Premier Automation’s Premier Pro League is the perfect mix of camaraderie and competition! This opportunity allows us to bring our team together at the All-American Fieldhouse for monthly sporting events. From dodgeball to ultimate frisbee and everything in between, our employees can unleash their competitive spirits while staying active and having fun with other Premier team members.
Are you passionate about electrical work and looking for a fulfilling career? Premier Automation might just be the place for you! In this blog post, we'll explore the experiences and insights of five individuals - Dave, Connor, Lizzy, Keith, and Mike - who have found their calling at Premier Automation, a company that not only values its employees but also offers a wide range of career opportunities in the field of electrical work.
Higher level automation components such as PLC’s, Drives, and HMI’s communicate with each other through industrial networks. These allow them to pass more advanced data back and forth between them as opposed to a single true or false signal from a single wire. There are many different types of communications, types of hardware, and topologies that allow these networks to operate. The most common types of industrial networks are Ethernet IP, Profibus, and Profinet, but there are many others as well. Modbus, Ethercat, Canbus, and Controlnet are a few of the many other types that we see in applications.
For a robot to safely operate in an industrial setting, it needs appropriate guarding to protect both the operators from the equipment in the cell. It also protects the equipment from external forces that can damage it, or move devices from the taught positions they need to be in. These cells are not a barrier to keep the inside separated from the outside. Items that need worked on must enter the cell, get worked on, then exit in a safe manner to ensure operator safety, and efficiency of the process. To do this, both mechanical and electrical guarding components are designed and implemented together.
At Premier Automation, we use terminal blocks in almost all our builds. A terminal block is an electrical junction point that allows two or more wires to be connected at the same electrical potential. These also provide added functionality as they allow for easier rework of electrical circuits, convenient test points, and are finger safe to protect a user. Just like wire comes in many different types and sizes, terminal blocks do as well based on application.
3D printing is a form of additive manufacturing that allows for quick and easy prototyping of components to speed up a design process. While there is still a lot of work that goes into making a part, it is much faster than sending the work elsewhere, and allows the creator to have a full-sized model in hand in a few hours.
Harmony Castings is a job shop for cast aluminum parts. Several secondary operations are required after the casting process: gate and sprue cutting, heavy flash grinding, and surface finish grinding. Each operation is performed by an operator using hand-held equipment. This leads to strain from repetitive tasks, and increased labor.
Control cabinets are installed in many types of environments. To specify what conditions an enclosure will withstand, the National Electrical Manufacturers Association, or NEMA, define a list of standards. These standards look at factors such as ability of an enclosure to resist dust, water, the formation of ice on the surface, submersion, corrosion, and other factors.
Circuit protection should always be used to prevent damage to systems in the case of a power surge or a short circuit. Buildings have breaker boxes that help protect and distribute power. Plug strips and other devices fed from these breakers have their own protective components to provide local control and protection for the devices plugged into them. In control panels, protective devices are usually the first device in the circuit. Power is then safely distributed to all other components in the system, and there are usually smaller protective devices further on in the panel for protection of specific devices. There are different types of protection for different loads and applications.
Most products that you come across in your day-to-day life have been certified to meet certain safety standards. A certification is documentation provided by a certifying organization to show that a product meets all the requirements of that specific organization. If you look at your phone charger or most other electronics, you will probably notice the markings of UL, CUL, or some other certifying organization saying that your specific product meets their requirements. Control panels also have their own subset of certification.