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The Case for Intelligent I/O Systems.

The automation PC is located in the control room, and the dump valve is on the other side of the tank farm wired to a remote I/O cabinet, all connected over an Ethernet network.

The IT guys are working on the network, and they say it may take a few days to track down the intermittent cable. But hey, in the meantime, they say that it mostly works…

That answer might be sufficient for watching YouTube, but it is just not going to cut it for controlling that valve.

What do you do?

Topics: Discrete control, PLCs, Remote monitoring, Tips, IoT, PACs, OEM, I/O

Have a HART

Communicate with your smart HART® (Highway Addressable Remote Transducer) devices with these two HART SNAP I/O modules—an input and an output. 

HART is the most widely used digital communications protocol in process automation, so you'll find plenty of devices you can monitor and talk to using these modules.

Both I/O modules have channel-to-channel isolation and carry a lifetime warranty. 

Topics: Energy management, Process control, optonews, I/O, HART, OptoNews 2015-08-26

Here's an opportunity to learn how to increase manufacturing throughput, improve safety, and optimize your production through technology: the SORT Technology Showcase 2015.

You'll see the latest technical advancements from a variety of suppliers. Opto 22's Arun Sinha will demonstrate how easy it is to put your system on your smartphone or tablet with a groov mobile operator interface.

Topics: groov, optonews, PACs, Events & conferences, I/O, OptoNews 2015-08-12

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More information in less space.       

It is amazing how sometimes similar applications can come back to back….Last week's blog came from a customer asking how to measure the main power grid frequency. And later the same week  I had a totally different customer ask me about how he could display upper, lower and current value of the main electrical grid frequency in groov. What are the chances of that!!??

This customer wanted one gadget to display all three values. Why so dense? Because they only use groov on smart phones, no PCs or Tablets. He was polling the data from a bank of UPSes and so needed to display a lot of data. Screen real estate is prime on those devices. What can we do to help?

In this week's blog, we are going to have some adventures in Z-Order.

Topics: Energy management, groov, Internet of Things, Remote monitoring, Tips, IoT, PACs, OEM, I/O

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50 or 60 Hertz - Roughly.

Measure the main power grid frequency, he said. It will be fun, he said…. Actually, pretty sure I said something like, “it will be easy”... and I was mostly right, and best of all, it did turn out to be fun!

It seemed like both a reasonable and easy request. The requirements were to measure the mains power grid frequency to a resolution of 0.01 Hertz, and to do it every 125 milliseconds (roughly; it could be a max of 200 milliseconds, but not much longer).

Why? In this case, the chase is better than the catch. It's enough to say the customer had his reasons, and this blog is about the chase.

Topics: Energy management, Process control, groov, Internet of Things, Remote monitoring, Electronics, Tips, IoT, OEM, I/O

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Loop the loop.

PID loops are used in a lot of different applications, and for good reason: they help keep our world under control. If you need to control a process temperature or pressure, you probably are going to use a PID loop. But are they always the right solution?

Ultra quick review; a proportional-integral-derivative control loop (or PID controller) compares a setpoint against a measured input value, and depending on the error, changes a control variable (output). It’s all about math. A PID loop is all about running a mathematical formula over and over at a specific rate.

The most common example of a PID loop that I often talk about in our monthly training class is the cruise control on a car. The speed of the car is the input, the accelerator is the output and the setpoint is what speed the car is doing the moment the driver presses the “set” button.

PID loops are so useful that sometimes we too quickly decide to use a one in a process when it may not be the best solution to the problem. In this week’s blog we are going to take a look at one instance where use of a PID loop may not be the best tool for the job.

Topics: Process control, PLCs, Remote monitoring, Tips, IoT, PACs, I/O

Do you have devices on a Controller Area Network? Now you can communicate with them using the SNAP-SCM-CAN2B serial communication module and a new CAN RX/TX Integration Kit. 

New R2.0b firmware on the SNAP-SCM-CAN2B makes it possible to both transmit and receive data. 

When you enable transmit functionality, all data communications between the module and the SNAP PAC brain or controller are ASCII encoded and frame delimited for robust communications.

Topics: Updates, optonews, New products, Integrators, OptoNews 2015-07-15, I/O

Plan ahead to enjoy the fall color and learn about Opto 22's versatile SNAP PAC System at the same time this September.

Whether you're monitoring remote pumps and valves, tracking energy data, controlling processes in a large factory, or doing a wide variety of other automation tasks, you'll find the SNAP PAC System reliable and scalable. 

Topics: Case studies, groov, optonews, PACs, Training, OptoNews 2015-07-15, I/O

Suppose you need to monitor temperatures from several thermocouples wired to a SNAP-AITM-8 analog input module.

Or maybe you have a bunch of switches that are all wired to a high-density digital output module like the SNAP-ODC-32-SNK.

Here's a tip for anyone who needs to add several similar I/O points to a PAC Control strategy: you can save a lot of time by adding them automatically. 

Topics: Tips, Machine builder, optonews, OptoNews 2015-07-15, I/O