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Motion Control
Round-Up
News and Views from the World
of Automation.
February, 2008
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Some things just seem to fall into four year cycles: U.S. elections,
the Olympics and leap years. One peculiarity of the leap year is that
no year that is divisible by 100 is a leap year (unless it is divisible by
400). Following this rule, 2000 was a leap year, but 1900 was not.
All of this fiddling with the calendar comes about because it takes
365 days, 5 hours 48 minutes and 46 seconds for the earth to travel around
the sun. Thanks are due to the ancient Egyptians who figured this out
and made the first adjustments. So enjoy the extra day this year knowing
that it will help keep us in tune with the sun for the next four
years. |
| Reminder |
This is the last month for our WiFi contest. Those of you
who missed it last month have another chance. Just email me your
description of a clever application for our SwiftComm wireless encoder
interface and you'll be entered into our contest for this nifty WiFi -
detecting T-Shirt. The winner will be announced in next month's
newsletter. To read more about the Swiftcomm interface, click the logo,
above.
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| Don't Panic |
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This is a story that I just can't pass
up. You can file this under Crime Scene Investigations in the Real
World. I've taken this straight from our applications desk, edited for
space.
"Yesterday I received a call from
investigators with the CSX railroad in Florida wanting to know more about a
device they found on the railroad tracks that they assumed was a bomb.
Apparently when spotted, an immediate halt of all trains was made as it was
assumed this was possibly a bomb placed near the tracks by
terrorists!"
They found a BEI sticker on the device and called to find out just what
this item was. With the info they gave me and our great CATCH tracking
system, I provided the details and informed them it was indeed not a bomb
but an encoder that probably fell off a locomotive. I informed them the only
thing this thing might do is outgas in the hot Florida sun.
From the info I provided they called the company and confirmed it had
fallen off an Amtrak locomotive. They were very impressed with the detail
and expediency of info I was able to provide on such a short notice, and
very relieved they didn't have a bomb in their hands!!!
Below is a picture of the deadly encoder bomb they found on the
tracks!!!!
I guess the only thing that could have been better is if it was one of
our explosion proof models - and they had tried to blow it
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| Can You Solve This? |
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We'll, this month's brain exercise is a mathematical puzzle. As I
was building up an H25 model number for a customer and we started
selecting from the possible variations, he asked me, "Just how many
combinations and permutations do you have?". I confessed I was
stumped, so I took it on myself to find out. First of all the
"combinations and permutations" got the better part of my curiosity - so I
decided to find out what the difference was. As it turns out, there is
a significant difference. In a combination of
variables, the order doesn't make any difference: apples, bananas and
oranges is the same fruit salad as bananas, oranges and apples for example.
In a permutation, the order of variables is very important. A
lock with a code of 472 is different from a lock with a code of 742.
So now, I knew that I was looking at permutations and not combinations,
since the order of variables in an encoder model is important.
Looking again at the H25, I started with the H25 (D, E or G) option,
followed by the face mounts (F1, F2, F3, or F4 - remembering that the D
doesn't take a face mount), then the SS (shaft seal - not available with the
G option), number of cyles per turn (213 possibilities here) and so on,
until I finally figured out the answer for the Model H25.
If you want to take a stab at it to see if you get the same number as I
did, then just follow this link to the H25 specification sheet PDF and work through the
calculation yourself. Go ahead, take a minute, I'll wait. When
you're finished, check the answer link below to see how you did. I'll
give you a hint - if you're thinking it's 10,000 to 20,000
possibilities, you'd be way low.
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| Feel Better, Now |
Winter weather can be pretty nasty sometimes. Cold,
windy, icy, snowy and altogether unpleasant. Fortunately, no matter
how bad it gets, chances are you weren't hit as hard as Geneva in January
2005 when the combination of cold weather, high winds and proximity to a
lake caused a rather amazing icy transformation to the surrounding area.  To see a whole lot more of frozen stuff around
the lake, just click on the picture at left. No matter what your
weather has been recently, you should feel pretty good about
having missed this particular ice storm. So check out the link and take the
opportunity to feel a little better about your winter situation. And don't
forget to remind yourself that spring is just around the corner. | |
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Brrrr. I get cold just thinking about it. Don't forget to
email me with your SwiftComm contest entries. We want to help you in
your motion control projects so contact us whether you're just getting
started or you're in the middle of it. 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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