Plastic film is highly valued in the computer industry where plastic sheeting is used in the creation of printed circuit boards (PCBs). MicroCraft, a Japanese company, was challenged by a plastic sheeting manufacturer to come up with an inspection system that could find and categorize the micron-sized defects that can occur in plastic film p…
The current economic situation is having a definite impact on packagers’ plans to purchase automation equipment for their packaging lines or to further implement automation in their systems, according to the recently completed 2009 Automation in Packaging survey of end users performed by Packaging Digest and Control Engineerin…
Ever since Fernando Serpa began making end-of-line packaging machinery in 1981 for Serpa Packaging Solutions the company’s philosophy has been to improve upon its existing products. So when Serpa reintroduced its signature P200 balcony case packer, it turned to Bosch Rexroth Corp. to provide the product expertise and ap…
Sheboygan Regional Wastewater has five remote wastewater pumping stations throughout the city of Sheboygan, WI. These pumping stations are monitored remotely with a SCADA system that does not monitor motor load conditions. Therefore, maintenance personnel routinely go 30 ft. below ground to check the health of the pum…
February 2008: A company that boasts it provides “total fire protection systems” went up in flames. Smoke was seen coming from the warehouse-like buildings that house Atlantica Mechanical of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia —a contracting business that oversees the design, installation and maintenance of fire protection systems. The loc…
Time-proportional control, a form of pulse-width modulation, is a mathematical technique that allows a feedback controller to use an on/off or discrete actuator as if it were a continuous actuator capable of generating control efforts anywhere between 0% and 100%. The trick is to turn the actuator on and off for periods proportional to th…