Wind-to-H2 plant more efficiency with multilingual controls

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Excerpt: In large facilities such as water treatment and power plants, it’s common to find many different control systems on a range of equipment. The simple programmable logic controllers frequently encountered can operate the equipment, but offer little additional capability. Most vendors pay little a …

Encoders Give Turbine Controls More Data

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Excerpt: To improve the efficiency of large turbines, many operators have turned to a rather small, 58-mm dia. absolute encoder from Denmark’s Leine&Linde. The Model 500 series of Incremental and absolute encoders provide speed and positioning  feedback to controls in nacelles. Siemens wind turbines, …

28-port Ethernet switch configures in the field

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Excerpt: A manufacturer of industrial and commercial machine-to-machine networking equipment has released an industrial managed Ethernet switch platform. The EL228, a 28-port switch from Sixnet Inc, Ballston Lake, N.Y., combines the reliability and redundancy required of demanding industrial environments …

Compact Weather Stations Help Measure the Wind

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Excerpt: Wind is a limited resource. As such, finding areas where one can harvest the most energy from this limited resource is becoming increasingly important in today's power generation market. Proper turbine selection, controls and siting are among the top of the important decisions list. Two years …

Future looks good for wind-turbine controls

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Excerpt: The market for wind-turbine controls is positioned to grow over the next several years due to the volatility in oil costs, a worldwide push for clean energy, favorable government incentives, and available investments funding for this area in the world financial community, according to a recent s …

National Labs and OEMs Have Lots of Ideas, Suggestions for Suppliers

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Excerpt: The recent Wind Power Explained conference, presented at the Design and Manufacture Expo in Chicago, presented a full day of discussions to attendees on topics from the Department of Energy, NREL, Sandia Labs, GE Energy, Northern Wind, and Clipper Windpower. Here’s a sampling: “The DOE re …

Moog slip rings replace an existing design

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Excerpt: A recent slip ring design, which is also a direct replacement for the pitch-control slip ring on GE 1.5 MW series wind turbine, comes from Moog Industrial Group, East Aurora, NY. The AC7008 slip ring provides reliable transmission of power and data signals for the rotating blades from the con …

Think proportional flow for blade-pitch control

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Excerpt: To provide smooth and consistent power outputs, wind-turbine manufacturers use hydraulics to set the “pitch” of the rotor blade. The Eaton Vickers KB range of proportional flow control valves from Eaton’s Hydraulics Operations, Eden Prairie, Minn., has been the frequently selected valve to …

Controller for welding equipment

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Excerpt: The XM Controller for NC welding comes from AMET Inc, Rexburg, Idaho, along with a set of precision control modules. The controller is a blend of control electronics, a bright graphical operator display, and seamless expandability. It uses AMET’s advanced DSP and microprocessor electronics, an …

Moog acquires servodrives and backup power company

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Excerpt: After taking a 40% ownership stake in privately held LTi REEnergy GmbH last June, Moog Inc, East Aurora, NY, has acquired the remaining 60% of the Germany-based company . The deal lets Moog acquire two manufacturing and testing facilities, one in Unna, Germany and the other in Shanghai, China, a …