The Ultimate Smart Grid
When I think of smart grids, one of the first things to pop into my mind is Keanu Reeves dodging bullets in The Matrix. That was the ultimate smart grid! We’re not even close to that, but with the internet, we are becoming more and more connected. Everyday, there are new initiatives to connect us to others and to connect machines to other machines.
PC Based Process Control
I was cleaning up over the holidays and came across a couple articles that I had saved from earlier in 2009. I’m sure you’ll find them interesting. Both articles describe how people are taking PC based automation to the next level to reduce cost and integration time.
Pressure Cooker
One of the vivid memories from my childhood is working in the garden picking vegetables. We lived on a farm and it was common to have a big garden. My mother would can all types of food, such as tomatoes, pickles and green beans. Part of this canning process involved boiling the jars of food in a pressure cooker. The release valve, with its hot hissing steam escaping, always intrigued me.
Canning food in the kitchen is a relatively simple process and easily controlled by the cook, but there are many other applications where it makes sense to automate the process. Read the rest of this entry »
Mac vs PC
PC based automation doesn’t need to be difficult. Some application user interfaces are terribly complicated and take forever to learn. Often, even the simple interfaces prove difficult because they make some features impossible to use so that other features are simple.
I see this all the time in products. The Mac vs PC battle (which is really Apple vs Microsoft) is a perfect example. Read the rest of this entry »
We made the trip to Chicago (Rosemont) last week to visit the Design & Manufacturing Midwest show. I did my due diligence the night before and printed directions and maps which looked fairly straight forward. Up I-65 to I-94 to I-294 and exit on River Rd. right at the convention center.
Unfortunately, I was distracted with the frequent toll stops and road construction. When I started seeing signs for Milwaukee, I began to worry. Read the rest of this entry »
2009 Golden Mousetrap Finalist
Earlier this year, we entered the Expert I/O 1000 in the 2009 Design News Golden Mousetrap contest. Today, we are proud to announce that it was selected as a finalist in the Test & Measurement category. It’s a great honor to be standing shoulder to shoulder with the likes of Agilent, National Instruments and ABB who also attained top positions in the same category.
For more than two decades, the Design News Awards Program has recognized engineering innovation and creativity in product design. This year, Golden Mousetrap awards were given in four major categories: Electronics, Motion Control/Automation, Hardware/Software, Materials/Fastening/Joining/Assembly, and 20 subcategories. Design News gathered a record number of entries, distributing them to their beat editors for judging. Based on the editors’ expertise in each technology area, 71 finalists and 23 winners were selected. Read the rest of this entry »
Design World August 2009
Dajac recently published a press release describing the Expert I/O 1000. As has been the case time and again, we received a very positive response. It was published on no less than 13 technical magazine web sites (listed below) and this month, it was included in print for the first time. The August 2009 edition of Design World magazine gave it more than a fourth of a page!
To celebrate this milestone, we are offering special pricing for a limited time. Mention Design World magazine during your Expert I/O 1000 purchase and receive a 25% discount. You’ll have to act quick. This offer only lasts through September 8th, 2009. Read the rest of this entry »
Understand Your Options
Most people believe USB connections are constrained to 5 meters from the PC. In PC based automation projects they toil with PC and device placement.
It’s never been easier to free yourself from this restriction. Read the rest of this entry »
In TIED IN KNOTS – A Must-Have Guide to Untangling USB Extension Options for PC Based Automation, I discussed several methods for extending the USB connection between the computer and the device. While these solutions exist, not all of them are easy to find. Here are a few product links for each solution. Read the rest of this entry »
Expert I/O Timing
I often get questions about the Expert I/O 1000’s access time characteristics. The short answer is that you can change outputs at a rate of 100Hz and you can read inputs at 50Hz. However, the complete answer is more complicated.
When dealing with MS Windows on a PC, it’s not possible to get absolute realtime results. You will always have some variability in timing. However, Dajac’s USB implementation directly associates the timing to guaranteed values in the USB specification. Therefore, we know the guaranteed worst case access times at the USB level. Read the rest of this entry »
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"The I/O controller looks pretty cool...it would be handy for prototypes."
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Swiss TTP
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"The Expert I/O is an easy to use configurable device for testing
automation and rapid turn times. It also features two convenient DC
motor controllers for any additional needs one might have."
Quentin Kramer
Hardware Engineer
