Automation goals

Animation, real-time, 58 Applications graphics, 46 robots, 13 Audit trails, 34 Automation goals, 3 planning, 4,6 problems, 1... 

Programs to develop MCFC technology are also under way in Europe. Ansaldo SpA (Italy) is setting up faciUties to produce 1-m cells in an automated process, and their goal is to test 100-kW stacks in 1994. The 100-kW stack is also to be tested by IBERDROLA in Spain as part of a complete power plant system. Two Dutch companies. Stork and Royal Schelde, have joined with the Dutch government to form Brandstofcel Nederland (BCN), which plans to test a 50-kW MCFC and two 250-kW MCFC stacks in 1994. 

The creation and analysis of process flow sheets has become much easier because of the availabihty of automated systems to draw and revise them. The goal of the use of the flow sheet as the input for process simulation and for process control is likely to be achieved reasonably soon. The use of interactive graphic displays for process monitoring and control is pervasive today. 

Useful protocols can only be produced for information that is coded in a verbal form in memory. Tasks that rely on visual imagery for their execution, or have become "automated" due to over-practice wiU be very difficult to verbalize. Hence the technique may provide little useful information and may even produce misleading reports for these tasks. To encourage task verbalization some coaching should be given to the task experts and the goals of the study should be explained so that they can make greater efforts to report on aspects of the task which are of particular importance. 

Although SFE and SFC share several common features, including the use of a superaitical fluid as the solvent and similar instrumentation, their goals are quite distinct. While SFE is used mainly for the sample preparation step (extraction), SFC is employed to isolate (chr-omatography) individual compounds present in complex samples (11 -15). Both techniques can be used in two different approaches off-line, in which the analytes and the solvent are either vented after analysis (SFC) or collected (SFE), or on-line coupled with a second technique, thus providing a multidimensional approach. Off-line methods are slow and susceptible to solute losses and contamination the on-line coupled system makes possible a deaease in the detection limits, with an improvement in quantification, while the use of valves for automation results in faster and more reproducible analyses (16). The off-line... 

These conceptual goals are attained by several combinatorial methods and tools. Characteristic for combinatorial chemistry is the synthesis on solid support or by polymer-supported synthesis, allowing for much higher efficiency in library production. Synthesis can be conducted either in automated parallel synthesis or by split-and-recombine synthesis. Centerpieces of combinatorial methods further include specific analytical methods for combinatorial... 

Our laboratory is developing and employing artificial intelligence (AI) technology in an effort to provide more efficient, reliable and thorough evaluation of materials and compensate for the lack of human experts.(X) Our goals are to automate tests that are... 

The primary goal of the work described here is to provide a means whereby specifiers can become implementers that is, to provide automation systems tools (for the specific case of batch polymerizations) allowing process and production experts to design, implement, maintain, and enhance their own "state-of- the-art" control systems. 

Laboratory automation has traditionally meant laboratory instrument automation. While the automated collection and analysis of data from laboratory instruments is still a significant part of laboratory automation, in the modern automated laboratory it is only a part of a larger perspective with the focus on task automation. Simply stated, the goal should be to automate tasks, not instruments. 

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