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Bi-metal Temperature Sensors

Bi-metal Temperature Sensors

Solids tend to expand when heated. The amount that a solid sample will expand with increased temperature…


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Memory Maps and I/O Addressing

Memory Maps and I/O Addressing

A wise PLC programmer once told me that the first thing any aspiring programmer should learn about the PLC…


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FOUNDATION Fieldbus H1 Protocol Data Link Layer

FOUNDATION Fieldbus H1 Protocol Data Link Layer

Like so many other industrial data networks, FOUNDATION Fieldbus is an “unswitched” or…


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What are Simple Machines?

What are Simple Machines?

A machine in the broad sense of the word is any device designed to translate some form of energy into useful…


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Sliding-stem Valves

Sliding-stem Valves

A sliding-stem valve body is one where the moving parts slide with a linear motion. Some examples of…


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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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Control Valve Sizing

Control Valve Sizing

When control valves operate between fully open and fully shut, they serve much the same purpose in process…


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Advantages and Disadvantages of Pneumatic Instruments

Advantages and Disadvantages of Pneumatic Instruments

The disadvantages of pneumatic instruments are painfully evident to anyone familiar with both pneumatic and…


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Heuristic PID Tuning Procedures

Heuristic PID Tuning Procedures

In contrast to quantitative tuning procedures where definite numerical values for P, I, and D controller…


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Single-line Electrical Diagrams

Single-line Electrical Diagrams

Electrical power grids primarily consist of three-phase AC circuits. This means most power lines (transmission…


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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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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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Fundamental Principles of Industrial Instrumentation

Fundamental Principles of Industrial Instrumentation

Shown here is a partial listing of principles applied in the subject matter of this chapter, given for the…


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National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Traceability

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Traceability

As defined previously, calibration means the comparison and adjustment (if necessary) of an instrument’s…


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Unit Conversions and Physical Constants

Unit Conversions and Physical Constants

Converting between disparate units of measurement is the bane of many science students. The problem is worse…


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What is Internet Protocol (IP)?

What is Internet Protocol (IP)?

I remember first learning about the world-wide Internet, and wondering what it actually looked like. The first…


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Electrical Sources and Electronic Load

Electrical Sources and Electronic Load

By definition, a source is a device delivering energy into a system, while a load is a device extracting…


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Pipe and Pipe Fittings

Pipe and Pipe Fittings

Pipe is a hollow structure designed to provide an enclosed pathway for fluids to flow, usually manufactured…


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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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Resistance, Reactance and Impedance

Resistance, Reactance and Impedance

Electrical Resistance Resistance (\(R\)) is the dissipative opposition to an electric current, analogous to…


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Diagnosing Feedback Control Problems

Diagnosing Feedback Control Problems

Negative feedback systems, in general, tend to cause confusion for those first learning their fundamental…


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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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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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National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Traceability

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Traceability

As defined previously, calibration means the comparison and adjustment (if necessary) of an instrument’s…


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A Comparison of PID Controller Tuning Techniques

A Comparison of PID Controller Tuning Techniques

In this section I will show screenshots from a process loop simulation program illustrating the effectiveness…


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4 to 20 mA Analog Current Signals

4 to 20 mA Analog Current Signals

The most popular form of signal transmission used in modern industrial instrumentation systems (as of this…


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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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2-wire (“loop-powered”) Transmitter Current Loops

2-wire (“loop-powered”) Transmitter Current Loops

It is possible to convey electrical power and communicate analog information over the same two wires using 4…


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Single-line Electrical Diagrams

Single-line Electrical Diagrams

Electrical power grids primarily consist of three-phase AC circuits. This means most power lines (transmission…


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Integral (Reset) Control

Integral (Reset) Control

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


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Insertion Flowmeters

Insertion Flowmeters

This section does not describe a particular type of flowmeter, but rather a design that may be implemented for…


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Motives for Compromising the Security of an Industrial Control System

Motives for Compromising the Security of an Industrial Control System

There are multiple motives for compromising the security of an industrial control system, some of which…


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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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Mathematical Problem-solving Techniques

Mathematical Problem-solving Techniques

Some problem-solving techniques are unique to quantitative problems, involving mathematical calculations. In…


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Proper Care and Feeding of Pneumatic Instruments

Proper Care and Feeding of Pneumatic Instruments

Perhaps the most important rule to obey when using pneumatic instruments is to maintain clean and dry…


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Introduction to Calculus

Introduction to Calculus

Few areas of mathematics are as powerfully useful in describing and analyzing the physical world as calculus:…


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Stoichiometry and the Law of Mass Conservation

Stoichiometry and the Law of Mass Conservation

Stoichiometry is the accounting of atoms before and after a chemical reaction. It is an expression of the Law…


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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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Introduction to Power System Automation

Introduction to Power System Automation

Those familiar with industrial instrumentation will find much within the electric power industry remarkably…


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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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Introduction to Capacitors and Capacitance

Introduction to Capacitors and Capacitance

Capacitance Any two electrical conductors separated by an insulating medium possess the characteristic called…


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