Programmable logic controllers are essentially nothing more than special-purpose, industrial computers. As…
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Thermodynamics is the study of heat, temperature, and their related effects in physical systems. As a subject,…
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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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(Will be addressed in future versions of this book)
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Perhaps the most important rule of controller tuning is to know the process before attempting to adjust the…
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Valves can experience a number of problems, most of them either preventable or repairable. These problems can…
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In contrast to quantitative tuning procedures where definite numerical values for P, I, and D controller…
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There are many process control applications in the industry where it is desirable to have multiple control…
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While 50 and 51 (instantaneous and time overcurrent) relay functions monitor line current magnitude and guard…
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In the United States, the most common language used to program PLCs is Ladder Diagram (LD), also known as…
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Light is known to interact with matter in very specific ways, which may be exploited as a means of measuring…
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Human-machine interfaces, or HMIs, are a critical part of nearly all control systems, complementing the…
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A technological advance introduced in the late 1980’s was HART, an acronym standing for Highway…
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Non-dispersive analysis, while newer in discovery than dispersive analysis (Isaac Newton’s 17th-century…
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The efficient identification and correction of instrument calibration errors is an important function for…
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Three-phase AC is the dominant mode of electric power generation and distribution in modern societies.…
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The simple PLC ladder diagram (LD) commands consist of contacts and coils, arranged in sequences that mimic…
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The transformer is one of the most important components in all of AC circuitry. Principally used to…
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The Law of Continuity for fluids states that the product of mass density (\(\rho\)), cross-sectional pipe area…
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RTDs are completely passive sensing elements, requiring the application of an externally-sourced electric…
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The two “process variables” we rely on most heavily in the field of electrical measurement and…
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Programmable logic controllers are essentially nothing more than special-purpose, industrial computers. As…
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Perhaps the most valuable skill an instrument technician can possess is the ability to efficiently diagnose…
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As we have seen, the concept of integration is finding the accumulation of one variable multiplied by another…
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Diagnostic ability is arguably the most difficult skill to develop within a student, and also the most…
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Constructing PID control systems using discrete components is a fairly simple method involving operational…
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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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A very common form of on/off valve used for pneumatic and hydraulic systems alike is the solenoid valve. A…
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A Safety Instrumented Function, or SIF, is one or more components designed to execute a specific…
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The electrical conductivity of liquids is an important analytical measurement in many industrial processes.…
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Fieldbus devices require far more attention in their initial setup and commissioning than their analog…
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Virtually any mass above absolute zero temperature emits electromagnetic radiation (photons, or light) as a…
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DC electric current signals may also be used to communicate process measurement information from transmitters…
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In contrast to quantitative tuning procedures where definite numerical values for P, I, and D controller…
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Negative feedback systems, in general, tend to cause confusion for those first learning their fundamental…
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Visualizing the actions of P, I, and D tuning parameters using graphs is extremely useful in predicting the…
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What is Calibration? To calibrate an instrument means to check and adjust (if necessary) its response so the…
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Self-balancing pneumatic instrument mechanisms are very similar to negative-feedback operational amplifier…
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Developed by the Modicon company (the original manufacturer of the Programmable Logic Controller, or PLC) in…
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This animation shows the basic operation of a gas chromatograph, showing the separation of different molecular…
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Instrument technicians should not have to concern themselves over the programming details internal to digital…
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Valves can experience a number of problems, most of them either preventable or repairable. These problems can…
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Sensors used to measure vibration come in three basic types: displacement, velocity, and acceleration.…
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In reliability engineering, it is important to be able to quantity the reliability (or conversely, the…
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All masses require force to accelerate (we can also think of this in terms of the mass generating a reaction…
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One of the most common, and most useful, pressure measuring instruments in industry is the differential…
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(Will be addressed in future versions of this book)
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