Hanover Fair 2011 Part 3: PROFIenergy
Energy savings was ubiquitous at Hanover Fair this year. In keeping with this theme, PI presented PROFIenergy. We presented a PROFIenergy wall with background information about PROFIenergy and an interactive product display: For a video introduction to PROFIenergy, see this video that Automation World shot in the booth. PROFIenergy products are available from multiple vendors;…
Read MoreHanover Fair 2011 Part 2: PI Booth
PI invited some friends over to share the booth, forum, and catering area. In addition to PI’s large area, FDT Group, Fieldbus Foundation, and HART Communication Foundation were also in our “Fieldbus Communication Lounge.” PI has instigated cooperative efforts with all three groups to ease user interaction in wireless and in asset management infrastructure (FDT/EDDL/FDI).…
Read MoreHanover Fair 2011 Part 1: First Impressions
Busy. Hanover Fair seemed busier than earlier years and probably much busier than last year (which I missed due to the volcano… as did many others). The aisles were more crowded, the booths busier, the forum presentations better attended, the booth parties busier, and the conversations more frequent than in the past. Here is an…
Read MoreSlap! I could have had a …
Slap! I could have had a … no, not a V-8, a PROFINET backbone. That was the reaction of a student at the Greenville PROFINET one-day training class who recently installed a PROFIBUS DP backbone. Well, actually, what he wrote on the Course Evaluation form under the “In greater detail” section was: “PROFIBUS vs. PROFINET. …
Read MoreWhat do you get when you…
…fall in love? No, what do you get when you join PI North America? All this stuff: That’s right, you get 4 books and a booklet, mouse pad, pens, and lots of documents. You also get a username and password to download even more documentation from the website and to place your products in the…
Read MoreFieldbuses Are No Good
Fieldbuses are no good? (I can’t believe I said that.*) But you might think that if you’ve read some recent articles on ControlGlobal. The two-part series titled “The Fieldbus Jungle” reminds us that fieldbuses are not all unicorns and rainbows, but the articles come across as too cautionary. (Reference: The Fieldbus Jungle Part 1. The…
Read MorePROFINET and PROFIBUS
I always come into the transition from one year to the next thinking “I’m off the road; I can get caught up on blogging.” Good theory. Instead I’ve been scrambling to get ready for our PROFINET and PROFIBUS one-day training classes for 2011. The PROFINET Training Manuals are at the printers; the CDs are pressed. …
Read MorePROFINET Introduction Video
A PROFINET video introducing the technology has been uploaded to the PROFIblogger channel: –Carl Henning
Read MoreUse of Hard Wiring Is Down
The use of hard wiring is down according to Control Design’s recent survey of their readers, primarily machine builders it seems. Video: Market Intelligence Report: Sensors & Vision Part 1. From 2008 to 2010 the respondents saying they used hard wiring went from 78% to 57%. This is certainly a step in the right direction,…
Read MoreSharing PROFINET Data
One of the clever (if esoteric) features of PROFINET is the Tool Calling Interface (TCI). Challenge: you are using PROFINET, but you also have a separate software package to configure your drive functions. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could share data between PROFINET and the drive configuration tool? With TCI you can. During our…
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