Connectivity: Control Product Insights for the OEM

Underwriters Laboratories (UL) is a global safety certification company that sets rigorous standards for myriad industry components to meet. Within the manufacturing sector, UL requirements help business leaders ensure safety, security, quality, confidence, and sustainability at every touchpoint. With specific guidelines in place that dictate what tests to perform and metrics to meet, employees around the world are better able to identify discrepancies while ensuring performance levels remain high. Today, we're taking a closer look at the UL standards around industrial electrical control components. While end users should keep a full-length copy on hand to reference, we'll provide a high-level overview of the major sections to initiate new users. Ready to learn more? Let's go!

Have you ever felt that vague sense of reassurance when seeing a logo or seal of approval on a product? Have you ever stopped to think about what kind of information these seals represent? Not sure if your brand needs these certifications? If you're not sure if the product you're manufacturing needs this seal and why, you're not alone. When it comes to UL certification, it's worth it to stop and understand what those seals mean and how they can benefit you.

As open-source electronic prototyping platforms such as Arduino, BeagleBone, and Raspberry Pi continue to widen the realm of possibilities for digital device and interactive object development, there's more interest than ever before in microcontrollers and their related components. Yet, this industry is so nuanced that it's easy to confuse microcontrollers with their larger-scale counterparts, Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs). Similar in nature but stronger in capacity, PLCs offer myriad of benefits and uses in their own right. Read more as we delve into the difference between microcontrollers and PLCs.

If you work with electrical controls, it's important to be up-to-date on the guidelines and standards that help guide this industry and keep it safe. Yet, with all of the compliance boards and regulatory requirements to follow, it can be difficult to understand the nuances. This blog teaches you the importance of the National Electric Code.

The first PLC was introduced in the late 1960s. A programmable logic controller is an industrial computer. It is designed to help in the control of manufacturing processes. The automobile sector was the first industry to deploy PLCs into its operations. Their aim was to replace the hardwired relays and timers with programmable and flexible controllers. Since then, PLCs have been broadly adopted as the standard automation control system in discrete manufacturing industries. This article will discuss the history of PLC programming and how it has evolved over the years.

Relay logic, ladder logic, and ladder diagrams all refer to the way we organize an electrical circuit. Relay logic’s ladder diagrams used physical contacts, coils, switches, and lots of other devices for every single function on a machine. As time went on, changes to logic programming and mechanical failures caused engineers to look for a digital alternative. Early relay diagram symbols were literal interpretations of physical relay panels.