Mobile devices have spread everywhere in recent years. Notebooks, tablet computers, and smartphones have become increasingly connected with our daily lives. Extending control to these handheld electronics has become a priority so to increase accessibility.
Using LinPAC and the TouchPAD controller together in the amphitheater along with other modules allows for complete control over the whole system, as well as detailed sensors levels on power consumption, temperature, and humidity. Not only can all this be done through the TouchPAD (connected via HMI to the LinPAC controller), but it can also be done on your mobile phone or computer; the if the LinPAC is connected to a wireless network, it’s as easy as pointing your web browser to the appropriate page to access a control panel. Nor do the TouchPAD and separate device interfere with each other; they can be used separately, one without the other, or together in paralell – and where one makes a change, the other immediately updates its display to reflect as such: a very convenient feature.
The LinPAC-5000 is the heart of the system. It’s a palm-sized Linux-based controller; and as with most Linux systems, it’s easily customizable to give users a great deal of flexibility to meet many different needs.
The LinPAC-5000:
The HMI section online takes into account the cross-platform component by using HTML and Ajax. While Java and Flash, too, compete for dominance in the cross-platform world, there are plenty of examples where using Flash is impractical (iOS being the prime example). A more comprehensive cross-platform solution is reached with the combination of HTML and Ajax, meaning less work pushed into the porting and more in the actual application.
In the post-PC era, mobile phones, tablets, and other devices have crept up to become the general computing machines of the generation. They have started to bridge the disconnect between home automation and personal computing; but to continue this, manufacturers must continue to provide support for mobile devices – a new topic itself in the post-PC age.
Sensors situated in staircases generally rely on the presence of a person in the stairwell in order to trigger the lights. As with the push-button example, any change is transient, so the DI Latch approach is well-employed here to detect changes in the signal to switch on the stairwell lighting.
In terms of the general-use control kit plus housing, implementation costs about 90,000 New Taiwan Dollars ($3,000). For an annual electric bill of 25,000 NTD, ICP DAS estimates as much as 40% savings on energy – typically in the area of 7,000 NTD. This means that one breaks even in about a decade – whereupon the benefits REALLY begin to kick in from the energy savings.
The project is ambitious; its aim is to create a beautiful temple of light and music, complete with a full-features monitoring system to oversee the ten thousand Buddhas on their shelves all around the temple. The controls on the multitude of LED lights must be fine enough to react to the flow of guests entering the hall, to inspire them with a feeling of holiness.
In the Ten thousand Buddha Hall, there are ten thousand statues and ten thousand glass LED lights:
This setup enables customers to control all ten thousand as one, or manipulate each LED (from 0 to 10000) individually, because each I-7045D can control 16 of the LEDs, which makes wiring much easier. More importanlty, sucha solution cut almost half the cost comparing to using PLCs.
ICP DAS R&D team presents the GST-43 seismic switch that’s used to predict and prevent secondary disasters. It’s Can be applied to people’s livelihood, factories, elevators, construction and other occasions
Earthquakes come uninvited and unannounced – and while they may sweep through in a space of seconds, that short period is more than enough to collapse houses, highways, and even critical infrastructure. Floods, droughts, typhoons, and many other natural disasters are considerably easier to brace for – but the earthquake has been a global pain in the side for ages. The secondary disasters that follow earthquakes are sometimes even worse – fires, floods, landslides, illness, and so on. And yet the forces of nature are not entirely beyond human control, provided one takes the proper precautions.
Once again, ICP DAS comes in tights and a cape to the rescue – the R & D team presents the GST-43 seismic switch that’s used to predict and prevent secondary disasters. It’s already used in the elevator industry to make lifts smarter. For example, in case of an earthquake, the elevator controller is made aware of the situation instantly so that it can stop at the nearest floor to let its passengers disembark. The module can also trip additional events per situation, such as cutting off gas / liquid flow in a plant or powering down equipment immediately. These simple things are not so quickly performed by a nervous, quake-shaken crew who are probably all busy ducking and covering – and in the hands of automation the situation need not descend to disaster.
The GST-43 uses STA / LTA earthquake judgement logic to sample analog vibration signals a hundred times per second. A 20Hz low-pass filter is used to remove most of the non-seismic vibration signals to distinguish them from actual earthquakes. A built-in real-time clock provides network time management (via the Network Time Protocol) that allows the GST-43 to instantly display the correct time. It can detect and describe the quake along three axes and remember exactly when the last quake occurred. Quake measurement can be done either in CWD (the Taiwanese system) or GB/T-17742-2008 (the Chinese mainland system); triaxial acceleration vector synthesis is built-in, and the instantaneous maximum acceleration along any of the three axes is easily disseminated. The GST-43 daisy-chains well with existing equipment and can be set to trigger user-defined actions when certain seismic levels are exceeded, such as stopping elevators at their nearest floors, or cutting off gas and electricity, or putting machinery into emergency shutdown. Support for Modbus RTU and Modbus TCP Server protocols make these possible: they allow the GST-43 to be connected directly to computers, PLCs, or human machine interfaces, making the recording of seismic activity and interfacing with other devices much easier.
SSFigure 1: A GST-43 system application architecture diagramdown
When the GST-43 takes on the role of an overseer, it is easily applied in chemical plants to detect earthquakes and immediately. SSA diagram of the complete seismic monitoring system stopper chemical lines to prevent dangerous leakage. Should a chemical tank rupture, its contents could cause serious casualties and invite a slew of tragedy – to say nothing of the paperwork, investigations, and probable lawsuits that follow. Relegating the monitoring to a human is inefficient, inconsistent, unsafe, and wasteful. Such an important task is best given to a failsafe system that responds promptly and safely every time. ICP DAS’s GST-43 rises to the occasion: once a seismic threshold is reached, the corresponding DO (with two DO groups, a sub-start function is easy to implement) to automatically block the chemical lines is started. Because the GST-43 supports Modbus TCP and Modbus RTU communication protocols, it’s easy to integrate into existing systems to ramp up overall control system security. A diagram of the complete seismic monitoring system is shown below:
The GST-43 is one of a myriad of products that ICP DAS provides to meet users’ diverse needs. The DO is easily tweaked to meet any conditions one cares to set, and the switch supports both Modbus TCP and Modbus RTU, making a marriage to PCs / HMIs and ICP DAS PACs are both speedily accomplished. This particular application – to a chemical plant – is summarized by identify the GST-43 as a dependable system that increases the standard of safety in an industrial setting.
ICP DAS’ long-term commitment to earthquake-related product development guarantees that it will continue to provide customers with solutions for a variety of cases. We will strive to keep creating products that both work and integrate well.
