New technologies and standards are emerging which will have a dramatic effect on the design and implementation of future industrial control systems. PLCs and PC-based soft controllers are beginning to use software components, such as object-oriented technology, to bring together the hitherto different worlds of factory automation and business systems. New tools and techniques are needed to design and model these systems, such as UML and modern fieldbus technology. The new IEC 61499 standard has been developed to model distributed control systems, defining concepts and models so that software in the form of function blocks can be interconnected to define the behaviour of a distributed control system. Tools based on IEC 61499 are likely to emerge soon to model, validate and simulate the behaviour of complex networks of function blocks and it is expected that this standard will become key to complex distributed systems.

IEC 1131-3 is the international standard for the design of software for industrial control systems. It defines a set of related graphical and textual languages that bring significant benefits throughout the control system life-cycle - benefits for system integrators, control system engineers and end-users alike. The standard marks the beginning for wellstructured, re-usable and maintainable software for industrial control systems. This new edition has been revised and updated to include all IEC proposed amendments and corrections for the planned 1999 edition of IEC 1131-3, agreed by the IEC working group in spring 1998. The book now includes IEC 1131-3 'frequently asked questions' and a summary of future developments influencing the next generation of PLC languages, plus an overview of IEC 1499 standard on function blocks. Although primarily for programmable logic controllers (PLCs), IEC 1131-3 concepts will also influence the design of software for fieldbus devices. This book introduces all the concepts of the IEC 1131-3 standard and provides examples of the languages related typical industrial control problems. It will be of interest to everyone involved in specifying or developing software for industrial or manufacturing applications. The text will also be of value to students and engineers with a general interest in new techniques for industrial or manufacturing applications. The text will also be of value to students and engineers with a general interest in new techniques for industrial control systems.

Heat transfer analysis is a problem of major significance in a vast range of industrial applications. These extend over the fields of mechanical engineering, aeronautical engineering, chemical engineering and numerous applications in civil and electrical engineering. If one considers the heat conduction equation alone the number of practical problems amenable to solution is extensive. Expansion of the work to include features such as phase change, coupled heat and mass transfer, and thermal stress analysis provides the engineer with the capability to address a further series of key engineering problems. The complexity of practical problems is such that closed form solutions are not generally possible. The use of numerical techniques to solve such problems is therefore considered essential, and this book presents the use of the powerful finite element method in heat transfer analysis. Starting with the fundamental general heat conduction equation, the book moves on to consider the solution of linear steady state heat conduction problems, transient analyses and non--linear examples. Problems of melting and solidification are then considered at length followed by a chapter on convection. The application of heat and mass transfer to drying problems and the calculation of both thermal and shrinkage stresses conclude the book. Numerical examples are used to illustrate the basic concepts introduced. This book is the outcome of the teaching and research experience of the authors over a period of more than 20 years.