Watlows EZ-ZONE® RM with EtherCAT® Communications Protocol is the First
EtherCAT® Temperature Control Device to Pass Conformance Testing in North
America
St. Louis, MO Watlow®, an industry leader in the design and manufacture of
complete thermal systems, recently announced that its EZ-ZONE® RM multi-loop
temperature controller is the first EtherCAT® device to pass conformance
testing in North America. Watlows device passed conformance testing at the
new North American EtherCAT® Test Center based in Savage, Minnesota. Stan
Breitlow, Watlows principal engineer and semiconductor system designer,
accepted the award from Florian Hafele, the onsite representative from the
EtherCAT® Technology Group (ETG).
We are extremely proud to receive this recognition from the ETG, said
Breitlow. We have worked hard to integrate EtherCAT® into our EZ-ZONE RM
and as a result we have an industry-leading solution for our customers. This
success depended upon the superb collaborations that occurred with leading
members of the community and we look forward to continuing these successful
relationships.
Watlows EZ-ZONE® RM is rapidly becoming an industry standard due to its
extreme flexibility and scalability allowing unparalleled mixing of inputs
and outputs to configure control loops, limit loops and monitoring points.
Watlow is deeply committed to the semiconductor industry as exemplified by
the early adoption of EtherCAT®. This major milestone in our controls
evolution now enables customers to integrate the latest generation of
communications protocol to their tools.
Incorporating Watlows EZ-ZONE RM with EtherCAT® into semiconductor
applications offers many benefits to tool manufacturers such as assured
compatibility between devices and vendors, a single, unified Bus through the
entire tool, seamless and rapid communications, predefined device parameter
profiles, Bus redundancy and fault detection and standard Ethernet wiring.
Watlow designs and manufactures industrial heaters, temperature sensors,
controllers and supporting software all of the components of a thermal
system. The company partners with its customers to optimize thermal
performance, decrease design time and improve efficiency of their products
and applications.
Watlow brings its experience to numerous industries, including semiconductor
processing, environmental chambers, energy processes, diesel emissions,
medical and foodservice equipment.
Since 1922, Watlow has grown in product capability, market experience and
global reach. The company holds more than 450 patents and employs 2,000
employees working in nine manufacturing facilities and three technology
centers in the United States, Mexico, Europe and Asia. Watlow also has sales
offices in 16 countries around the world. The company continues to grow,
while the commitment remains the same to provide its customers with
superior products and services for their individual needs.
