00:07
>>Kelly: Hi, Kelly from Opto 22 here. Most
Opto 22 applications are strictly business
00:12
and very serious. But Opto 22 has a fun side
to it as well. What a better place to look at
00:18
a fun application than the Carnegie Science
Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Carnegie
00:24
Science Center is huge. It has many displays,
including a miniature railroad and village.
00:29
But this is not just a little train set that my
family puts up for the holidays. This display
00:34
is huge! And we're going to go
take a look at it right now.
00:49
>>Kelly: I'm now sitting with Patty Rogers from Carnegie Science
Center. Patty, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
00:55
>>Patty: Well I'm the coordinator of the historic
exhibits here at the Carnegie Science Center.
00:59
I've been fortunate enough to work with the Miniature
Railroad for 16 years in just about every capacity, so.
01:05
>>Kelly: My understanding is the Miniature
Railroad has been with the Carnegie Science
01:10
Center for many years. Can you give
us a brief history about the railroad?
01:14
>>Patty: The Miniature Railroad is actually
87 years old. It'll be 88 years old this year.
01:20
It was started in Brookville, Pennsylvania
on Christmas Eve in 1920 in the home of a
01:24
man named Charlie Bowdish, and Charlie Bowdish's
display came here to Pittsburgh in 1954. And
01:32
it's been a tradition here in Pittsburgh ever
since. What we're going to do is a year-long
01:37
process now. We have a staff of volunteers,
about 50 volunteers that work and present
01:42
the exhibit to the public every day. We have
staff along with myself who may help maintain
01:47
it, other technical staff, machinists here
fabricate each and every gear and cam that
01:53
go into the handmade animation. And it's just
really a team effort. We want to show the
01:58
industries that Pittsburgh was built on, in
the era that we represent, which was 1880
02:03
to 1930: the steel, the coal, the railroad,
the rivers. And then we also want to show
02:08
the models that are unique
culturally and architecturally.
02:12
>>Kelly: And those displays
are made in this room, right?
02:15
>>Patty: Absolutely. The room that we're in
right now is the Miniature Railroad and Village
02:19
workshop, and this is pretty much where it
all happens behind the scenes. This is our
02:25
workbench where the models are built, and
as you can imagine over all these years we've
02:31
amassed a lot of pieces, all hand-built, but
this is a lot of our storage, a lot of the
02:35
finer pieces. And of course we store all the tools
and materials that it takes to craft each model every year.
02:43
>>Kelly: My understanding is that you're using
Opto 22 control to do the animation along
02:48
with the lighting. Why did you guys
end up using the Opto 22 platform?
02:53
>>Patty: When we brought on teams of experts
02:56
to help us design this exhibit, it was then,
and is still now, the best technology for
03:02
this exhibit. The goal was to maintain the
magic and mystique of the exhibit while they're
03:06
in the room. The magic would be broken if
we were fixing things, and there were obvious
03:11
[problems], and that doesn't happen so we
don't have to worry about that. We've had
03:14
an Opto 22 operating system, OptoControl,
all these years that it's been here at Carnegie
03:19
Science Center, so that would be 16 years.
And we've upgraded it along the way and we've
03:24
changed things, and we wouldn't do anything
differently. It runs seamlessly. It's extremely
03:30
dependable. You hit the Start button on the touchscreen
in the beginning and it runs flawlessly all day.
03:37
>>Lou: We wanted to make the system as user-friendly
as possible for the people who actually run it.
03:44
I was excited to say hey, listen, we can really kick
this up a notch, and we've been able to do that so far.
03:51
My name is Lou Bertha, I'm with RDI Controls.
We're a process control system integration
03:56
company that specializes in engineered applications
with the Opto 22 product line. What we've
04:04
been doing over the last year or so, is we've
been maintaining the railroad for the Science
04:10
Center as far as the controls go. What we
want them to do is on a graphic, change how
04:16
they want the whole system to operate. So
now they can put their artistic creativity
04:21
into it. And when we were approached, we said,
hey listen, that'd be an easy thing for us
04:25
to do. We've done some upgrades on the controls,
and we've added some functionality. And we're
04:31
working now with them to just keep on expanding
that functionality. Whether it's when does
04:35
the rooster crow, when does the cow move,
or when the lights come on into the different
04:41
sections. Even the lighting control to show
day and night can be adjusted, and I want
04:46
them to have the ability to
do that without much angst.
04:49
>>Kelly: Is it difficult to add
additional hardware to the current system?
04:54
>>Lou: No, absolutely not. With the existing
racks, if we just need to add an I/O point
04:59
here or there we can put in a new module to
do digital ins, digital outs, analog ins or
05:05
outs. For instance, the lighting system is
a bunch of 4-20 outputs that change the level
05:11
as the time progresses in the simulation mode.
So every six minutes you go through a whole
05:17
day, and that can be adjusted on the system.
If we wanted to add another rack for a section
05:23
of the system, all we'd have to do is just
add another Ethernet-based controller or brain
05:27
board, and tie that into our main
controller. Depends on the functionality.
05:31
>>Kelly: Can you tell us a little bit more about
some of the additions that you've made recently?
05:36
>>Lou: Sure. We had added on the roundhouse
05:39
and the switch yard. We did that with a PAC
R2, and added a G75 Terminal, so they can
05:46
have local interface, to show the kids and
everything how things operate. The roundhouse
05:51
is being driven by a servo motor, and we're
looking at the counts, the pulses, to determine
05:57
where we're actually situated. For local control,
we have the G75 and it allows us to select
06:05
and program macros in, so we can route the
trains as they come through the setup to go
06:11
on their particular routes and hit the roundhouse,
and then park them into the various bays.
06:18
We get these kids coming in here, looking
at the system, saying "Wow, how does that
06:23
work? How do you do this?" And it gives us
a chance, you know, I've talked to a few of
06:28
them, to explain hey, this is all engineering.
You know, this is stuff, whether you're doing it on
06:32
a model railroad or doing it on a combustion
turbine or factory process automation. They're
06:39
all part of the same concept. So it's one
of those things to try to excite kids as they're
06:43
coming into it, and the reality
of the engineering field.
06:46
>>Kelly: All right. Well, thank you Lou for sitting
down and talking with us today. I know you have a very
06:50
busy schedule so I appreciate you taking time to come
play with your toys and explain to us how they work.
06:56
>>Lou: Ah, you gave me a chance to play
with my toys and I appreciate the time.
07:00
>>Kelly: Thank you guys for watching this application about
Carnegie Science Center and their Miniature Railroad. If
07:06
you would like more information about this application, or other
applications, please visit the Opto 22 website. Have a great day.