Programmable logic controllers are essentially nothing more than special-purpose, industrial computers. As…
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Disturbances in the liquid tend to complicate liquid level measurement. These disturbances may result from…
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These fortifications focus on human behavior rather than system design or component selection. In some ways…
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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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One of the great benefits of digital technology is the ability to communicate vast amounts of information over…
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Labwork is an essential part of any science-based curriculum. Here, much improvement may be made over the…
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Every programmable logic controller must have some means of receiving and interpreting signals from real-world…
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A simple control system drawn in block diagram form looks like this: Information from the measuring device…
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Modern analog-to-digital converters are phenomenally accurate, dependable, repeatable, and surprisingly…
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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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PID control can be a confusing concept to understand. Here, a brief summary of each term within PID (P. I, and…
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(Will be addressed in future versions of this book)
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The purpose of a control valve actuator is to provide the motive force to operate a valve mechanism. Both…
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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 reason why a pneumatic control valve’s stem position corresponds linearly to the amount of air…
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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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A wise PLC programmer once told me that the first thing any aspiring programmer should learn about the PLC…
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So far we have just looked at instruments that sense, control, and influence process variables. Transmitters,…
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Developed by the Modicon company (the original manufacturer of the Programmable Logic Controller, or PLC) in…
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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 wise PLC programmer once told me that the first thing any aspiring programmer should learn about the PLC…
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Electrical power grids primarily consist of three-phase AC circuits. This means most power lines (transmission…
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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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Once while working as an instrument technician in an aluminum foundry, a mechanic asked me what it was that I…
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Learning from reading printed text is a kind of problem-solving activity it is own right. The problem is how…
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In some process applications, it is important that the control valve be able to completely stop fluid flow…
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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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These fortifications focus on human behavior rather than system design or component selection. In some ways…
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The advent of “smart” field instruments containing microprocessors has been a great advance for…
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Learning PLC programming is a very important skill. If your job involves programming, then you will likely…
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There are several different methods useful for causing an AC induction motor to brake, or slow down: DC…
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In reliability engineering, it is important to be able to quantity the reliability (or conversely, the…
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To understand just how different FOUNDATION Fieldbus is from other digital instrument systems, consider a…
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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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A completely different way of measuring liquid level in vessels is to bounce a traveling wave off the surface…
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The term “grid” refers to the conductors and equipment interconnecting power sources to power…
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While 50 and 51 (instantaneous and time overcurrent) relay functions monitor line current magnitude and guard…
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Although it seems each model of PLC has its own idiosyncratic standard for programming, there does exist an…
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The vast majority of PID controllers in service today are digital in nature. Microprocessors executing PID…
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Certain types of nuclear radiation easily penetrates the walls of industrial vessels, but is attenuated by…
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