when investment funding dried up in the economic downturn.  However, government economic stimulus in several countries helped to make money more available at different levels of industry.” The customers for PLC manufacturers, mostly builders or users of industrial machinery, had more access to funding to purchase more PLCs and other automation products to continue with their projects. Both the restart of projects discontinued in 2009 and the start of new ones contributed to the high growth of the PLC market in 2010.

Moving forward growth continued in 2011, though at a lower rate than in 2010. Global PLC revenues have remained high in 2011. However, the industrial markets differed by region. In Europe, despite the continuing and worsening Eurozone sovereign debt crisis, the most important market for industrial automation products – Germany - continued to grow at a healthy rate. In the Americas, large projects from some end-users and growing domestic demand enabled the PLC market to grow, though the market in Latin Americas is still underdeveloped. In Asia, the markets in the growing economies of China and India have performed quite well, though that of Japan was hit by the consequences of the earthquake earlier in the year. In general, the growth of the global economy in 2011 underpinned the global growth of the PC market.

However, PLC suppliers and their industrial customers are currently very uncertain whether growth will continue into 2012, considering the risks to the world economy. Many factors, such as Europe’s unresolved sovereign debt crisis, tightening economic policy in China, and the consequences of the earthquake in Japan and the recent floods in Thailand, are affecting the market.  However, IMS Research believes that the PLC market will still grow in 2012, mainly because many large and important PLC markets, such as Germany, France, China and the US, are still performing well at the turn of the year. In addition, emerging markets, such as Brazil, and India, which already account for half the entire PLC market, will be the main driving force for future growth.