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Classified Areas and Electrical Safety Measures

Classified Areas and Electrical Safety Measures

Any physical location in an industrial facility harboring the potential of explosion due to the presence of…


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Chemical Reactor Temperature Control Example

Chemical Reactor Temperature Control Example

Sometimes we encounter a diversity of instrument signal standards in one control system. Such is the case with…


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Human-Machine Interfaces (HMIs)

Human-Machine Interfaces (HMIs)

Human-machine interfaces, or HMIs, are a critical part of nearly all control systems, complementing the…


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Auxiliary and Lockout (86) Relays

Auxiliary and Lockout (86) Relays

An important type of “accessory” relay, especially for legacy electromechanical protective relays,…


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Use of Line Reactors

Use of Line Reactors

Regulating the electric power sent to an electric motor is a task performed by high-speed switching…


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AC Motor Braking

AC Motor Braking

There are several different methods useful for causing an AC induction motor to brake, or slow down: DC…


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Logic Programming in PLCs

Logic Programming in PLCs

Although it seems each model of PLC has its own idiosyncratic standard for programming, there does exist an…


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Valve Positioners

Valve Positioners

The reason why a pneumatic control valve’s stem position corresponds linearly to the amount of air…


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Introduction to Protective Relaying

Introduction to Protective Relaying

Circuit breakers used in residential, commercial, and light industrial service are self-tripping devices: they…


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Teaching Technical Practices (Labwork)

Teaching Technical Practices (Labwork)

Labwork is an essential part of any science-based curriculum. Here, much improvement may be made over the…


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How to Teach Yourself PLC Programming

How to Teach Yourself PLC Programming

Learning PLC programming is a very important skill. If your job involves programming, then you will likely…


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Legal Code

Legal Code

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License By exercising the Licensed Rights (defined…


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Differential (87) Current Protection

Differential (87) Current Protection

One of the fundamental laws of electric circuits is Kirchhoff’s Current Law, which states the algebraic…


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Circuit Breakers and Disconnects

Circuit Breakers and Disconnects

Disconnect Switches Disconnects are switches designed to isolate sections of a power system in case of damage…


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Instantaneous and Time-overcurrent (50/51) Protection

Instantaneous and Time-overcurrent (50/51) Protection

Perhaps the most basic and necessary protective relay function is overcurrent: commanding a circuit breaker to…


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Analog Signal Conditioning and Referencing

Analog Signal Conditioning and Referencing

Modern analog-to-digital converters are phenomenally accurate, dependable, repeatable, and surprisingly…


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Relay Circuits and Ladder Diagrams

Relay Circuits and Ladder Diagrams

Electromechanical relays may be connected together to perform logic and control functions, acting as logic…


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Electrical Signal and Control Wiring

Electrical Signal and Control Wiring

There is much to be said for neatness of assembly in electrical signal wiring. Even though the electrons…


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On/off Electric Motor Control Circuits

On/off Electric Motor Control Circuits

An electric motor is often used as a discrete control element in a control system if driving a pump, conveyor…


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Distance (21) Protection

Distance (21) Protection

A form of protection against faults on long-distance power lines is called distance relaying, so named because…


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ANSI/IEEE Function Number Codes

ANSI/IEEE Function Number Codes

In the United States, the ANSI and IEEE organizations have standardized a set of numerical codes referring to…


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Non-contact Temperature Sensors

Non-contact Temperature Sensors

Virtually any mass above absolute zero temperature emits electromagnetic radiation (photons, or light) as a…


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Atomic Theory and Chemical Symbols

Atomic Theory and Chemical Symbols

The three “elementary” particles of matter comprising all atoms are electrons, protons, and…


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Transformer Basics and Principles of Operation

Transformer Basics and Principles of Operation

The transformer is one of the most important components in all of AC circuitry. Principally used to…


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Numerical Differentiation

Numerical Differentiation

As we have seen, the concept of differentiation is finding the rate-of-change of one variable compared to…


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Policy-based Fortifications

Policy-based Fortifications

These fortifications focus on human behavior rather than system design or component selection. In some ways…


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Radiation Level Measurement

Radiation Level Measurement

Certain types of nuclear radiation easily penetrates the walls of industrial vessels, but is attenuated by…


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Differential Pressure Transmitters

Differential Pressure Transmitters

One of the most common, and most useful, pressure measuring instruments in industry is the differential…


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An Analogy for Calibration Vs Ranging

An Analogy for Calibration Vs Ranging

The concepts of calibration (trimming) and ranging are often difficult for new students of instrumentation to…


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Problem-solving by Simplification

Problem-solving by Simplification

A whole class of problem-solving techniques focuses on altering the given problem into a simpler form that is…


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Process/Instrument Suitability

Process/Instrument Suitability

Every flow-measuring instrument exploits a physical principle to measure the flow rate of fluid stream.…


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What is Hydrostatic Pressure?

What is Hydrostatic Pressure?

A vertical column of fluid generates a pressure at the bottom of the column owing to the action of gravity on…


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Instrument Turndown (Rangedown)

Instrument Turndown (Rangedown)

An important performance parameter for transmitter instruments is something often referred to as turndown or…


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Positive Displacement Flowmeters

Positive Displacement Flowmeters

A positive displacement flowmeter is a cyclic mechanism built to pass a fixed volume of fluid through with…


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Ratio Control

Ratio Control

Most people reading this book have likely had the experience of adjusting water temperature using two hand…


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Circuit Failure Analysis

Circuit Failure Analysis

Perhaps the most valuable skill an instrument technician can possess is the ability to efficiently diagnose…


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Material Volume Measurement

Material Volume Measurement

A variety of technologies exist to measure the quantity of stored material in a vessel. For liquid…


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References

References

Lipták, Béla G. et al., Instrument Engineers’ Handbook – Process Measurement and Analysis Volume I,…


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the Negative Consequences of Poor PID Controller Tuning

the Negative Consequences of Poor PID Controller Tuning

Much has been written about the benefits of robust PID control. Increased productivity, decreased equipment…


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Relation Control

Relation Control

A control strategy similar to ratio control is relation control. This is similar to ratio control in that a…


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Practical Measures of Reliability

Practical Measures of Reliability

In reliability engineering, it is important to be able to quantity the reliability (or conversely, the…


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Understanding Electrical Power Grids

Understanding Electrical Power Grids

The term “grid” refers to the conductors and equipment interconnecting power sources to power…


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