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
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
A lot of control engineers do, especially in fields like water treatment, refrigeration, thermoforming, refining, food processing, and energy or building management.
There are a variety of temperature sensors on the market—ICTDs, thermocouples, RTDs, thermistors, infrared sensors. Accuracy, cost, wiring complexity, and environmental conditions are some of the factors that determine which one is best for your application.
Topics: Energy management, Process control, Food & beverage, Water & wastewater, Machine builder, optonews, OEM, Integrators, OptoNews 2015-06-17
The biggest user of water in our house is not human:
A web browser is installed on most of the key devices we use every day. PCs, smart phones, tablets, even our TVs now have a modern web browser installed. I can even surf the web from my Android smart watch (a Moto360).
It makes sense then, does it not, to view everyday data on an interface that we use every day?
How much water flows through our house was the subject of last week's blog... It both surprised me and pleased me to find out that the biggest user of water in our house was not a human.
Topics: Food & beverage, Remote monitoring, Water & wastewater
Opto 22 exhibited at the ATX – Automation Technology West show this week in Anaheim. The show was one of five shows held at the Anaheim convention center, all centered around a general theme of manufacturing and packaging technologies. With that many shows under one roof it was a bit overwhelming to try and absorb all of the cool new tech being showed off. I've never seen so many robots under one roof.
Topics: Food & beverage, groov, Remote monitoring
Like most restaurants, That Bar-B-Q Place has a wide variety of systems worth automating, from refrigeration to fire alarms to security to TV menus—even to the barbecue smokers nicknamed "Jake" and "Elwood," shown at right.
But this restaurant also has an advantage: owner Dave Brosseau is an experienced systems integrator.
So when Brosseau wanted to give his staff the ability to monitor and control systems from inside the restaurant or in some cases remotely, he took a look at groov.
Topics: Case studies, Food & beverage, groov
At Schipper Eggs in Holland, Michigan, automated feed mills used to run without supervision. But sometimes problems went unnoticed.
Now operators can remotely check status, control mills, and even change the mix of grains for the feed, using their smartphones.
Topics: Case studies, Food & beverage, groov, Remote monitoring
