B&R’s real-time operating system, Automation Runtime, now automatically logs data about storage media’s health to provide machine operators and service personnel early warnings of impending failure. Storage media can be replaced before a crash causes lost data and costly downtime. B&R is among the first to bring this commercial-grade feature to industrial embedded runtime systems.
Machine operators can now pass control of their machine seamlessly between the main HMI and their mobile devices. A new feature of B&R’s mapp View HMI solution ensures that the controls and information they need are always at their fingertips, so they can move freely around the plant floor as they continue working. “Until now, HMI terminals have restricted machine operators to working within a certain radius,” explains B&R software expert Manuel Sánchez.
The digital transformation of engineering continues advancing. As part of its cloud services, Eplan is presenting a new service for cross-project collaboration – Eplan eManage – which lets users upload Eplan Platform projects into the cloud environment and share and work on them there. The free version was launched in mid-March – an expanded, paid version will follow in August 2021.
RTI recently announced a major update to its Pro Control line of home control products. The new version 1.6 of the Pro Control Studio wizard-based software now includes a free, single-device ProPanel mobile app license with every R Series or Z Series processor purchased, particularly important for integrators in the market for a new single-room solution. “Since 2011, Pro Control has provided integrators with an exceptional single-room control solution.”
DATA MODUL, a distributor of display, touch, embedded, monitor and panel PC solutions, presents the easyANALYZER 4.11 which is the latest version of the company’s own PCAP support and tuning tool. The easyANALYZER helps users define, align and change the settings and parameters of their touch displays on their own, regardless of whether they are using a touch controller from MICROCHIP or ILITEK.
The new CaeBackup/CaeRestore options for B&R’s APROL process control system ensure even better security when using standardized libraries. Users can lock these libraries in the target database. This prevents unwanted changes to libraries when the engineering data is transferred. Both intentional and accidental changes are prevented. In order to ensure and check the consistency of exchange between individual projects and libraries, all versions of project parts now include a checksum.
Littelfuse, Inc. recently launched a new building automation microsite (Littelfuse.com/Building-Automation). Developed to simplify the product selection process, this microsite makes it easier for customers to find technical information and specifications on solutions for their building automation system. “Building automation systems are at the heart of a smart building, encompassing everything from security cameras to HVAC systems,” said Debra Jayson.
Yokogawa Electric Corporation recently announced that it will begin providing OpreX Batch Solution on March 17. This solution for batch manufacturing applications eliminates the overlap between process control system (PCS) and manufacturing execution system (MES) related work and helps to enhance efficiency through all phases of the plant lifecycle, from design and engineering to actual operation, modification, and expansion.
In TwinCAT, the MTP concept is built into the products TwinCAT MTP Runtime and TwinCAT MTP Engineering. TwinCAT Engineering provides project management capabilities, which incorporate TwinCAT MTP Engineering as a specific project type. This project type supports source code generation for PLC projects, which use TwinCAT MTP Runtime to create a standard-compliant interface in a process plant module.
The demands on the intelligence of a building have steadily increased in recent years, with the focus on energy efficiency, user comfort and a good return-on-investment. With holistic building automation across all trades, such as Beckhoff’s PC-based control portfolio, sustainable, energy-efficient operation and healthy living can be realized in the sense of a “green building”.
In mid-November of 2020, KMC Controls was happy to announce that they were adding TOSIBOX products to their robust product catalog. TOSIBOX‘s commitment to secure, open, scalable, affordable operational infrastructure solutions for the building automation industry closely align with KMC Controls’ core values.
elec calc now includes new features that allows the calculation of the quantified elements of the Arc Flash, from which the user will be able to develop its safety analysis in the vicinity of switchboards and panels. The Arc Flash module for elec calc is based on the calculation methods recommended by the IEEE-1584-2018 standard: empirically derived model or method of Lee according to the characteristics of the installation.
10 years on from its original launch, Phoenix Contact is introducing version 2.11 of its mGuard Secure Remote Service ecosystem to the market with added features and new system functions. It is not just Android-based mobile end devices for service technicians and iOS-based Apple devices that are supported. On the machine side, PLCnext Control devices from Phoenix Contact can also be easily and securely connected to the mGuard Secure Remote Service.
TwinCAT/BSD provides an alternative operating system for all of the latest Beckhoff Industrial PC (IPC) platforms. TwinCAT/BSD combines the TwinCAT runtime with FreeBSD, an industrial-proven and reliable open-source operating system. FreeBSD is Unix-compatible and is continually being further developed, improved and optimized as an open-source project by a large group of developers.
Mitsubishi Electric has recently announced a new way for CNC customers to get their machine tool back up and running with Remote4U. Remote4U is a gateway unit designed to allow users to resume production quicker when their CNC machine tools encounter a problem. Machine tool builders and dealers can achieve an easy, low-cost remote service using the Remote4U platform.
B&R is constantly adding new security functions to its process control system APROL. This allows users to protect their projects from cyber threats in the best possible way. A new function enables automatic encryption of engineering data, guaranteeing the highest level of security during import and export.
