Control Systems

Creating a pharmaceutical manufacturing suite is a complex task that is governed by a host of standards and specifications. For the AstraZeneca manufacturing plant in North Ryde, Sydney, Australia, the decision to change its primary supplier of process control valves to Bürkert, reduced installation and commissioning costs while also improving process data availability.

Modern cruise ships are promoted as the epitome of comfort and luxury; hence, allowing passengers to adjust cabin temperatures to their liking is an essential part of the experience. With such a large number of rooms the HVAC control systems need to balance easy, responsive individual adjustment for hundreds of cabins with the main ship’s systems - in order to ensure an efficient, reliable and accurate service is maintained. 

The Kuber-212G- a compact-sized, fan-less embedded system from Mitwell, a subsidiary of Portwell, features the latest 14nm Intel Celeron N3350 processor (codenamed Apollo Lake). It is compact 99 (L) x 63 (W) x 92 (D) mm design, and features low power consumption, high-performance computing and a powerful graphics engine.

University Health network (UHN) is Canada's largest research hospital which operates four major hospitals and one teaching institute: Toronto Western Hospital, Toronto General Hospital, Princess Margret Cancer Centre, Toronto Rehabilitation Institute and The Michener Institute.

Fuel cells have been hailed as the energy source of the future; they can provide a non-polluting supply of power by re-combining hydrogen and oxygen to create electricity and water. The chemistry sounds very simple, however creating a reliable, efficient and safe energy source requires considerable expertise, especially in the control of the fluids and gases that are involved in this exciting technology. Tony Brennan, Field Segment Manager, at Bürkert, looks at the process in more detail, what is needed to develop the technology and make it more widely available.

There is a new generation of intelligent input systems with capacitive touch technology. The intuitive operation with a finger swipe, wipe, rotate or tap via the touch screen corresponds to that of a smartphone and thus meets the current consumer taste.

British Thermal engineering specialist GRE has won a five-figure contract to develop bespoke ultra-pure water cooling solutions for the European Spallation Source (ESS) in Lund, Sweden, a multi-disciplinary research facility based on the most powerful pulsed neutron source ever seen.

Providing high quality water supplies is an essential service delivered by municipal authorities and utility companies around the world. Maintaining water quality requires constant monitoring and testing to ensure accurate measurements are being taken. Traditionally this has involved time-consuming calibration and maintenance. 

£480,000 is a lot of money. But that is what I was told it costs one of the UK’s largest automotive manufacturers per hour when they experience downtime on their paint plant. Your overheads may not be as substantial as the above example, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that the old adage you hear in every corner of business and production is true. By Karl Lycett, Rittal’s Product Manager for Climate Control

Industrial control is a highly developed field that advances year on year as the underlying technology advances. But will it and all its specialist sub-sets continue to thrive? Gerard Bush, a motion specialist with INMOCO, here gives us his opinion on the matter. All technologies develop over time, with most eventually reaching an upper limit where they are as advanced as they can be. This is clearly evident in older technologies where the peak has been reached.