Darwin-Film

SmartWire-Darwin Product Film Presented with "Best Special Effects" Award at the International New York Film and Video Festival 2009.

With its trailer for the six minute film on Darwin technology, Eatons Moeller business was presented in March 2009 with the “Best Special Effects” award of the “New York International Independent Film and Video Festival (NYIIFVF)”. The NYIIFVF, was founded in 1993 and is one of the largest independent film festivals in the world. It presents the "Best Special Effects" award in the “Special Categories (International)” section to creative, independent film makers and screen writers (http://nyfilmvideo.info). The renowned NYIIFVF is organized as a competition and offers a stage to independent film makers. The festival enjoys a high standing with media all around the globe.

Moeller, as initiator and originator of the Darwin film, has been part of the Eaton Corporation since April 2008, a diversified global industrial group with 75,000 employees and a turnover in 2008 of around 15.4 billion US$. Eatons Moeller business, with headquarters in Bonn, is an electrical specialist for IEC products in the Eaton Electrical Sector. Film media was required to present the SmartWire technology which has been available since April 2009. This is an innovative connection and communication system for networking switching devices that allows the creation of new switch cabinet concepts. SmartWire-Darwin replaces the conventional, time consuming and error-prone wiring of switching devices, protective devices, and control circuit devices from the controller to the switching devices themselves. It also brings the worlds of switchgear and automation devices closer together. The presentation of this subject matter by spoken word or with written text is not a problem. However, nowadays there are more appropriate methods of focusing attention on a comprehensive extensive technology that integrates several products in the concept. Today's film media have developed to an extent that a film can illustrate technological innovations far more effectively to a broad group of specialists. The Darwin film presents the innovation in the context of technical developments through time and puts the basic idea of SmartWire-Darwin in an evolutionary context.

The idea and the first storyboard come from Bernd Cürten, head of product advertising at Eatons Moeller business, and was further developed and produced in collaboration with Lütfiye Dönoglu from product marketing and Lambert Straub, general manager of Lakritz.Film GmbH, Leonberg (www.lakritz-film.de). Bernd Cürten explains: “The Darwin technology is an evolutionary concept. I therefore soon had the idea of a spear flying through time and space, passing by several significant technical achievements of mankind. The actual artistic implementation however required a great deal of detail work.” Dönoglu adds: “A particular challenge was to present the SmartWire-Darwin technology as graphically as possible in order for the viewer to appreciate its benefits more quickly.” The result was outstanding, as well as the responses of the customers and sales force from overseas and in Germany. “I was even more pleased by the fact that our film even received a special award from the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival,” Bernd Cürten said.

It is a well-known fact amongst the experts that even today's virtual films involve a great deal of high-tech. This is also the case with the trailer of the Darwin film – the spear and all its images were created with virtual technology. Special software, which was also used for the stunning effects of the Hollywood movie “Pirates of the Caribbean”, was used for designing the extraordinary 3D landscape. Lambert Straub from LAKRITZ.Film explains: “The rendering times per image were between one and a half to two hours (with a 3GHZ eight core computer), and were therefore extremely time consuming. We took about a day of rendering time for three seconds of animation by using several networked eight-core computers (approx. 150 GHZ rendering performance). The entire trailer required around four weeks for the rendering. We used other software for implementing the realistic image synthesization for the virtual journey of the spear through time. However, with all the technical sophistication applied we always kept in mind the objective of graphically animating the information in 3D so that the viewer would understand the message and would simply enjoy taking up the spirit of innovation.”

Director Steffen Döhner and 3D artist Christian Speidel were also in the team of the author and producer Lambert Straub. Jörg Kerstin from listen Komposition und Ton in Stuttgart was responsible for the specially composed film music and the sound design. You can view the six-minute premiere Darwin film at www.moeller.net. In addition to German and English, the film on the Darwin Technology is also available in other languages.

A full range of SmartWire-Darwin technology products have been available since April 2009. The SmartWire-Darwin technology is designed as an innovative connection and communication system for network switching devices, which allows the implementation of new switch cabinet concepts. SmartWire-Darwin replaces the conventional, time consuming and error-prone wiring of switching devices, protective devices, and control circuit devices from the controller to the switching devices themselves. Following the principle of “Connecting instead of wiring”, OEM customers will be able to make considerable cost savings in future. As the complete control wiring of contactors, motor starters, control circuit devices is unnecessary, switch cabinets become simpler and more compact. Components from Moeller's standard product range are used by connecting a communication interface which adapts them for use on SmartWire-Darwin. The auxiliary contacts that were previously required for contactors are no longer necessary since this function is already integrated in the communication interface. This enables the design of the control and switch cabinet to be considerably simplified during the project design phase.

However, application is not just limited to the switch cabinet. With a maximum expansion of 100 meters, control circuit devices fitted in surface mounting enclosures or external operating panels can also be integrated into the system. All control circuit devices and switching devices are interconnected via the green flat cable or outside of the switching cabinet via a round cable. With SmartWire-Darwin users can connect up to 99 slaves. The remaining wiring is thus considerably reduced. The data transfer from the network is implemented via gateways which transfer the data via standard fieldbus system such as Profibus-DP or CANopen to the higher-level PLC. The SmartWire-Darwin network is started at the gateway, by which all connected slaves are counted and addressed automatically. Later expansion is also not a problem. A new slave is simply fitted on and the reconfiguration is implemented simply at the push of a button.

Moeller GmbH
A Company of the Eaton Electrical Sector
Hein-Moeller-Straße 7-11
53115 Bonn
Tel.: +49 (0)228 602-0
Fax: +49 (0)228 602-2275
E-Mail: PresseEGBonn@Eaton.com
Internet: www.moeller.net

Please direct your enquiries to:
Corporate Communications, Tel.: +49 (0)228 602-2915

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About Eaton’s Moeller Business

Eaton’s Moeller Business, based in Bonn, Germany, is one of the world’s leading manufacturers and suppliers of components and systems concerned with power distribution and automation in industrial, infrastructure and residential building applications. Since April 2008, Moeller has been a part of the Eaton Corporation, a diversified global industrial group with 75,000 employees and an annual turnover of about US$15.4 billion in 2008. As an electrical engineering specialist in IEC products, the Eaton’s Moeller Business is a globally strong pillar in Eaton’s Electrical Sector.

About Eaton´s electrical sector

Eaton’s electrical sector is a global leader in power distribution, power quality, control and industrial automation products and services. Eaton’s global electrical product lines, including Cutler-Hammer®, Moeller®, Powerware®, Holec®, MEM®, Santak®, and MGE Office Protection Systems™ provide customer-driven PowerChain Management® solutions to serve the power system needs of the data center, industrial, institutional, government, utility, commercial, residential, and OEM markets worldwide.

About Eaton Corporation

Eaton Corporation is a diversified power management company with 2008 sales of $15.4 billion. Eaton is a global technology leader in electrical components and systems for power quality, distribution and control; hydraulics components, systems and services for industrial and mobile equipment; aerospace fuel, hydraulics and pneumatic systems for commercial and military use; and truck and automotive drivetrain and powertrain systems for performance, fuel economy and safety. Eaton has approximately 75,000 employees and sells products to customers in more than 150 countries. For more information, visit www.eaton.com