Knowledge Base
Technical guides, tutorials, and in-depth articles on industrial automation and engineering.
What Is a PLC? A Complete Guide to Programmable Logic Controllers
An in-depth guide to programmable logic controllers covering PLC architecture, programming languages, applications, and how PLCs compare to DCS and PAC systems.
January 15, 2025
SCADA System Architecture: Design Principles and Best Practices
A technical guide to SCADA system architecture covering network topologies, redundancy strategies, ISA-101 graphics, alarm management, and cybersecurity considerations.
February 1, 2025
Industrial Robot Types: A Guide to Articulated, SCARA, Delta, and Cobots
A comprehensive guide to industrial robot types covering articulated, SCARA, delta, cartesian, and collaborative robots with application examples and selection criteria.
February 20, 2025
OPC UA: The Standard for Industrial Communication and Interoperability
A technical guide to OPC UA (Unified Architecture) covering its architecture, security model, information modeling, and role in Industry 4.0 and IIoT integration.
March 1, 2025
Functional Safety: IEC 62061 vs ISO 13849 — Which Standard to Use?
A practical guide to functional safety standards comparing IEC 62061 and ISO 13849, covering risk assessment, SIL vs PL, and safety system design methodology.
March 5, 2025
Siemens TIA Portal: Complete Engineering Guide
Comprehensive guide to Siemens TIA Portal covering project setup, PLC programming, HMI development, drive integration, and library management.
January 29, 2025
Allen-Bradley ControlLogix Programming with Studio 5000
Step-by-step guide to ControlLogix programming in Studio 5000 covering project organization, AOIs, UDTs, produced/consumed tags, and redundancy.
February 8, 2025
ABB RobotStudio: Offline Programming and Virtual Commissioning
Guide to ABB RobotStudio for offline robot programming, path optimization, collision detection, and virtual commissioning of robotic workcells.
February 18, 2025
Schneider EcoStruxure Control Expert: Modicon Programming Guide
Complete guide to Schneider Electric EcoStruxure Control Expert for Modicon M340 and M580 PLC programming, including unity conversion.
February 28, 2025
Mitsubishi GX Works3 and iQ-R Series Programming Guide
Programming guide for Mitsubishi iQ-R series PLCs using GX Works3 covering structured projects, FB libraries, CC-Link IE, and motion integration.
March 10, 2025
Beckhoff TwinCAT 3: PC-Based Control Development Guide
Complete TwinCAT 3 guide covering PLC programming, motion control, TwinCAT Vision, EtherCAT configuration, and C++ integration.
March 20, 2025
CODESYS V3.5 Programming Tutorial for Independent PLCs
Tutorial for CODESYS V3.5 development environment covering application structure, visualization, OPC UA server, and multi-vendor deployment.
March 30, 2025
FANUC ROBOGUIDE: Robot Simulation and Offline Programming
Guide to FANUC ROBOGUIDE for robot simulation, offline TP program creation, interference checking, and cycle time estimation.
April 9, 2025
Honeywell Experion PKS Architecture and Configuration Guide
Technical guide to Honeywell Experion PKS distributed control system architecture, controller configuration, and operator display development.
April 19, 2025
Emerson DeltaV DCS: System Configuration and Control Strategy Guide
Comprehensive guide to Emerson DeltaV distributed control system including IO configuration, control module development, and batch management.
April 29, 2025
Yokogawa CENTUM VP Configuration and Engineering Guide
Engineering guide for Yokogawa CENTUM VP DCS covering function block programming, HMI builder, alarm management, and Vnet/IP networking.
May 9, 2025
Omron Sysmac Studio: NJ/NX Controller Programming Guide
Programming guide for Omron NJ and NX controllers using Sysmac Studio, covering EtherCAT setup, motion integration, and vision configuration.
May 19, 2025
IEC 61131-3 Programming Languages Compared: LD vs ST vs FBD
Detailed comparison of IEC 61131-3 PLC programming languages with use cases, performance considerations, and platform-specific implementations.
May 24, 2025
ISA-88 Batch Control: Implementation Guide for Process Manufacturing
Practical guide to implementing ISA-88 (S88) batch control in process industries covering physical model, procedural model, and recipe management.
May 29, 2025
High-Performance HMI Design: ISA-101 Best Practices
Design guide for high-performance operator displays following ISA-101 and ASM Consortium guidelines for improved situational awareness.
June 3, 2025
EtherCAT Network Design and Troubleshooting Guide
Technical guide to EtherCAT industrial network design covering topology options, distributed clocks, diagnostic tools, and performance optimization.
June 8, 2025
PROFINET Network Design: Architecture and Best Practices
PROFINET network architecture guide covering RT vs IRT, media redundancy (MRP), network segmentation, and device configuration.
June 13, 2025
EtherNet/IP Network Architecture for Industrial Automation
EtherNet/IP network design guide covering DLR topology, implicit vs explicit messaging, CIP safety, and integration with IT infrastructure.
June 18, 2025
Servo Drive Sizing and Selection: A Practical Guide
Engineering guide to servo motor and drive sizing covering load analysis, inertia matching, speed-torque curves, and regenerative energy management.
June 23, 2025
PLC to Cloud Connectivity: Protocols, Gateways, and Architectures
Guide to connecting PLCs and SCADA systems to cloud platforms using MQTT, OPC UA, REST APIs, and edge gateways for IIoT data collection.
June 28, 2025
Alarm Management per ISA 18.2: Design and Rationalization Guide
Practical guide to alarm management following ISA 18.2 covering alarm philosophy, rationalization, prioritization, and performance monitoring.
July 3, 2025
IEC 62443 Cybersecurity for Industrial Automation Systems
Implementation guide for IEC 62443 cybersecurity standard covering zones, conduits, security levels, and practical controls for OT environments.
July 8, 2025
PackML State Machine Implementation for Packaging Machinery
Guide to implementing ISA-TR88.00.02 PackML state machines in packaging equipment for standardized machine control and OEE reporting.
July 13, 2025
UL 508A Industrial Control Panel Design Guide
Complete UL 508A design guide covering short-circuit current rating, wire sizing, overcurrent protection, enclosure selection, and labeling requirements.
July 18, 2025
IEC 61439 Low-Voltage Switchgear Assembly Design Guide
Guide to IEC 61439 panel design covering design verification, routine verification, temperature rise, short-circuit withstand, and type testing.
July 23, 2025
Vibration Analysis Fundamentals for Predictive Maintenance
Introduction to vibration analysis covering sensor selection, measurement parameters, frequency analysis, fault detection, and ISO 10816 standards.
July 28, 2025
ISO 13849 Performance Level Calculation: Step-by-Step Guide
Step-by-step guide to calculating Performance Levels per ISO 13849-1 including category selection, MTTFd, DCavg, CCF, and SISTEMA tool usage.
August 2, 2025
SIL Determination per IEC 61511: Process Industry Safety Lifecycle
Guide to SIL determination and safety lifecycle management per IEC 61511 for process industry safety instrumented systems.
August 7, 2025
Robot Cell Safety Design: Standards and Best Practices
Safety design guide for robotic workcells covering ISO 10218, risk assessment, safeguarding methods, collaborative robot safety, and validation.
August 12, 2025
OPC UA Information Modeling for Industrial Automation
Guide to OPC UA information modeling covering address space design, companion specifications, aggregation, and server implementation strategies.
August 17, 2025
MQTT and Sparkplug B for Industrial IoT: Architecture Guide
Implementation guide for MQTT with Sparkplug B specification for IIoT, covering topic namespace, birth/death certificates, and state management.
August 22, 2025
Modbus Protocol Complete Reference: TCP, RTU, and ASCII
Technical reference for Modbus protocol covering function codes, register mapping, exception handling, and TCP/RTU gateway configuration.
August 27, 2025
VFD Programming and Commissioning Guide for Industrial Drives
Practical guide to variable frequency drive setup covering motor nameplate data, acceleration/deceleration, PID control, and fieldbus integration.
September 1, 2025
PID Controller Tuning Methods for Industrial Processes
Guide to PID controller tuning covering Ziegler-Nichols, Cohen-Coon, lambda tuning, relay auto-tune, and practical tips for common process types.
September 6, 2025
Power Quality Monitoring: Harmonics, Sags, and PF Correction
Guide to power quality monitoring in industrial facilities covering harmonic analysis, voltage sags, power factor correction, and IEEE 519 compliance.
September 11, 2025
PLC Migration Planning: From Legacy to Modern Controllers
Comprehensive checklist for PLC migration projects covering hardware mapping, software conversion, I/O transition, testing, and cutover strategies.
September 16, 2025
FAT and SAT Procedures for Automation Systems
Guide to Factory Acceptance Testing (FAT) and Site Acceptance Testing (SAT) procedures for automation systems including test plan templates.
September 21, 2025
SCADA Historian Architecture: Data Collection and Analysis Guide
Technical guide to historian architecture covering data collection strategies, compression algorithms, analytics, and integration with BI tools.
September 26, 2025
Pharmaceutical Automation: GAMP 5 and 21 CFR Part 11 Guide
Guide to pharmaceutical automation validation covering GAMP 5 lifecycle, FDA 21 CFR Part 11 compliance, electronic records, and audit trails.
October 1, 2025
Water Treatment SCADA System Design and Implementation
SCADA design guide for water and wastewater treatment plants covering remote site connectivity, telemetry, regulatory reporting, and cybersecurity.
October 6, 2025
Oil & Gas Wellpad Automation and Remote SCADA
Guide to wellpad automation covering RTU programming, flow measurement, tank gauging, plunger lift control, and remote SCADA connectivity.
October 11, 2025
Automotive Body Shop Automation: Welding and Handling Systems
Technical guide to automotive body-in-white automation covering spot welding, arc welding, material handling, and vision-guided robot guidance.
October 16, 2025
Food Safety Automation: FSMA Compliance and Traceability Systems
Guide to automating food safety compliance covering FSMA requirements, ingredient traceability, CIP automation, and electronic record keeping.
October 21, 2025
Packaging Line Integration: From Filling to Palletizing
Guide to integrated packaging line automation covering filler control, labeling, case packing, palletizing, and line OEE monitoring.
October 26, 2025
Mining Crusher Control and Optimization Systems
Guide to crusher automation covering feed control, liner wear monitoring, choke point management, and production optimization algorithms.
October 31, 2025
Power Plant DCS Modernization: Planning and Execution Guide
Guide to modernizing power generation control systems covering DCS migration, turbine control upgrades, emissions monitoring, and cutover strategies.
November 5, 2025
Warehouse Conveyor Control System Design Guide
Design guide for automated conveyor systems covering zone control, merge/divert logic, accumulation strategies, and WMS integration.
November 10, 2025
Semiconductor Equipment Communication: SECS/GEM Implementation
Guide to implementing SEMI SECS/GEM communication standards for semiconductor manufacturing equipment integration with factory host systems.
November 15, 2025
BACnet Building Automation: Protocol and Integration Guide
Technical guide to BACnet protocol for building automation covering object types, services, networking, and multi-vendor integration.
November 20, 2025
Edge Computing in Industrial Automation: Architecture and Use Cases
Guide to industrial edge computing covering hardware platforms, containerization, real-time analytics, and integration with cloud and SCADA systems.
November 25, 2025
Digital Twin Implementation: From Concept to Production
Practical guide to implementing digital twins in manufacturing covering data models, simulation tools, real-time synchronization, and ROI measurement.
November 30, 2025
Industrial Wireless Network Design: Wi-Fi 6, 5G, and WirelessHART
Guide to industrial wireless technology selection covering Wi-Fi 6/6E, private 5G, WirelessHART, ISA100.11a, and IO-Link Wireless.
December 5, 2025
Machine Learning for Predictive Maintenance: A Practical Approach
Guide to applying machine learning for predictive maintenance covering data preparation, feature engineering, model selection, and deployment strategies.
December 10, 2025
Collaborative Robot Application Guide: Deployment and Safety
Guide to deploying collaborative robots covering application assessment, risk reduction, end-of-arm tooling, and ISO/TS 15066 force limit compliance.
December 15, 2025
PLCopen Motion Control Function Blocks: Standard and Implementation
Reference guide to PLCopen motion control standard covering Part 1 function blocks, multi-axis coordination, and implementation across platforms.
December 20, 2025
ISA-95 MES Integration: Bridging Automation and Enterprise Systems
Guide to ISA-95 implementation covering the automation-enterprise interface, activity models, B2MML, and practical MES integration patterns.
December 25, 2025
Secure Remote Access for Industrial Control Systems
Guide to implementing secure remote access for SCADA and PLC systems covering VPN architectures, jump servers, session recording, and IEC 62443 compliance.
December 30, 2025
Camera and Lens Selection Guide for Machine Vision Applications
Technical guide to selecting cameras, lenses, and lighting for machine vision covering sensor types, resolution, frame rate, and optics calculations.
January 4, 2026
Conducting an Energy Audit for Industrial Facilities
Step-by-step guide to performing industrial energy audits covering power measurement, compressed air leaks, motor efficiency, and ROI calculations.
January 9, 2026
Hazardous Area Classification: ATEX and IECEx Guide for Automation
Guide to hazardous area classification for automation engineers covering zone definitions, protection concepts, equipment selection, and documentation.
January 14, 2026
Grounding and Shielding Best Practices for Industrial Control Systems
Technical guide to proper grounding and shielding techniques for noise-free signal integrity in PLC systems, analog instrumentation, and communication networks.
January 19, 2026
IO-Link: Smart Sensor Integration for Industrial Automation
Guide to IO-Link technology covering sensor parameterization, process data exchange, IO-Link masters, and integration with PLC programs.
January 24, 2026
Control Loop Tuning: Practical Methods for Process Industries
Hands-on guide to tuning PID control loops in process plants covering step testing, open-loop methods, auto-tuning, and adaptive control strategies.
January 29, 2026
AGV and AMR Fleet Management: Integration and Coordination Guide
Guide to deploying and managing AGV/AMR fleets covering traffic management, task assignment, charging strategies, and integration with MES and WMS.
February 3, 2026
Process Analytical Technology (PAT) for Pharmaceutical Manufacturing
Guide to PAT implementation in pharmaceutical production covering in-line analyzers, multivariate analysis, real-time release testing, and FDA guidance.
February 8, 2026
Motor Control Center Design and Automation Integration Guide
Guide to MCC design covering NEMA/IEC motor starters, variable frequency drives, intelligent motor protection, and communication-enabled MCCs.
February 13, 2026
Data Diodes for OT Security: Unidirectional Gateway Architecture
Guide to implementing data diodes and unidirectional security gateways for protecting industrial control systems while enabling data exports.
February 18, 2026
Functional Safety Validation and Testing Procedures
Guide to validation testing for safety instrumented systems covering proof testing, partial stroke testing, diagnostics verification, and documentation.
February 23, 2026
CC-Link IE Field Network: Design and Implementation Guide
Technical guide to CC-Link IE Field industrial Ethernet network covering topology planning, device configuration, motion integration, and diagnostics.
February 25, 2026
TwinCAT Vision: Integrated Machine Vision for PC-Based Control
Guide to Beckhoff TwinCAT Vision for integrating machine vision directly into PLC programs covering camera configuration, image processing, and calibration.
February 26, 2026
HART Protocol Configuration and Troubleshooting Guide
Practical guide to HART protocol for smart instrument configuration, diagnostics, multidrop mode, and WirelessHART deployment in process plants.
February 27, 2026
Redundant PLC Architecture: Design Patterns for High Availability
Design guide for redundant PLC systems covering hot-standby configurations, bumpless transfer, heartbeat monitoring, and redundant I/O architectures.
February 28, 2026
Batch Recipe Management: Design and Implementation Guide
Guide to batch recipe management systems covering recipe structures, parameter management, version control, and integration with MES and ERP.
March 1, 2026
CNC-PLC Interface Design for Machine Tool Automation
Technical guide to designing CNC-PLC interfaces for machine tools covering signal exchange, safety interlocking, tool management, and part program handling.
March 2, 2026
Compressed Air System Monitoring and Optimization Guide
Guide to compressed air system optimization covering flow measurement, leak detection, pressure profiling, compressor sequencing, and energy savings calculations.
March 3, 2026
Industrial UPS and Power Protection for Control Systems
Guide to selecting and configuring UPS systems for industrial control equipment covering load calculations, battery sizing, transfer switching, and monitoring.
March 4, 2026
Siemens S7-Graph: Sequential Control Programming Guide
Programming guide for Siemens S7-Graph in TIA Portal covering sequencer design, transition conditions, supervision, and integration with standard PLC code.
February 24, 2026
Rockwell FactoryTalk View SE: Architecture and Configuration Guide
Architecture guide for FactoryTalk View SE covering server configuration, display design, alarm management, historian integration, and redundancy setup.
February 22, 2026
ABB Ability Digital Solutions for Industrial Operations
Overview of ABB Ability platform capabilities including asset performance management, energy optimization, and remote monitoring for connected operations.
February 21, 2026
Safety Light Curtain Selection and Integration Guide
Engineering guide to safety light curtain selection covering resolution, blanking, muting sequences, cascading, and integration with safety controllers.
February 20, 2026
Industrial Ethernet Switch Selection and Network Design
Guide to selecting managed industrial Ethernet switches covering port configuration, VLAN setup, redundancy protocols, and traffic prioritization for OT networks.
February 19, 2026
PLC Structured Text Programming: Best Practices and Patterns
Advanced Structured Text programming guide covering code organization, naming conventions, error handling patterns, unit testing, and reusable function block design.
February 17, 2026
Thermal Imaging for Predictive Maintenance in Electrical Systems
Guide to thermal imaging inspections for electrical panels, switchgear, and motor systems covering camera selection, emissivity settings, and reporting standards.
February 16, 2026
Water Hammer Prevention Through Automated Valve Control
Technical guide to preventing water hammer in pumping systems through proper valve sequencing, VFD ramp control, and surge anticipation algorithms.
February 15, 2026
Palletizing Robot Programming: Pattern Design and Optimization
Guide to programming palletizing robots covering pallet pattern design, layer configuration, slip sheet handling, mixed-case palletizing, and gripper design.
February 14, 2026
Electrical Design with EPLAN: From Schematic to Panel Layout
Guide to electrical design using EPLAN covering schematic creation, terminal planning, cable routing, panel layout, and automatic report generation.
February 12, 2026
Migrating Process Historians to Cloud Platforms
Guide to migrating on-premise process historians to cloud-based solutions covering data architecture, latency considerations, security, and cost optimization.
February 11, 2026
Pneumatic System Automation: Valve Islands and Fieldbus Integration
Guide to automating pneumatic systems covering valve island configuration, fieldbus connectivity, diagnostic features, and energy-efficient circuit design.
February 10, 2026
Semiconductor Cleanroom Automation and Environmental Control
Guide to cleanroom automation for semiconductor fabs covering HVAC control, particle monitoring, chemical delivery systems, and AMHS integration.
February 9, 2026
Industrial Boiler Control System Design and Programming
Guide to boiler automation covering burner management systems, drum level control, combustion optimization, emissions monitoring, and NFPA 85 compliance.
February 7, 2026
Robotic Welding Parameter Optimization and Quality Control
Guide to optimizing robotic welding covering parameter selection, weld seam tracking, quality monitoring, torch maintenance, and defect prevention.
February 6, 2026
Yokogawa ProSafe-RS: SIL Programming and Configuration Guide
Configuration guide for Yokogawa ProSafe-RS safety instrumented system covering cause-and-effect matrix, SIL verification, testing, and CENTUM VP integration.
February 5, 2026
Omron NX Safety Controller Programming and Network Safety
Guide to Omron NX-SL series safety controller programming covering safety function blocks, EtherNet/IP CIP Safety, and integration with standard NJ/NX controllers.
February 4, 2026
Need Engineering Support?
Our team is ready to help with your automation and engineering challenges.
sales@patrion.net