FEATURE DRIVES & CONTROLS TIME TO RAISE THE BAR
With only weeks to go until the Drives & Controls exhibition (NEC Hall 3/3A, Birmingham, 8th-10th April), the free to attend event will cover the very latest in mechanical power transmission, motion control and automation from over 300 leading companies from around the globe. Automation magazine takes a closer look at what to expect
W
ith both the exhibitor and visitor numbers expected to exceed those of
the 2012 show, this year’s Drives & Controls exhibition (co-located with complementary shows Plant & Asset Management and Air-Tech, together with the Fluid Power & Systems Exhibition, and the newly launched European Offshore & Energy Exhibition, as well as MACH), will have an awful lot to offer visitors. Just some of the equipment, systems
and services offered by these companies will include motors, drives, machine safety, sensors, programmable controllers, inverters, motion controls, repairs and maintenance, gear, brakes, clutches and couplings, displays and meters, and test and measurement.
SEMINAR PROGRAMME Complementing the exhibitions will be a programme of free technical seminars, with speakers offering insight and practical advice on important issues. New to Drives &
Controls will be the Motor Driven Systems (MDS) programme, which brings together the strands of legislation, standardisation, system strategies and technological developments that affect motor driven systems. Featuring representatives from the government, the EU, research bodies, trade associations, manufacturers and end users, MDS focuses on solutions to real life industry requirements. Electric motor driven systems comprise a
massive 40% of the world’s total electricity consumption. Despite this, many businesses are unaware of the technologies available that have the potential to significantly reduce their energy costs. MDS presents a series of live events that focus on ways to make these huge savings a reality by applying a systems engineering approach to reduce energy, improve performance and ultimately save money. Drives & Controls’ exhibition sales
director, Doug Devlin, commented, “The impressive visitor numbers for Drives & Controls and its co-located shows in 2012 confirmed increasing growth and confidence within manufacturing and engineering. The high level of attendance was also a reflection of the continued commitment by industry to support these important biennial events.” Ian Atkinson, managing director of event organiser, DFA Media, commented, “For 2014 we will build on the success of our
Above: complementing the exhibitions will be a full programme of free technical seminars, with speakers offering expert insight and practical advice on important and topical issues
2012 shows by further improving the look and layout of each exhibition within our co-location of events, as well as making it as easy as possible for visitors to navigate their way around each separate event.”
UKTI UKTI will also feature prominently in the conference and seminar programmes. During its presentations, UKTI will highlight many of the areas it is currently working on and the levels of success it is currently achieving for UK businesses. Jim Feeney, head of UKTI’s Advanced
Below: this year’s Drives & Controls event at the NEC will exceed both the exhibitor and visitor numbers of the 2012 show
New high performance controller
At the Drives & Controls exhibition WAGO will be showcasing its recently launched PFC 200 controller. Based on a real time Linux operating system, WAGO’s new PFC200 controller provides a high level of computing power in minimum space via Cortex-A8 technology. Well suited for a variety of process industry applications, the PFC200 for the WAGO-I/O SYSTEM 750/753 meets the growing need for space saving controllers, allowing communication with lower and higher level systems and is suitable for standard PLC applications. The controller offers many features - two ETHERNET ports provide communication with other control systems and, depending on the model, additional interfaces are available (e.g. CAN, PROFIBUS, RS-232/RS-485). The CANopen, PROFIBUS DP and Modbus-TCP/-UPD/-RTU protocols provide flexible connection to
fieldbus systems and external input/output devices. Besides multiple interfaces, the PFC200 also features enough memory space for various applications
via internal 256MB flash memory and integrated interface for SD/SDHC cards. A 128kB remanent memory area is also available for non-volatile storage of retain PLC variables. CODESYS software is incorporated for both programming and process visualisation. The integrated web
server allows you to configure and operate the PFC200 easily using web-based management via the network. WAGO
www.wago.com T: 01788 568 008
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Manufacturing Events, commented on the government department’s decision to exhibit and speak at the event, “When event organiser DFA Media approached me to consider whether I should add this event to the portfolio of events in the UK and internationally where UKTI seek to provide a platform for international business to be done and export contracts to be won, I was immediately interested. “The initial approach was based on
UKTI’s role in the oil and gas sector - a sector where we have a significant profile. However, my colleagues and I saw this wide ranging engineering event as offering an opportunity broader than just oil and gas where we already have a very strong and responsive customer base.” Feeney continued, “We felt this event offered the opportunity to reach businesses which were not yet exporting and introduce them to UKTI and engage with existing exporters and introduce them to new markets. We plan to do both at the event.”
Drives & Controls 2014
www.drives-expo.com T: 01732 370 340
S4 MARCH 2014 | DRIVES & CONTROLS
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