RTDs are completely passive sensing elements, requiring the application of an externally-sourced electric…
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Self-balancing pneumatic instrument mechanisms are very similar to negative-feedback operational amplifier…
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A Safety Instrumented Function, or SIF, is one or more components designed to execute a specific…
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A wise PLC programmer once told me that the first thing any aspiring programmer should learn about the PLC…
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Since we often use electricity to convey energy from one location to another, it is important to be able to…
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An extremely important topic in engineering is that of transfer functions. Simply defined, a transfer function…
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A form of protection against faults on long-distance power lines is called distance relaying, so named because…
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Area refers to the size of two-dimensional surface. Volume refers to the size of a three-dimensional space. To…
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DC electric motors generate torque by a reaction between two magnetic fields: one field established by…
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Every programmable logic controller must have some means of receiving and interpreting signals from real-world…
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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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A different strategy for controlling the flow of fluid is to insert a rotary element into the flow path.…
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Displacer level instruments exploit Archimedes’ Principle to detect liquid level by continuously…
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“Polyphase” means “many phases,” describing a form of AC electrical system where…
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Cyber-security seems to have its own vocabulary, ranging from unwieldy technical acronyms to slang terms…
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Some analyzers measure the composition of a process stream by directly immersing the sensing element in that…
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A variety of technologies exist to measure the quantity of stored material in a vessel. For liquid…
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“As to methods there may be a million and then some, but principles are few. The man who grasps…
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The digital multimeter (DMM) is quite possibly the most useful tool in the instrument technician’s…
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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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To better understand the design and operation of self-balancing pneumatic mechanisms, it is helpful to examine…
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The most popular form of signal transmission used in modern industrial instrumentation systems (as of this…
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The vast majority of PID controllers in service today are digital in nature. Microprocessors executing PID…
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Electrical Resistance Resistance (\(R\)) is the dissipative opposition to an electric current, analogous to…
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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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The efficient identification and correction of instrument calibration errors is an important function for…
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The Law of Mass Conservation states that matter can neither be created nor destroyed. The Law of Energy…
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Calculus has a reputation for being difficult to learn, and with good reason. The traditional approach to…
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In this section I will show screenshots from a process loop simulation program illustrating the effectiveness…
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The majority of flowmeter technologies operate on the principle of interpreting fluid flow based on the…
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So far we have just looked at instruments that sense, control, and influence process variables. Transmitters,…
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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 wise PLC programmer once told me that the first thing any aspiring programmer should learn about the PLC…
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Current is the name we give to the motion of electric charges from a point of high potential to a point of low…
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Tube, like pipe, is a hollow structure designed to provide an enclosed pathway for fluids to flow. In the case…
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It is possible to convey electrical power and communicate analog information over the same two wires using 4…
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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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The following collection of photographs chronicles the complete disassembly of a Fisher E-body globe valve…
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The following photograph shows a large air blower in a wastewater treatment facility equipped with 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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