Electricity + Control May 2019

round up

CONTROL SYSTEMS + AUTOMATION

Mechatronics Academy supports technical skills training

Polytech Africa, a B-BBEE Level 4 start-up engineering consultancy/ projects and training specialist, has teamed up with leading suppli- er, ElectroMechanica (EM), to establish the Mechatronics Acade- my. The academy will assist in developing the critical skills needed for Industry 4.0 to be adopted successfully in South Africa. At the launch of the academy, Polytech Africa MD and founder, Astrid Straussner stressed that, “Educational institutions cannot be islands; they need the cooperation of both government and the pri- vate sector. This is where EM’s active involvement is so important: it exposes students to the latest products and developments.” The Mechatronics Academy was fast-tracked when EM met Straussner officially about six months ago. EM Director Andrew Nobbs said, “Straussner’s passion and track record in academ- ia and training and her real drive for quality and excellence, was something that resonated with EM. Following that meeting, we formalised the partnership between EM and Polytech Africa.” Straussner said her dream to establish such a specialised train- ing facility was finally realised with the involvement of EM. “The

Mechatronics Academy has come about at just the right time, be- cause Industry 4.0 is here to stay. We must have proper training in place to deliver the skills we will need.” Delivering the keynote address, Department of Higher Educa- tion andTraining (DHET) Director David Mabusela commended the partnership for the launch of the new academy. “This responds to our call for technological innovation to have a more expanded space in the education and training environment,” he said. Mabusela said business has a key role to play in sharing innova- tion and providing training and employment opportunities. “Both the DHET and the Ministry strongly support this venture. It aligns with the main aim of our National Development Plan to stimulate economic growth based on skills development and training.” The Mechatronics Academy is the first training facility of its kind to be accredited by the Manufacturing, Engineering and Re- lated Services Sector Education andTraining Authority (merSETA). It will focus on the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) Level 2, which is based on essential aspects of precision mechanical engineering, electronics and computer design systems used to control and automate mechanical products with electrical signals. EM’s specialised products in this regard include its Delta industrial automation range. On completion of the NQF Level 2 qualification, certificate holders will be able to move into highly skilled sectors such as mechanical and electrical engineering, pneumatics and hydrau- lics, robotics, programmable logic controllers (PLCs), computer numeric control (CNC), industrial information technology (IT), the automotive sector, and precision welding. Enquiries: ElectroMechanica.Tel. +27 (0)11 249 5000, or email karenz@em.co.za

The Mechatronics Academy will focus on NQF Level 2 training and qualifications.

New generation of programmable HMIs

graphical user interface is therefore not created with CODESYS, but exclusively with the visualisation editor TX VisuPro. TX VisuPro is a modern software package for the development of user-friendly graph- ical user interfaces. It supports various drivers which also allow communication with controllers such as those supplied by Siemens, Beckhoff Automation, Rockwell Automation, Schneider Electric and others. Enquiries: BrandonTopham at Turck Banner, email: brandon.topham@turckbanner.co.za

Turck Banner has introduced a new gen- eration of programmable HMIs (human machine interfaces) which include the Pre- mium Line HMI/PLCTX700, theTX207 and TX100 series. The new TX700 series can control and visualise more complex processes and applications than before. With several in- terfaces and an integrated OPC UA server, this series is well set for the future of auto- mation. The TX700 is particularly useful to customers looking for a versatile controller that will serve in different applications to keep stock at manageable levels. Users requiring simple display devices without a control function will also find a solution in the devices of the TX100 series. The TX207 combines the high quality plastic housing of the TX100 series and the powerful new hardware platform of the pre-

mium HMI/PLC devices of theTX700 series. The resistive touch screen of the device is 7’’ diagonal. TheTX207 has two RS232, two RS485, and two CAN interfaces as well as two USB ports. Programming is done us- ing CODESYS V3.5 SP12. Two options are available for creating the visualisation: either CODESYS TargetVisu can be used, or the visualisation editor TX VisuPro. The TX207 has sufficient memory and computing power and the operating system is now a real-time Linux in place of theWindows em- bedded system that is used for theTX500. The TX100 product line includes three new devices with 4”, 7” and 10” screen diagonals and all with resistive touch. The display has an Ethernet interface, a serial interface (RS232, RS422 or RS485) and a USB port. The TX100 devices are pure HMIs without a control function. The

The new generation of HMI/PLCs introduces options for simple or complex processes.

18 Electricity + Control

MAY 2019