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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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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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Elementary Thermodynamics

Elementary Thermodynamics

Thermodynamics is the study of heat, temperature, and their related effects in physical systems. As a subject,…


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Indicators, Recorders, Process Switches and Alarms

Indicators, Recorders, Process Switches and Alarms

So far we have just looked at instruments that sense, control, and influence process variables. Transmitters,…


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Safety Instrumented Functions and Systems

Safety Instrumented Functions and Systems

A Safety Instrumented Function, or SIF, is one or more components designed to execute a specific…


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The Stuxnet Virus

The Stuxnet Virus

In November of 2007 a new computer virus was submitted to a virus scanning service. The purpose of this new…


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Self-regulating, Integrating, and Runaway Process Characteristics

Self-regulating, Integrating, and Runaway Process Characteristics

Perhaps the most important rule of controller tuning is to know the process before attempting to adjust the…


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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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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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Velocity-based Flowmeters

Velocity-based Flowmeters

The Law of Continuity for fluids states that the product of mass density (\(\rho\)), cross-sectional pipe area…


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Feedforward Control

Feedforward Control

“Feedforward” is a rather under-used control strategy capable of managing a great many types of…


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WirelessHART Radio Communication Standard

WirelessHART Radio Communication Standard

An exciting development in industrial instrumentation is the WirelessHART radio communication standard,…


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Polyphase AC Power

Polyphase AC Power

“Polyphase” means “many phases,” describing a form of AC electrical system where…


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Valve Packing

Valve Packing

Regardless of valve type, all stem-actuated control valves require some form of seal allowing motion of the…


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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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Proportional-only Control

Proportional-only Control

Imagine a liquid-level control system for a vessel, where the position of a level-sensing float directly sets…


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Formulae for Common Chemical Compounds

Formulae for Common Chemical Compounds

Most of these formulae appear in molecular chemical form rather than structural form. For example, ethanol…


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Weighfeeders

Weighfeeders

A special type flowmeter suited for powdered or granular solids is the weighfeeder. One of the most common…


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Molecular Quantities

Molecular Quantities

Sample sizes of chemical substances are often measured in moles. One mole of a substance is defined as a…


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Numerical Integration

Numerical Integration

As we have seen, the concept of integration is finding the accumulation of one variable multiplied by another…


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Transmitter Damping Adjustments

Transmitter Damping Adjustments

The vast majority of modern process transmitters (both analog and digital) come equipped with a feature known…


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Comparison of  Op-Amp Circuits With Analogous Pneumatic Mechanisms

Comparison of Op-Amp Circuits With Analogous Pneumatic Mechanisms

Self-balancing pneumatic instrument mechanisms are very similar to negative-feedback operational amplifier…


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Understanding Area, Volume and Common Geometry

Understanding Area, Volume and Common Geometry

Area refers to the size of two-dimensional surface. Volume refers to the size of a three-dimensional space. To…


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How Derivatives and Integrals Relate to One Another

How Derivatives and Integrals Relate to One Another

First, let us review some of the properties of differentials and derivatives, referencing the expression and…


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Pneumatic PID Controllers

Pneumatic PID Controllers

A pneumatic controller receives a process variable (PV) signal as a variable air pressure, compares that…


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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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High-reliability Control Systems

High-reliability Control Systems

As discussed at the beginning of this chapter, instrumentation safety may be broadly divided into two…


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Digital Multimeter (DMM) Tips and Tricks

Digital Multimeter (DMM) Tips and Tricks

The digital multimeter (DMM) is quite possibly the most useful tool in the instrument technician’s…


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Dampers and Louvres

Dampers and Louvres

A damper (otherwise known as a louvre) is a multi-element flow control device generally used to throttle large…


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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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