groov RIO provides a scalable automation architecture for their customers

Our next OptoPartner video installment is very unique in that it includes a live demo. Microclimates CTO and Co-Founder Loren West explains how more agriculture is “coming indoors”, as it allows growers more control over the food they produce. Automation plays a key role in this expanding business segment. The Microclimates control system is based around a software core that is delivered on Opto 22’s groov RIO, a platform that fits nicely into IIoT applications requiring simple data exchange between software or cloud applications and field I/O.

Topics: Remote monitoring, Building management, IIoT, data visualization, industrial automation, OptoPartner, Edge I/O, OptoPartner video

When we announce a new product, we want you—our loyal customers and OptoBlog readers—to be the first to hear about it. 

And this isn't just one product. This is EPIC: the world's first Edge Programmable Industrial Control system—a brand-new I/O and control system built for the future of automation and designed for the way you work.

Topics: Energy management, Process control, Food & beverage, Discrete control, groov, Internet of Things, PLCs, Remote monitoring, Water & wastewater, IoT, Machine builder, PACs, OEM, New products, Integrators, I/O, PAC Project, Building management, Oil & gas, PAC Control, IIoT, Industrial Internet of Things, Node-RED, Data acquisition, MQTT, Ignition Edge, EPIC

• How do you get machine data without interfering with the process? 
• What's an easy way to monitor temperature in a server room?
• How can you control the flow of heating and cooling water in your HVAC system?

These are the kinds of fundamental questions that come up over and over in automation applications, and our new Automation 101 video series aims to answer them. 

Topics: Energy management, Videos, Process control, Discrete control, Remote monitoring, Training, I/O, Building management, PAC Control, Data acquisition

• Think about how much computers have changed in the last 30 years.
• Think about the quantity of data that enterprise data centers (EDCs) process today.
• And think about how facility management priorities have changed to meet rising energy costs.

Now imagine what needs to be done to update a 30-year-old EDC.

Topics: Energy management, Case studies, Videos, optonews, PACs, Building management, Security, REST API, RESTful server, REST, OptoNews 2016-12-14

OptoForum member tohox recently posted a question about using PID control loops on a SNAP-PAC-R1 rack-mounted controller.

The issue? A really long dead loop time. 

"The time delta between the moment the strategy opens a given loop's valve [and] starts the pump+furnace and the moment a temperature increase is measured can sometimes be on the order of an hour," tohox notes.

Topics: Energy management, Tips, optonews, PACs, I/O, Building management, Modbus, PID loop control, OptoNews 2016-09-28

A proportional integral derivative (PID) control loop monitors an input or process variable, compares the variable’s current value to a desired value (a setpoint), and calculates an output to keep the value very close to the setpoint.

Topics: Process control, Updates, Tips, optonews, PAC Project, Building management, OptoNews 2016-09-14

Tasty and wholesome, the frozen fruit bars made by Natural Fruit Corporation must be stored at precise temperatures.

Although their cold storage rooms were automated, on weekends operators used to have to stop by the company's factory to verify that systems were running and temperatures were within range.

Topics: Energy management, Case studies, Food & beverage, groov, Internet of Things, Remote monitoring, IoT, optonews, Building management, OptoNews 2016-08-31

Getting Useful Data from Big Data

At the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC), researchers analyze mountains of data from widely differing fields, including:

• Supersonic aircraft
• The human brain
• Distant stars

Topics: Energy management, Case studies, optonews, PACs, Integrators, Building management, Modbus, OptoNews 2016-07-06

Say you own a 30-year-old enterprise data center in the Arizona desert, and you're starting to have some problems:

• Aging HVAC and mechanical systems are increasingly inefficient in the hot climate.
• Security systems are no longer adequate.

Topics: Energy management, Case studies, optonews, PACs, Integrators, I/O, Building management, Security, OptoNews 2016-05-25

Way back in 1883, the Frick Company started manufacturing refrigeration compressors. During the next 100 years they became well known for a variety of reliable refrigeration system components.

By the 1980s Frick began automating their systems with Opto 22 products, and they began to notice a new need in the industry: custom system design and integration.

Topics: Case studies, Process control, Food & beverage, Machine builder, optonews, OEM, Migration, Integrators, Building management, OptoNews 2016-03-30