5 control trends engineers cannot ignore

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Excerpt: Engineers should be taking advantage of at least five trends forming in the control industry, says S. Arves Stolpe, a product manager with National Instruments, Austin, Texas (ni.com). Stolpe says that drivers for the trends come from ideas such as the notion that complexity translates to value. “ …

Hybrid power train drives this cool cat when wind cannot

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Excerpt: A hybrid power train in the world’s largest plug-in, hybrid-electric sailboat – a 60-ft Tag Yachts catamaran, will let it run on wind-generated electricity stored in lithium-ion batteries. Christened Tang at her September 21 launching, the carbon-fiber cat is undergoing tests at Tag faciliti …

Alarm for power plant asset management

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Excerpt: An array of different protocols, custom software, and legacy devices were necessary in the past to exchange information in large production facilities such as wind farms. What’s more, many information users in a variety of locations made for inefficient systems. To fix the problem, a manufacturer …

Tiny capacitors store 6,600 µf at 25 V

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Excerpt: A manufacturer of advanced passive components and interconnect solutions, has developed a wet electrolytic tantalum module that provides high capacitance values of up to 6,600 μf at 25 V, and up to 450 μf at 125 rated volts, while saving board space. Developed using several of AVX's patented h …

Energy Storage Conference in Phoenix, Jan. 12 to 13

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Excerpt: Conference production company Marcus Evans will host the Electric Energy Storage Conference, Jan. 12 to 13, 2011 in Phoenix, Ariz. More than 16 industry experts will provide insights on best practices for energy storage, share results of research and design projects and explain how to integrate stor …

A few guidelines for choosing encoders

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Excerpt: Reprint Info >> Encoders play vital roles on wind turbine equipment but the environment is not always kind to them. A few guidelines help get the most from the devices. Modern wind turbines use a number of controls to maximize operating parameters as well as ensure safety o …

Terminal blocks for distributed controls

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Excerpt: A manufacturer of power transmission and control signal products offers a terminal block series for distributed control system marshalling applications. Weidmuller’s WMF 2.5 (Weidmuller Multi Function) is said to simplify wiring, reduce required cabinet space, and expand wire routing and signa …

The Switch launches next-generation full-power converter series

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Excerpt: Finnish-based company, The Switch, has launched its next-generation full-power converter series for the wind industry. Reliability is a key upgrade on The Switch's new power converter. According to the company, "the goal for each new converter is to continuously produce high-quality energy fo …

Power storage company appoints new CEO

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Excerpt: The Silicon Valley is home to the electrical storage company Deeya Energy, a manufacturer of the L-Cell battery. It’s based on a NASA development in the early 70s as a potential energy storage method for long-term space flights. Deeya is experienced in industrial power, energy storage, tele …

Contactless slip rings transmit power and data

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Excerpt: Wireless sliprings from PowerbyProxi are based on inductively coupled power transfer technology. Inductive-power transfer applies the scientific principle of electromagnetic inductance. The patented Proxi-Wave lets these sliprings achieve high efficiencies by using wireless power transfer that c …