TILI Automation

 MQTT is an acronym for Message Queuing Telemetry Transport. It is a lightweight, publish-subscribe, machine to machine network protocol for message queue / message queuing service1. It is designed for connections with remote locations that have devices with resource constraints or limited network bandwidth, such as in the Internet of Things (IoT) . MQTT was created by Andy Stanford-Clark (IBM) and Arlen Nipper (then working for Eurotech, Inc.) in 1999. It was used to monitor oil pipelines within the SCADA industrial control system 1. The goal was to have a protocol that is bandwidth-efficient, lightweight and uses little battery power, because the devices were connected via satellite link which, at that time, was extremely expensive. MQTT is based on a client-server architecture, where a message broker acts as a server that receives all messages from the clients and then routes the messages to the appropriate destination clients . MQTT uses a publish-subscribe model, where clients...

 In this post, we will learn the concept of IO-Link in smart manufacturing. Four Generations of Automation Currently, in industrial automation, the fourth generation of technology is evolving and being used. There are four generations of automation. The first revolution (1.0) dealt with shifting work from manual labor to systems working by steam-powered or water-powered engines and other machine tools. The second revolution (2.0) involved the use of steel and electricity in industries. Due to electrification, a huge amount of efficiency was increased and systems became more reliable. During this phase, production in assembly lines was started. In the third revolution (3.0), the use of computers, PLCs, robotics, digital automation, and networks played a bigger role in increasing and controlling production to a great extent. Now, the fourth revolution (4.0) has taken the third generation to a new level through the use of IoT (Internet of Things), cyber security, real-time data access...

 In this post, we will learn the features of SCADA which are a must in an IoT system. You are working on an industrial automation project and you will surely require a SCADA for that. Many times, we get confused as to what is the right SCADA that needs to be chosen for an application. Because there are many factors involved and ignoring even any one of them will surely cause a hurdle in the performance. You have set your machine mechanically and electrically; but if you have chosen the wrong SCADA for the same, then the design is of no use. So, it is important to select the right SCADA for the application, and for that, it is necessary to understand the various criteria involved in it. Features of Scada in IoT System One thing to note is that in this time of the fourth industrial revolution, there are some general features of SCADA that must be considered when you are choosing the right system. It is wrong that if you are provided with all the basic features, then you have selected...

 IoT is a trending topic for the best part of the last decade or so. It is a network of a number of devices that can communicate with each other and control a bunch of things. The communication part is where MQTT comes into play. It helps in sending/receiving messages between “IoT” devices in a publish – subscribe model. But what is MQTT? How it Works? Why we use MQTT in IoT Projects? We will get answers to all these questions regarding MQTT in this guide. An important note before we proceed further is that this guide is just the theory behind MQTT but not a practical implementation. If you are interested, we can make a few IoT Projects involving MQTT that includes how to setup MQTT. What is MQTT? Internet of Things or IoT is simply a combination of computing devices, sensors, actuators, wireless communication and communication protocols. The goal of IoT is to connect a group of devices (known as ‘things’) to the internet and exchange data between them. Now imagine we have setup an...

 An ON/OFF Valve is the fluid equivalent of an electrical switch, a device that either allows unimpeded flow or acts to prevent flow altogether. These valves are often used for routing process fluid to different locations, starting and stopping batch processes, and engaging automated safety (shutdown) functions. What is ON/OFF Valve ? Valve styles commonly used for on/off service include ball, plug, butterfly (or disk), gate, and globe. Large on/off valves are generally of such a design that the full-open position provides a nearly unimpeded path for fluid to travel through. Ball, plug, and gate valves provide just this characteristic: A plug valve is very much like a ball valve, the difference being the shape of the rotating element. Rather than a spherical ball, the plug valve uses a truncated cone as the rotary element, a slot cut through the cone serving as the passageway for fluid. The conical shape of a plug valve’s rotating element allows it to wedge tightly into the “closed...

 A sensor is an input device that provides a usable output in response to the input measurand. A sensor is also commonly called a sensing element, primary sensor, or primary detector. The measurand is the physical parameter to be measured. An input transducer produces an electrical output that is representative of the input measurand. Its output is conditioned and ready for use by the receiving electronics like PLC or DCS. The receiving electronics can be an indicator, controller, computer, PLC, DCS etc. The term “transmitter,” as commonly used with industrial process control instrumentation, has a more narrow definition than those of a sensor or transducer: 4-20 mA Transmitter A transmitter is a transducer that responds to a measured variable by means of a sensing element and converts it to a standardized transmission signal (like 4-20mA) that is a function only of the measured variable. Transmitters can have any of several electrical connection schemes. The most common and easiest...