Sponsored by PCBexpress                                                                       Vol. 4 No. 8

Automation designers have tough decisions in face of industrial Ethernet variants 

CAN (Controller Area Network), widely used as an automotive in-vehicle network, has seen its usage burgeoning in other application areas.

So why is "everybody talking about Ethernet," asks CAN in Automation(CiA), the international user and manufacturer association (can-cia.org) that develops and standardizes CANopen-based device and application profiles.

In CiA's paper, Protecting investments: Challenges of industrial automation, Ethernet is described as a data link layer protocol (layer 2 of the OSI reference model), which was originally designed for office communication. Building upon this Layer-2 protocol, TCP/IP protocols have asserted themselves and factory automation designers want to profit from this development, CiA says.

The lack of factory robustness in Ethernet has been a stumbling block, but now 11 industrial Ethernet variants have come forward for IEC standardization; most of them are real-time capable.

"Two of them are based upon CAN: CANopen and DeviceNet. Only time will tell which of the industrial Ethernet candidates will survive."

In the September 2005 issue of Design Product News, esd electronics (esd-electronics.com) president Wilfred Voss discusses how CANopen supports device profiles for motion control applications.

Profitable surfing!
Mike Edwards, Editor,
DPN Magazine medwards@clbmedia.ca
Past e-LETTERs: go to dpncanada.com, then click Articles

USEFUL SITES

Adhesives equipment. Henkel Corp. has introduced a dedicated website exhibiting Loctite adhesive dispensing, curing and processing equipment (equipment.loctite.com).

Manifolds, valves, tube fittings. Parker Instrumentation has added 3D models of these product lines available for a wide range of CAD platforms (parker.com/partek).

Industrial safety. ifm efector (ifmefector.com) has added the "Safety at Work" portal to its website that highlights networking systems which directly integrate safety components into the Actuator Sensor-interface (AS-i) network.

3D CAD tips. 3DCADTips.com has announced its online TechBits Viewer now contains over 250 free CAD technology tips, including advice on moving to 3D from 2D, surface modeling, FEA and database management.

Step motor and driver board. Lin Engineering, in conjunction with Trinamic Motion Control, has announced the MiniPak, an integrated product combines a Lin size 11 step motor and a drive/control board using the Trinamic TMC222 drive chip.

Dewpoint sensor. The Vaisala DRYCAP Dewpoint Transmitter Series DMT340 has a large numerical and graphical display with multilingual user interface.

One touch fittings. Series KQG products from SMC Pneumatics have an all metal SUS 316 construction and FKM sealing material. The range of grease free stainless steel fittings can work with ambient and fluid temperatures from -5° to 150°C (including hot steam).

Molded case circuit breakers. Schneider Electric has announced the Square D Powerpact 150A H-frame and 250A J-frame units. The circuit breakers feature common mounting points and handle locations.

Coming in the New Look
  September DPN



• PTDA Canadian conference report
• Hydraulics refreshes Welland Canal
• Skills challenge coming to Edmonton
• Motion Control feature report
• Technical marketing to Latin America

UPCOMING EVENTS

October 3-6, 2005. Dallas/Ft. Worth. Aerospace Manufacturing and Automated Fastening Conference & Exhibition (sae.org/events/amaf/).

October 17-20, 2005. Toronto. Canadian Manufacturing Technology Show, including the National Factory Automation Show and Canadian Machine Tool Show (reedexpo.ca/cmts).

October 18-20, 2005. Las Vegas. Power Transmission Distributors' Association PTDA 2005 Industry Summit at Bally's Las Vegas (ptda.org).

October 20, 2005. Toronto. The 6th Annual STARS Gala in support of technology education in Canada presented by the Yves Landry Foundation (ylandryfund.org).

November 5-11, 2005. Orlando. The 2005 ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition presented by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (asme.org).

November 16-17, 2005. St. Louis. Rockwell Automation will host the 14th annual Automation Fair, a free educational forum created to showcase the latest ways manufacturers can use industrial automation technology (automationfair.com).

November 28-December 1, 2005. Orlando. Autodesk University 2005 software conference at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin resort (autodeskevents.com/au2005/).


CLICK HERE FOR MORE EVENTS

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