Troubleshooting Profibus network problems
When industries experience network problems using the Profibus protocol, undetected cabling problems can be an issue that's hard to resolve. Without the proper tools, an electrical engineer would have to use an
oscilloscope to analyze signal quality within a cable at certain test points in the network. Using this method to troubleshoot signal degradation in cables can be difficult and time-consuming to pin point the problem.
Here's where Softing enters the picture. Softing has developed the
Profibus tester PB-T3. Their cable tester automatically analyze communication problems based on electrical issues without the need for an oscilloscope or expertise in electrical engineering. The cable tester software has an user-friendly interface which enables a technician to quickly locate trouble spots. The PB-T3 automatically analyzes cable signal quality of every connected device at each test point, and displays the result in a bar chart.
Devices with insufficient signal strength are highlighted in color for easy identification.
Softing's Profibus tester PB-T3 is a very useful tool for the installation, maintenance, and commission of networks using the Profibus protocol.
ABB Industrial IT DCS System
ABB has designed the Freelance 800F as part of it's industrial IT DCS solution. This solution enables companies to access production information across all levels, including real time. With this new technology, ABB has added additional application options which include:
information management, production planning and manufacturing execution (MES), resource management, and asset optimization.Here are some of the main benefits on the Freelance 800F;
field devices are completely integrated into the control system engineering, only one tool is needed for engineering, commissioning and diagnosis, all field information can be centrally accessed, and assembly can be close to the field which means a reduction of field wiring and space requirements.The 800F is compatible with various fieldbus types including
Profibus, DPV1/PA, Modbus, CAN for Freelance Rack I/O, FOUNDATION Fieldbus HSE/H1, HART via remote I/O, and Telecontrol protocol IEC870-8-101. The 800F controller can distribute processes and diagnostic data from up to four fieldbus gateways. The 800F works with 20mA instrumentation and digital fieldbus technology.
The engineering tool included with the 800F is user-friendly, and users find that they are able to quickly
familiarize themselves with the tool. This tool makes configuring and displaying field devices easier and less time-consuming.
The Freelance 800F is reliable and proven technology, and can be integrated with existing Freelance 2000 systems. The hardware can be setup redundantly at all levels including
fieldbus redundancy, network redundancy, controller redundancy, and operator interfaces redundancy.
The Freelance 800F is an excellent, proven, reliable DCS technology that is scalable. As the needs of the plant grow, so can the Freelance 800F be extended to meet those needs.
Field Effect Transistors
Part A
Basically there are two types of field effect transistors. One is the Junction Field Effect Transistor commonly known as a Junction FET or JFET. The other type is an Insulated Gate Field Effect Transistor (IGFET), but is referred to as a Metal-Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor (MOSFET).
Both types can be either a N-Type or P-Type material (usually made of silicon) used to make the conducting current carrying channel. Both the JFET and the MOSFET are controlled by voltage on the gate. The bipolar transistors are controlled by current on the base. The JFET uses reverse-bias gate-to-source giving this unit a very high input resistance, where as the bipolar transistors base-to-emitter is forward-biased giving the transistor a low input resistance.
In the JFET, the gate is connected to the conducting channel and in the MOSFET, the gate is insulated from the conducting channel.
Labels: Tutorial
60 Watt Teraflops
The processor industry has long been in a race for speed. The price for this speed is paid for in generated heat. These days wattages approaching 200 Watts require huge heatsinks with heatpipes and exotic metals are commonplace in todays PCs.
Fox news reports today that Intel has tested at 1.01 teraflops with a CPU chip using only 62 Watts:
Intel Corp. (INTC) has designed a computer chip that promises to perform calculations as quickly an entire data center — while consuming as much energy as a light bulb. The world's biggest chipmaker said Sunday it developed a programmable processor that can perform about a trillion calculations per second, or deliver a performance of 1.01 teraflops.
It accomplishes this feat while consuming 62 watts of power when the chip is running at a frequency of 3.16 gigahertz.
10 years ago 1 teraflop was accomplished with somewhat less eficiency.
A similarly powerful supercomputer in 1996 at Sandia National Laboratories took up more than 2,000 square feet, used nearly 10,000 Pentium Pro processors, and consumed more than 500 kilowatts of electricity.
Tempering the race for speed with power and heat efeciency is a good thing. This is a major accomplishment for Intel
It's About Time
Next week on March 11th we will set out clocks ahead 1 hour. Some computers will update the time then, others will do it on April 1st, yet others won't change at all.
Most DCS and control systems are not allowed to process automatic updates because of security issues. Microsoft Windows for most desktop machines is typically automatically upgraded automatically. Changing the time by an hour can raise havoc with historian databases.
Usually it is a good idea to disable the automatic Daylight saving facility. Some of us are going to find that when we maually set the time on March 11th, that the operating system will move the time forward again on April 1st.
Update: Microsoft
has a page to help assist in updating the time.
Understanding XML.
XML is showing up more and more in the software we use. It is used to document and store application parameters and data. Because XML data is textual, it is platform independant. Using XML, data can moved and modified on varying and disimular platforms. It is ideal for for control schemes with data tranfers to web based displays, so we are seeing more of it lately. Understanding XML and how it is used can be a tremendous help on understanding configurations and our stored data.
Most tutorials that I have come accross are either to vague to be of general use or get bogged down down in describing syntex and and form. There is help! The people over at
Control Global put together a
three part series.
This three-part series for CONTROL introduces readers to the basic rules of XML, its terminology and related standards, and discusses what you’ll need to know to survive in the world of connected data.
The objectives are further defined.
In this series, I'll introduce the basic rules of XML, terminology, and related standards. You'll learn how to read XML documents and how to create your own. The series will also discuss declarations, processing instructions, namespaces, well-formedness, validity, DTDs, schemas, and encoding. Finally, I'll point you to a number of resources and applications to help you learn more about XML and to help you work with your own XML documents.
Each section in the 3 part series will probably take most of us an hour or so to read and digest.
Nature vs Technology
At Cape Canaveral the other day a small thunderstorm rolled in, and did some damage to the space shuttle. The flight
scheduled for March 15
th will be postponed.
The top of the external tank attached to space shuttle Atlantis shows damage caused by a hailstorm as the shuttle sits on launch pad39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, February 27, 2007.
