Product News

St. Louis, MO, USA (March 17, 2003)- Watlow Electric Manufacturing Company will introduce several new products for the heating, sensing and control of plastics at NPE 2003.

Watlow's new SERIES SD controller with Palm^TM PDA interface capability provides a totally new and unique control option for extruders. This product provides accurate, reliable and cost-effective temperature control. A special extrusion heat/cool algorithm is built in to the SERIES SD for tighter control of the extruding process.

Watlow's Windows^® based HMI (Human/Machine Interface) software, WATVIEW, can be used to setup, monitor and edit the values of controller parameters, to monitor and manage alarms and to log and graph process data. The dual display available on all models allow for better recognition of process changes. The SERIES SD controller offers advanced features such as an infrared wireless input to provide easy to use controller setup and monitoring, and smart sensor technology. EIA 485 Modbus^TM serial communications are utilized, enabling Ethernet/Internet connectivity that allows an instantaneous exchange of information between processing equipment and a customers management system.

With pre-loaded InstantHMI software, any Palm^TM handheld PDA device can be used to remotely program and control the Watlow SERIES SD controller. This offers molders and extruders a new level of convenience by providing handheld control of their process.

SERIES SD controllers are available in 1/32nd, 1/16th, 1/8th and 1/4 DIN panel mount sizes. They include universal sensor input and up to three outputs for maximum application versatility. The outputs can be programmed for temperature control or to operate as process or deviation alarms.

In addition to the SERIES SD controller, Watlow will introduce its new INFOSENSE^TM sensor technology at NPE. When coupled with the SERIES SD controller, the sensor accuracy is improved more than 50% over standard sensors. This is particularly significant to those plastics companies processing temperature sensitive materials, engineering resins or thermoset materials.

In addition to these new products, Watlow will also feature the following at NPE: