paperless recorder

http://www.yokogawa.com/ns/daq/daq-index_mr.htm (usual disclaimer).

We've been eliminating our recorders (paperless or otherwise) and going to trends (technically still paperless). Our Human Machine Interface (HMI) are on computers with software that allow us to create our own "recorders" on the PCs.

One of the advantages is that the trending comes with the HMI software so it's free. Furthermore, with trends, we can create traces for all our variables and then some while recorders have limited inputs.

If it's not too late, or if you can, I'd go for trends on HMI software rather than go for recorders.

what do you want to record?

I'm involved in a project right now to replace paper recorders with fully digital paperless recorders, to comply with AMS2750D. I've had all the salesmen in and looked at all the brands, and I like the Honeywell Multitrend the best. I have a few in service now, and am still trying to get used to the software, but it looks like this is the way I'm going to go. Actually, these are replacing Yokogawa Darwin Hybrid recorders, a truly wonderful instrument. However, to comply, we must go all digital, and getting rid of the paper would be great. Honeywell makes a small paperless recorder, the EZtrend, that can handle up to 18 pts, and cost about $1800, it has a 5" in screen. I have several of these. The Multitrend can be ordered with up to 48 pts, has a 15" screen, and runs about $5500. The Yokogawa paperless is a fine instrument, but I think the Honeywell is better, and costs about the same.

Boy Vulcan, I wish I could just get away with that. And we are doing something just like that right now. However, AMS2750D requires I have a recorder at each furnace. I'm in the Aerospace forging business. If you loose data, the product is worthless, so it's all about backing up. These recorders will read any process variable you can think of. So they really are a God send.

I forgot to mention something important.

If, say, you need to capture transients that last less than a second, paperless recorders may be the only option. Trends or recorders that print only after so many seconds are good for slow moving variables. For fast moving ones, a paperless recorder with a large amount of memory is required.

We don't have any fast moving variables so trends on PCs are fine. Further, data capture at low repetition rates mean that we can store up to a month of data on hard disk (if we add more hard disk space, we can increase it to two or three months).

We had Yokogawa paperless recorders before but we've since removed them. They stored data in internal memory and required that the data be transferred to a floppy disk when it became full or else risk losing historical data, something that we could not allow.