In a manually-controlled process, a human operator directly actuates some form of final control element…
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A bridge circuit is basically a pair of voltage dividers where the circuit output is taken as the difference…
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Many years ago, when I was first learning about electricity, I happened to discover a length of coaxial…
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Every programmable logic controller must have some means of receiving and interpreting signals from real-world…
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Light has long been used as a long-range signaling medium. While communication by light through open air is…
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These fortifications focus on human behavior rather than system design or component selection. In some ways…
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Cyber-security seems to have its own vocabulary, ranging from unwieldy technical acronyms to slang terms…
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In the United States, the ANSI and IEEE organizations have standardized a set of numerical codes referring to…
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I remember first learning about the world-wide Internet, and wondering what it actually looked like. The first…
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The vast majority of PID controllers in service today are digital in nature. Microprocessors executing PID…
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An exciting development in industrial instrumentation is the WirelessHART radio communication standard,…
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At the next OSI Reference Model layer (layer 4) is a set of protocols specifying how reliable communication…
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Developed by the Modicon company (the original manufacturer of the Programmable Logic Controller, or PLC) in…
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There are multiple motives for compromising the security of an industrial control system, some of which…
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A completely different way of measuring liquid level in vessels is to bounce a traveling wave off the surface…
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An engineer named Bob Metcalfe conceived the idea of Ethernet in 1973, while working for the Xerox research…
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Programmable logic controllers are essentially nothing more than special-purpose, industrial computers. As…
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Imagine a major marathon race, where hundreds of runners gather in one place to compete. When the starting gun…
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A design-based fortification is one rooted in technical details of system architecture and functionality. Some…
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One of the great benefits of digital technology is the ability to communicate vast amounts of information over…
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Learning how to tune PID controllers is a skill born of much practice. Regardless of how thoroughly you may…
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Disconnect Switches Disconnects are switches designed to isolate sections of a power system in case of damage…
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Feedback Control System Components Before we begin our discussion on process control, we must define a few key…
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A variety of problem-solving techniques have been presented for students over the years which are all helpful…
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Human-machine interfaces, or HMIs, are a critical part of nearly all control systems, complementing the…
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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License By exercising the Licensed Rights (defined…
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The next level of detail is the Process and Instrument Diagram, or P&ID. Here, we see a “zooming…
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To review, voltage is the measure of potential energy available to electric charges. Current is the uniform…
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It is often useful to express the amplitude of an alternating quantity such as voltage or current in terms…
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A very common form of on/off valve used for pneumatic and hydraulic systems alike is the solenoid valve. A…
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Electrical Resistance Resistance (\(R\)) is the dissipative opposition to an electric current, analogous to…
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Certain types of nuclear radiation easily penetrates the walls of industrial vessels, but is attenuated by…
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Measuring the flow rate of liquid through an open channel is not unlike measuring the flow rate of a liquid…
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The vast majority of PID controllers in service today are digital in nature. Microprocessors executing PID…
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To understand just how different FOUNDATION Fieldbus is from other digital instrument systems, consider a…
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Every flow-measuring instrument exploits a physical principle to measure the flow rate of fluid stream.…
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Sensors used to measure vibration come in three basic types: displacement, velocity, and acceleration.…
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One of the most important accessories for any temperature-sensing element is a pressure-tight sheath known as…
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The following collection of photographs chronicles the complete disassembly of a Fisher E-body globe valve…
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One of the marks of a successful problem-solver is a habit of applying general principles to every new problem…
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Few areas of mathematics are as powerfully useful in describing and analyzing the physical world as calculus:…
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Weight-based level instruments sense process level in a vessel by directly measuring the weight of the vessel.…
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Fieldbus devices require far more attention in their initial setup and commissioning than their analog…
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An engineer named Bob Metcalfe conceived the idea of Ethernet in 1973, while working for the Xerox research…
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This animation shows the basic operation of a gas chromatograph, showing the separation of different molecular…
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Regardless of valve type, all stem-actuated control valves require some form of seal allowing motion of the…
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There is much to be said for neatness of assembly in electrical signal wiring. Even though the electrons…
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The final step in treating wastewater before releasing it into the natural environment is to kill any harmful…
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When I began teaching full-time in 1998, most of what I thought I understood about good teaching was actually…
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RTDs are completely passive sensing elements, requiring the application of an externally-sourced electric…
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An extremely important topic in engineering is that of transfer functions. Simply defined, a transfer function…
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Perhaps the most confusing aspect of discrete sensors is the definition of a sensor’s normal status.…
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The reason why a pneumatic control valve’s stem position corresponds linearly to the amount of air…
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One of the marks of a successful problem-solver is a habit of applying general principles to every new problem…
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A proximity switch is one detecting the proximity (closeness) of some object. By definition, these switches…
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Much of our knowledge about atomic structure comes from experimental data relating the interaction between…
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Many years ago, when I was first learning about electricity, I happened to discover a length of coaxial…
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To summarize some of the key points and concepts for teaching: Do not waste class time transmitting facts to…
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While 50 and 51 (instantaneous and time overcurrent) relay functions monitor line current magnitude and guard…
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Sample sizes of chemical substances are often measured in moles. One mole of a substance is defined as a…
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