Sensing & Measurement Resource Center

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Controls engineers need a variety of information on topics such as presence sensing, process variables, transmitters, transducers, encoders and RFID. Timely news, back-to-basics primers, feature articles, technical white papers and descriptions of the latest products all provide valuable insights that can be used in designing and building machine controls.

Sense When to Go Wireless
What's the Point of Trying to Add Wireless Capabilities to Sensors and Related Components?

Feedback Critical to Machining Precision
Vertical Turning/Grinding Machine Uses Optical and Magnetic Encoders to Aid High-Accuracy Production of Wind Turbine Bearings

End Users' Needs Inspire Machine Builder's Inventions
Spartanics Celebrates 50 Years Providing Leading Solutions to Customers

Industrial Ethernet Cruises Powerfully Along
Go With What Works: Are Simpler, Hard-Working Device-Level Networks a Better Choice?

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White Papers: In Depth Research

Image Processing: Color Extraction
Author: Keyence
Posted: 05/14/2013
This white paper introduces the idea of image processing from the basics. The topic covered in this document is color extraction, which reduces the amount of data that must be processed. To achieve both high performance and speed, it is important to select the right method of extracting color information for the specific target.

Assembled vs. Overmolded Cordsets
Author: Turck
Posted: 03/05/2013
Connectivity serves as a cornerstone for industrial automation environments, delivering continuous production, data acquisition and communication throughout the enterprise. With the need to monitor, control and communicate with more devices, such as sensors, safety devices and PLCs in a vast range of applications, connectivity solutions must be able to withstand harsher environments to satisfy the current demands for constant production visibility and control.

Cordsets provide the foundation for this connectivity, and to meet today's application requirements, cordsets must be able to adapt to difficult environments and challenging applications. Assembled cordsets are a common connectivity solution, however, in-the-field assembly makes them vulnerable to performance deficiencies, such as mis-wiring and moisture ingress, which can impact the operation of the entire application.

To overcome these challenges, cordsets have progressed to include overmolded options. This improves the integrity of the connection by eliminating the need to assemble connectors and the associated errors that occur with assembled solutions. Overmolding can improve the durability of the cordset, as well as reduce the total cost of ownership by improving uptime and decreasing labor and maintenance, improving overall performance for an enhanced application accuracy and efficiency.

This white paper will discuss the differences between assembled and overmolded cordsets, offering a comparison of the technologies and providing a detailed description of the advantages offered with overmolded cordsets.

Motion Control System Options Using EtherCAT Technology
Author: Karl Meier, business development for Advanced Motion Controls
Posted: 02/20/2013
This document describes the evolution of motion and control system architectures and what new benefits are realized today when using EtherCAT, whether for a large number of axes or simple systems using just a few. OEMs have many choices available and naturally gravitate to a given architecture in order to speed development and reduce cost. Machine systems, and mainly motion control, are normalized to meet the requirements of the application.

Highlighted too, is not only the rise and acceptance for network connected motion control applications, but also why they are here to stay. In fact, the continued demand for servo solutions like those provided by EtherCAT-based systems will grow faster than most others and come at lower costs to implement.

Feedback Sensors Keep Servo Motors on Target
Author: Gene Matthews, product manager for Kollmorgen
Posted: 02/19/2013
Fundamentally a servo system can perform no more accurately than the accuracy of the feedback device controlling it. In addition, errors in speed or position can be introduced into the system by the less than perfect mechanisms that transfer the motor power to the load. Environmental factors like electrical noise or temperature  may also introduce positioning errors. Sometimes the errors are acceptable. More frequently, however, they are not. After all, servo motors can be expensive, and the expectation is that they will be the most reliable and accurate of all positioning devices.

When it comes to high-performance servo applications, feedback devices fall into several different categories. In this white paper, learn how each offers unique advantages and disadvantages, both electrical and mechanical, which make one better suited for a particular application than another.

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