Lady Liberty’s New Fire and Safety Technology

Tower Elevator Systems’ newly installed rescue elevator, part of a $27-million Statue of Liberty renovation, makes the most of Safety PLC hardware, PROFIBUS Ethernet and the SIMATIC Comfort Panel HMI. One of the most-recognized structures on earth, the Statue of Liberty, recently underwent a $27 million renovation that brought the 19th century icon into the 21st century. Fire and safety features on the statue, inaugurated by President Grover Cleveland in 1886, were revamped... Read More

---

How PLCs and Smart HMI Design Keep Drugs Safe

STERIS Corp. helps keeps drugs safe and compliant with electronic data security rules with simplified PLC configuration and user-friendly interface via WinCC and touch panels. In pharmaceutical manufacturing, minimizing contamination is of maximum importance. In some drugs, even extremely minor contamination can ruin an entire production run or cause even greater problems if contaminants cause patient reactions in the field. At STERIS Corp.’s Life Sciences division, employees... Read More

---

New-generation ‘Soft’ PLCs Drive Oil Exploration

Apache Corp. shares the first-hand benefits gained by moving from traditional PLC racks to the WinAC software PLC to control oil-drilling rigs worldwide. Houston, Texas-based Apache Corporation is an oil and gas exploration and production company with operations in the United States, Canada, Egypt, the United Kingdom, North Sea, Australia, and Argentina. Recently, we had the opportunity to sit down with Jim Rogers, automation advisor at Apache, to talk about the work he is doing... Read More

---

PLCs help U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Deepen Critical Shipping Channels

The hopper dredge McFarland The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has a fleet of dredging boats that keeps 12,000 miles of waterways in the United States clean and navigable for recreation and commercial use. One of these boats, the hopper dredge McFarland, played a role in emergency dredging projects during the Gulf Oil spill crisis, and also participated in rescue efforts following the September 11, 2001, World Trade Center attack in New York City. An antiquated relay system... Read More

---

Wireless Networks and Machine Safety: Lessons Learned in a Non-Industrial Environment

Safe control of large concrete doors when elephants are in outside pen. Designing a system to control a myriad of large hydraulic gates at the Elephant Community Center at the Smithsonian National Zoological Park provides lessons learned in an application that involves hydraulics, solenoids, wireless, and safety PLCs. Making sure he doesn’t scare elephants isn’t normally in Barry Stringer’s list of challenges for the day. But when his team was designing a control system... Read More

---

Safeguards for the World’s Most Powerful Laser

Designing the world’s most powerful lasers is no mean feat. But researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory are equally proud of a complementary system they’ve created, one that protects humans from the powerful beams. The Berkeley Lab Laser Accelerator (BELLA) system set the record when it delivered a petawatt of power in a pulse just 40 femtoseconds long at a pulse rate of one hertz in July. If delivering 1015th watts of power in a quadrillionth of a second isn’t... Read More

---

Is Your Burner Management System Outdated?

Learn how safety PLCs can improve your BMS design. Burner Management Systems (BMS) are traditionally defined as systems to monitor and control fuel burning equipment during all startup, shutdown, operating, and transient conditions. Their primary purposes are: To protect against startup when unsafe conditions exist. To protect against unsafe operating conditions and admission of improper quantities of fuel to the furnace. To provide the operator with status information. To initiate... Read More

---

U.S. Air Force in Afghanistan Fueled by Automation

Pendant Engineering’s use of Siemens HMI, PLC, TIA Portal helps Bagram Air Force Base manage fuel transfer For military operations around the globe, one of the biggest logistics challenges is to manage critical fuel resources. Building a fuel transfer system for the Bagram Air Force Base (AFB), a U.S. military operation about 40 miles north of Kabul, Afghanistan, posed a greater than normal number of challenges. The equipment must withstand unforgiving surroundings, from... Read More

---

New Controls Bring Pixar’s Cars Movie to Life at Disney’s California Adventure

Siemens PLCs, sensors and communications bring the 12-acre Cars Land to life The wildly successful Cars movie franchise comes to life in the Disney California Adventure theme park, giving visitors an exciting ride complete with storytelling. No GPS is required for the trip to Carburetor County to see Lightning McQueen, Tow Mater, Doc Hudson, Flo, Luigi and many more beloved characters. Covering 12 acres, Cars Land is one of the most expansive projects developed to date at the... Read More

---

Steel Mill Executes No-Risk Control System Conversion

Prism Systems explains how a phased, rack-by-rack implementation kept the mill’s PLC-and-PROFIBUS network up and running. When a major steel manufacturer found its operations hampered by a highly customized automation system provided by multiple integrators, it turned to Prism Systems and Siemens to rectify the situation. Mobile, Ala.-based Prism Systems has been a Siemens Solution Partner for more than a decade, specializing in controls for the food and beverage, marine,... Read More

---