Automation Parts

VCM Series is a compact, cost-effective drive with features typically found only in more complex and expensive AC drives. This full featured sensorless vector drive is recognized for being simple to set up, program and operate. Available in ratings from 0.5 to 75HP, the VCM Series is ideally for nearly any application. The convenient operator panel provides simple, yet informative interface during setup and operation. The tactile feedback keypad is used for programming the drive and motor speed can be controlled using either the keypad or the handy, built-in potentiometer. The alphanumeric display indicates operation, status and fault read-out and is easily visibile in low ambient light conditions. In addition, LED indicators provide direction of rotat

One of Europe’s leading switch manufacturers, knitter-switch, announces a new DIL switch designed specifically for mounting on PCBs that are to be “potted” or conformally-coated using cold curing compounds. Thanks to additional sealing along the base of the switch housing, the DBS 3000-SL series is ideal for many applications including industrial automation and access control systems. Designed for through-hole mounting, the DBS 3000-SL series is available with raised or recessed actuators and in 1 to 10 and 12 pole versions. The switch has a lifetime of a minimum of 3000 cycles and an operating temperature range of -40 to +85ºC. Standard switches are available from a number of distributors throughout Europe. Samples are usually available on next day delivery.

knitter-switch, one of Europe’s leading switch manufacturers, announces a micro-miniature slide switch designed to operate as an on-off switch for personal multi-media products, musical instruments and other applications where a very small, space saving switch is required. Switches in the new MMP/MMS 1263 series are 1 pole, two position units with a side or top actuated slider with a latching or rest position on the right or left of the switch. knitter-switch can supply the switch with a return force of either 1 or 3.5N. MMP/MMS 1263 switches measure just 8.85mm long and 2mm wide and versions are available for through hole or surface mounting. Operating temperature range is - 40ºC to + 85ºC. Users can expect an operational lifetime of more than 10,000 operations. Standard switches are available from a number of distributors throughout Europe. Samples are usually available on next day delivery.

One of Europe’s leading switch manufacturers, knitter-switch, introduces a very small, tactile, pushbutton switch that will find many applications in all types of handheld devices including PDA’s and those designed for medical and industrial use. According to knitter-switch, these tiny switches are ideal for those functions in a handheld device for which a touch-screen or sensor button is not suitable. These include stand-by switch, volume adjustment, keypad lock and camera shutter functions. Measuring just 3.8 x 2.8 x 1.48mm, the knitter-switch TSS 5400 series includes models that can be vertically or horizontally actuated. Operating actuation force is 160gf for vertically operated switches and 200gf for horizontal types. Contact rating is 50mA, 12VDC, electrical life is 100,000 cycles and the terminals are silver plate over nickel. The switch cover is silver plated stainless steel and the base is high-temperature thermoplastic. Switches in the new TSS 5400 series are Halogen

One of Europe’s leading switch manufacturers, knitter-switch, announces a new tactile switch that will find many applications in industrial automation systems and as an input device for products where a waterproof PCB switch is required. The TSE/TSSE 21/24 series tact switches are IP67 rated and feature a mechanical lifetime of at least 1million cycles thanks to the use of a stainless steel dome. The switches also provide the user with an excellent tactile feedback with customers able to select an operating force of either 160 or 260gf for more industrial applications. The new TSE/TSSE 21/24 series tact switches are offered with either round or square knobs to facilitate aesthetic panel designs. Other key features of the halogen-free TSE/TSSE 21/24 series include an operating temperature range of -40ºC to +85ºC and a choice of through hole or surface mount versions. Standard switches are available from a number of distributors throughout Europe. Samples are usually available o

Energy costs are high and set to go even higher. The beleaguered factory manager has to try to mitigate the impact of this together with all the other issues of the day that face him or her. Most companies addressed the problem that given 3 compressors 1 was just feeding the leaks in a campaign style activity...end of story...no sadly the leaks will come back or occur in other locations for a variety of reasons such as airline contamination, lack of maintenance just to mention a couple of the many. BEKO TECHNOLOGIES decided the companies would increasingly want to measure key parameters in their compressed air or gas streams. The only way to manage is to measure is a mantra that is commonly used in businesses. Compressed air for many years was poor relations because almost everyone thought that compressed air was “free” or low cost so what was the point of investing in measuring something that didn’t impact on the efficiency and bottom line of a business. There have been solutions

UK Service Manager Chris Norris said “We have been very successful with the product claiming a significant market share for the free standing sales. We took advantage of the very low warranty defect rate and offered a simple “no quibble” warranty extension to 3 years and of course we hoped that the designers would not get over zealous about value engineering and replacing what I regard as key components in the product’s reliability with lower cost items which might affect the product’s integrity. We have all seen this happen!” Norris goes on to describe the changes made, “The product only needed some tweaking and we were pleased to see that the controllers were brought up to a high standard, the smaller units having a relatively simple display but doing all the necessary tasks including controlling the BEKOMAT level sensing drain, also allowing the drain test to be carried out from the control panel. Obviously I am always pleased to see service indication on products particularly v

When a plant engineer has to purchase a compressed air dryer his first thought will be what dewpoint is required. This will then depend on the application; specifications of machinery using compressed air will guide the engineer as will codes of practice such as BRC/BCAS for the Food Industry. If a negative dewpoint is required then a desiccant dryer will be selected. The genre is likely to be well known to the engineer and will attract a significant capital and running cost particularly if a lower capital cost heatless dryer is selected. However the solution is classic and cannot be faulted. The alternative scenario is for the positive dewpoint at typically +2º C and again the engineer will know that a refrigeration type dryer will handle this application with relatively low capital and running cost but that he must take care not to have pipework going below the dewpoint temperature. There is a third solution which is mostly ignored or perhaps is not fully understood. This is the

BEKO TECHNOLOGIES launched the BEKOKAT Catalytic Converter in 2008 realising that there would not be a flood of sales but none the less expecting to see a slow take up of the product notably by companies who had a need for 100% oil free or better than ISO 8573 Class 1 quality. The reason for this expectation was the growing realisation that however good an oil free compressor can be, the quality of air entering the compressor is variable. BEKO using their METPOINT OCV device have measured Class 3 remaining oil content after an oil free compressor with the unit working perfectly and not adding any hydrocarbon to the system. Three years down the line and over 100 units sold. BEKO are optimistic that the success of the existing units in the field together with the increasing requirement to audit the quality of compressed air will accelerate the growth in sales. Chris Norris Service Manager at BEKO UK comments “As a service person I shouldn’t be happy because I have had no service reve

Most flexible shaft couplings rely on a number of moving parts to enable the transmission of torque through a high angular offset.  The Helical Flexure is an advanced solution that can accommodate up to 90° of angular misalignment whilst simultaneously compensating for axial and parallel shaft misalignments, but delivering all of these advantages from a single piece construction. The performance capability of each shaft coupling is determined by six major characteristics:  outside diameter, inside diameter, coil thickness, material, number of coils, and the number of starts. By altering these characteristics, torque capacity, angular and parallel misalignment capabilities, torsional and lateral bending rates of flexured u-joints can be modified to suit specific specifications and/or requirements. The high angular shaft offset couplings are manufactured from stainless steel as standard so are ideal for medical, food processing or any clean room environment applications. The design

It gives us a great deal of pleasure to announce that we are expanding our wide choice of shaft coupling products with a brand new offering – the SCHMIDT-KUPPLUNG® range of compact coupling systems.  This outstanding array of products provides an excellent choice, addressing different customer needs for a high performance standard item, a coupling adapted to their particular sector, or a solution tailored to a specific single application. •    Controlflex® – the perfect coupling for shaft encoders, accommodating all types of misalignment with very low restoring forces and low stress on the encoder bearings at constant angular velocity. •    Semiflex® – torsionally stiff, precise and backlash-free shaft couplings that require little axial space, compensate misalignment without restoring forces and transmit torque between shafts in instances where shaft alignment cannot be guaranteed. •    Schmidt-Kupplung® – the classic product for extreme parallel offset, this torsionally stiff

International Rectifier, IR® (NYSE: IRF), a world leader in power management technology, today introduced the AUIRF7739L2 and AUIRF7665S2 automotive DirectFET®2 power MOSFETs that deliver exceptional power density, dual-sided cooling and low parasitic inductance and resistance in a robust, reliable and AEC-Q101 qualified package for automotive applications. These first automotive DirectFET2 devices from IR are entirely lead-free and offer overall system level size and cost reductions along with superior performance and efficiency when compared to traditional standard plastic packaged components. “The AUIRF7739L2 and the AUIRF7665S2 combine the outstanding reliability and performance of the proven DirectFET packaging technology with IR’s latest trench silicon process. The new DirectFET2 devices may be optimized by application for next-generation vehicle platforms for ultra-low on-state resistance (RDS(on)), gate charge (Qg) or logic level operation to deliver dramatically improved

The CSR Series resistors can be specified as direct equivalents to products from other leading suppliers but are available on much shorter lead times – typically four to six weeks – and in minimum order quantities as low as a single reel. Key features of the CSR Series include excellent overall stability, tight tolerances down to ± 0.1% and extremely low TCR (temperature coefficient of resistance) down to ± 10%ppm/ºC. The resistors are rated up to 1W. CSR series resistors can be supplied to meet practically every resistance range requirement from 1Ω to 10MΩ. Operating temperature range is -55ºC to +155ºC.

Advantech'sIndustrial Automation Group (IAG) have launched two new Embedded Automation Computers, UNO-3072A and UNO-3074A with Intel® Atom™ D510 processor. Both models feature 2GB DDR2 RAM with an integrated RAID 0/1 controller for two 2.5” SATA HDD'sand an external SATA port for additional storage. Rated to work in temperatures ranging from -10 ~ 60°C (14 to 140°F) and with shock/vibration absorbers for data storage security, they are ideal for many machine automation and warehouse tasks. In addition, the UNO-3072A and UNO-3074A are designed with 2 x Gigabit Ethernet ports to fulfill EtherCAT and Real-Time OS requirements; 4 x external USB 2.0 ports and 1 x internal USB port, VGA display, I/O programmable LED indicators, isolated DI/DO, and 2 /4 x PCI slots respectively for versatile peripherals. They also include 2 x RS-232/422/485 serial ports with support for any baud rate, which enables their use in applications which require specific baud rates. Their IEEE 1394b conne

Advantech, a leading global embedded computing and intelligent applications provider, proudly announces the emergence of SOM-5790, with 2nd generation Intel® Core™ i7/i5/i3 processor on COM.0 R2.0 type 2 pin-out. It is equipped with most advanced high-end constitution. Type 2 pin-out and legacy I/O support make customer enjoy easy migration without too much effort. The high performance SOM-5790 COM-Express Basic module is suitable for high-end industrial applications, such as telecom, medical, gaming, military and video surveillance. State-of-the-art Processing Capability SOM-5790 adopts 2nd generation Intel® Core™ i7/i5/i3 solution, the highest performance platform among Intel low power product line on COM module. This platform is outstanding for first quad core SKU and great performance improvement from previous platform. Therefore, SOM-5790 is especially suitable for high-end application demanding for better CPU performance and intense graphic, such as telecom, medical, gaming,

Advantech (TWSE: 2395.TW), a global embedded computing leader providing embedded platform solutions, today revealed its development of a new, RISC-based, Computer-on-Module (COM) integrating ARM Cortex-A8 1GHz Freescale i.MX53 series high performance, and ultra low power SoC and intensive I/O solution chips. The ROM-1210 uses onboard 512MB DDR3, 2GB Flash supporting OpenGL ES 2.0, OpenVG™ 1.1 hardware 2D/3D accelerators; ROM-1210 also supports a full HD 1080p video decoding and HD 720p video encoding hardware engine.  Advantech ROM-1210 is designed for low power consumption around 0.8 Watt (with standard, full-run at 1.8 Watts). These heatsink-free designs and full HD functions are ideal for various low-power applications in HMI/Signage, industrial automation, cloud computing and portable applications. Now ROM-1210 is an Android2.3-, and Embedded Linux2.6-, Windows® Embedded Compact 7 solution-ready platform. RTX COM Form Factor for Next-Generation Compact Embedded Computer Applica

Advantech, the embedded platform and integration services provider, is proud to announce that its SOM-7562 COM-Express Mini CPU Module, MIO-5270 MI/O-Compact Extension SBC, MIO-2260 MI/O-Ultra Extension SBC, PCM-3363 Rugged PCI-104 CPU Board and AIMB-213 Mini-ITX Motherboard, have each been recognized witha "2012 Taiwan Excellence" award. The Taiwan Excellence Awards were setup in 1992 to encourage the best innovation, value, quality and design in new products. Featuring unique industrial designs, plus the added value of integration with intelligent software APIs, and minimized thermal performance, these five embedded products were chosen for the outstanding usability they present to system integrators. The Taiwan Excellence Award program has been going strong for over 20 years, and is highly regarded among industry insiders for highlighting the most innovative and exciting new product releases each year. The 2012 winners were announced in late December, 2011. According t

Master Bond Polymer System EP65HT-1 represents a breakthrough in epoxy adhesive technology in that it features the unusual combination of ultra-fast cures and high temperature resistance. While typical fast setting epoxies normally possess glass transition temperatures below 85°C, EP65HT-1 has an amazing Tg of over 125°C. In addition, unlike the typical fast cure epoxies, EP65HT-1 retains fast setup times even when mixed in relatively small masses. EP65HT-1 normally will setup in 3-5 minutes in 10 to 20 gram masses. Full cure normally occurs within a few hours with exceptionally high tensile shear strengths approaching 3,000 psi. Service temperature range is 60°F to +400°F. EP65HT-1 offers superior electrical insulating properties and a strong chemical resistance profile. EP65HT-1 has now been qualified to meet NASA low outgassing specifications. EP65HT-1 bonds well to a wide variety of substrates including metals, glass, ceramics, woods, vulcanized rubbers and many pl