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Motion Control
Round-Up
News and Views from the World
of Automation.
January, 2008
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Welcome to the new year - now wildly
underway! New Year's Day seems so far away already. With the financial
markets in a swirl and a lot of electioneering going on (at least in the US)
2008 is off to rousing start.
In the midst of this activity, let this month's newsletter be your
quiet oasis for the next couple of minutes. Pull up your chair and
prepare to be informed, challenged and entertained. And . . . thanks
for reading. |
| What do YOU know? |
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I like running contests, because our readers are some pretty
clever people and this contest gives you a chance to show off what you
know.
You all remember last November's newsletter when we introduced our New
Swiftcomm
Wireless Encoder Interface. (Click on the Logo above to go to the web
site.) We've had a lot of interest in that product and we thought it
would be fun for YOU to tell us your ideas of how you might be able
to use this wireless interface in your application and win a prize, to
boot.
Entering the contest is simple - you can just send us an email
directly. Be sure to include: your first and last name, your company
name, a detailed description of the application the way it is now (about 100
words) and your explanation of what the Swiftcomm wireless interface
would do for you.
Our esteemed judges will rate the entries based on originality,
practicality and yes, cleverness. We'll be running this contest
starting today and running through the end of March.
The top entries will get a chance to channel their inner geek because
the prize is this very cool WiFi Detector T-Shirt. It lights
up when you are near a WiFi source and can be used to detect networks in the
area. So sharpen your pencils and let's hear back from you. Your
T-Shirt awaits.
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| Some Common
Sense |
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With the current worldwide economic
news, I thought it would be useful to get the perspective of some past views
of how economics works (or doesn't work as the case may
be.)
" Government's view of the economy could be
summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving,
regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it." - Ronald
Reagan
"An economist is a man who knows a hundred ways
of making love but doesn't know any women." - Art Buchwald
"Inflation is when you pay fifteen dollars for
the ten-dollar haircut you used to get for five dollars when you had
hair". - Sam Ewing
"A budget tells us what we can't afford, but it
doesn't keep us from buying it". - William Feather.
"An economist is an expert who will know tomorrow
why the things he predicted yesterday didn't happen today". - Laurence J.
Peter
So before taking the latest government report too
seriously, just remember that whatever the news - it too will
pass. |
| Can You Solve This? |
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Here was a real logic challenge that had us going for a while.
This application used an absolute encoder with an SSI Interface. Units
tested out fine on the bench tests and through initial environmental
testing. Then completed systems were deployed in the field and that's
when problems started showing up. We asked that the encoders be sent
back to us for testing and they tested out fine in our repair
facility. Clearly something was different between the operation
of the encoder on the bench and when it was incorporated into the customer's
system.
It took some extensive discussions with the customer's engineering team
and some on-site trouble shooting, but we finally discovered that the clock
triggering was not stable. It also seemed particularly sensitive to
noise. What to do now?
Answer: The solution is very dependant on the system design, but
in this case there were two things at play. First, a clean-up of the
input wiring to the clock was necessary. The existing cable was
replaced with a low-impedance, twisted pair cable to reduce noise
sensitivity. Another factor was that in between encoder readings,
the customer did not set the clock status to HI. That meant that any
transition on the clock lines could trigger the encoder to start clocking
out data. Taking a reading during that time would result in
gibberish. With the cabling fix and the software fix - the problem
became history. |
| Peak Performance |
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 Some of you may be old enough to remember in 1953
when Tenzing Norgay and Sir Edmund Hillary became the first to stand atop
Mt. Everest. Tenzing died in 1986 and Hillary passed away on January 11th,
2008 - just a few weeks ago. At the time of their ascent, high
altitude and mountaineering technology was relatively primitive by today's
standards. In today's world where we can get caught up in the
day-to-day activities of life and where technology makes it seem like almost
everything is (virtually) possible, it's good to remember that we all stand
on the shoulders of those that came before us and that dared to set
outrageous and seemingly impossible goals. It's a good time to
remember that if we dream big enough, we too can stand at the top of our
world. To read more about these men, and the mountain they climbed -
check out the links, below.
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With those final words, I encourage you to take up the challenge of our
SwiftComm contest, and contact us with your best ideas. We want to
help you to be successful in your motion control projects so feel free to
contact us whether you're just getting started or you're in the middle of
testing. Our applications specialists are here to
help. |
Thanks for reading,
Scott Orlosky
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email: Scott
Orlosky
voice: 805-968-0782
web: http://www.beiied.com
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