Industrial Factory Automation

The RS Components Panel Building Centre is an interactive online resource that brings together all relevant products and services for a panel or machine-building project. At the heart of the new centre is an interactive virtual control panel that engineers can tour to see the huge range of products and brands available from RS. By clicking on the glowing red circles, customers can view information on: power supplies, circuit protection, timers and relays, safety relays and controllers, PLCs and logic controllers, signal conditioning, isolation and barriers, DIN rail terminals, variable speed drives (inverters) and soft-starts, temperature and process controllers, HMIs and operator panels, panel meters, pushbuttons and indicators, isolators and fused disconnectors, enclosures and emergency-stop switches. Available brands include manufacturers such as Schneider Electric, Siemens, Mitsubishi, Bosch Pilz and Rockwell. Tabs across the top of the site bring up information on the design, sel...

RS Components has introduced Ecowire, Alpha Wire 's new environmentally friendly hook-up wire. Ecowire achieves expanded functionality over standard PVC-based hook-up wire with insulation that is fully recyclable. Using a modified polyphenylene ether (mPPE) thermoplastic that is inherently lighter, tougher and more durable than PVC, Ecowire is non-halogenic and does not contain any heavy metal pigments. The result is UL-approved AWM wire that helps manufacturers meet Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) requirements. While PVC insulation is currently a mainstay of the wire and cable industry because of its mechanical and electrical properties and low cost, it presents environmental concerns. PVC is a halogen-containing material that emits toxic gases, toxic smoke and toxic acids when burned that are hazardous to health and equipment. Newer materials, principally low-smoke, zero-halogen (LSZH) plastics, emit no dangerous gases or smoke when burned. The drawback to LSZH i...