From the bookshelf…

I’ve received a couple of new books recently, by W. Bolton, who is a long-time academic and author in Great Britain. The books are Engineering Science, 5th Edition and Programmable Logic Controllers, 4th Edition.
Engineering Science is a terrific “physics for engineers” deskbook. It is clearly meant as an introductory textbook, but practicing automation professionals will find it a useful treasure trove of equations and reminders of the basic fundamentals of how the world works.
The truth is, for automation professionals, that we don’t really do that much basic engineering, so it is necessary, when we have to, to sometimes go back to the books and remember what we learned when we were first starting out– and since something like 45% or more of us didn’t get an engineering degree, sometimes it is necessary to learn de novo these things when we need them. Bill Bolton’s book does that for us, very well.
Go buy it.
The other Bolton volume that has passed my desk recently, Programmable Logic Controllers, 4th Edition, is a decent introduction to the world of PLCs. While it won’t help you with specific models– for that you best go to the supplier directly, if you, or somebody you know, is very new to the idea of PLCs and how to work with them, this is the book to jumpstart their knowledge path.
Two excellent books. You can get them directly from Elsevier Science and Technology or from Amazon, or your local engineering bookseller.