The pitch control of wind turbines is based today on PD or PID controllers. Due to the nonlinear behaviour of the turbines, the design of these controllers is usually a very time-consuming affair. The use of fuzzy controllers in future promises a faster and more efficient procedure.

Steve Mackay of IDC Technologies reflects on what it means to have, and to be, a good mentor.

Optimising the wastewater treatment process using analytical sensors with automated cleaning is a cost-effective way to reduce maintenance, improve efficiency and ensure measurement accuracy.

Extremely high furnace temperatures and increasing water leakage are the main causes of the eruptions in electric submerged arc furnaces. Using a gas analyser to detect small water leaks has helped improve safety at TEMCO's Tasmanian manganese ferroalloy plant.

By now, Stuxnet has become well known as the computer malware worm that allegedly infected Iranian organisations in 2010, most notably those plants alleged to be used for uranium enrichment. But regardless of its original purpose, Stuxnet now proves that insufficient IT security opens automation networks to a clear and present threat.

Clean water and green energy technology from Global Water Engineering (GWE) has been used by Chokyuenyong Industrial in Thailand to cut effluent COD pollution levels at its cassava production plant by more than 95%.

Energy harvesting is the process by which energy (ambient, motion, wind, light), derived from external sources, is captured and stored to supply power for low-energy electronics. Ambient energy is available in abundance in the process industry and it is here that energy harvesting is beginning to make its mark.

Graham Moss from the IICA discusses the problems of knowledge drain in the instrumentation and automation profession and how training can help.

In most process industries, the management of energy consumption has become a high priority in recent years. But standalone and ad hoc efforts to manage energy will not achieve the results that can be achieved when a comprehensive life cycle approach is used.

Nyrstar was looking for cost-effective methods of preserving its existing hardware and programming investment while extending component life and improving the manufacturing process.

Recent security incidents such as the Stuxnet worm that attacked Siemens WinCC and PCS7 systems in Iran and the remote sabotage of a Texas power utility are a wake-up call for the industrial automation industry. We continue our article from last month with a more in-depth look at the concept of ‘defence in depth’.

Feed Energy, based in Sioux City, Iowa, has been the premier supplier of high-quality liquid feed solutions for livestock and poultry for nearly 25 years. The company specialises in premium vegetable oil production.

Designing with magnetostrictive sensors opens many options. Engineers are increasingly finding that magnetostrictive linear position sensors can replace their linear encoders in applications while improving productivity and reducing cost of ownership.

Proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controllers are ubiquitous. Designing and tuning them may appear simple in theory, but it can be difficult and time consuming in practice. Using model-based design, the development process can be improved by systematically designing, testing and implementing PID controllers on programmable logic controllers (PLCs), programmable automation controllers (PACs) and microprocessors.

For the past decade, industrial control systems administrators and engineers wanted to believe that ‘air gaps’ truly existed between their systems and the rest of the world. They have also hoped that ‘security by obscurity’ would keep them safe from security threats. Those days are over...