Actually you can buy this flexible analog input module right now. You'll just need a SNAP PAC brain or R-series controller with firmware R9.5a in order to use it—coming soon!

Designed for 3-wire RTD temperature inputs or high-resolution resistance measurement, the new SNAP-AIRTD-8U analog input module has, yes, 8 points, each individually software configurable.

Topics: Energy management, Process control, optonews, New products, I/O, OptoNews 2016-07-06

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

If you live just about anywhere in the U.S.A., you can probably thank California Controlled Atmosphere (CalCA) for some of the fresh fruits and vegetables you buy. 

In fact, CalCA's industrial refrigeration systems for storing produce can be found throughout the world, reaching to India and China. 

Topics: Energy management, Case studies, Process control, Food & beverage, Remote monitoring, optonews, OptoNews 2016-05-11

As "green" power production from sun and wind increases, electrical grids can find themselves with a big problem: too much electricity at once. 

Solar and wind power generation work when the sun shines and the wind blows. But those hours are not necessarily when electrical demand is highest. 

Topics: Energy management, Case studies, Videos, groov, Internet of Things, Remote monitoring, IoT, optonews, Integrators, OptoNews 2016-02-03

In automation, proportional integral derivative (PID) control loops are common, useful, and tricky to get right. 

Each loop is different and each requires individual tuning for maximum effectiveness.

Now here's a new tool to help you tune your PID control loops: our online PID Control Loop Tuner.

Topics: Energy management, Process control, optonews, Integrators, Building management, OptoNews 2016-01-06

Suppose you have an analog input—maybe it's a flow meter, for example—and you want to know not only the current flow rate, but also the cumulative flow over time.

How many gallons went through that pipe over the last 24 hours, or over the last month? 

If you're using an Opto 22 analog input module and PAC Control, you're in luck. 

Topics: Energy management, Process control, Tips, optonews, I/O, PAC Project, OptoNews 2015-12-02

How do you get a variety of building systems and machinery to communicate with a central system controller, when they use different protocols? 

Swedish system integrator Processcomponent AB had to solve this problem when they installed an energy monitoring system in a large apartment building in Gothenburg. 

Topics: Energy management, Case studies, Remote monitoring, optonews, Integrators, Building management, Modbus, OptoNews 2015-11-18, M-Bus

You've heard us talk about how you can monitor and control your Modbus/TCP devices from a groov mobile operator interface on your tablet or smartphone.

But what if your Modbus device uses a serial link? 

Topics: Energy management, Videos, groov, Remote monitoring, optonews, Integrators, Building management, OptoNews 2015-09-23

In the last OptoNews we talked about using date and time in PAC Control. (If you haven't seen the post, be sure to check out its links to useful resources.)

Meanwhile, Opto 22 customer Philip Spigelmire was busy writing a scheduling subroutine for his HVAC system. His subroutine handles:

Topics: Energy management, Tips, optonews, PACs, PAC Project, Building management, OptoNews 2015-09-09