Human-machine interfaces, or HMIs, are a critical part of nearly all control systems, complementing the…
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Developed by the Modicon company (the original manufacturer of the Programmable Logic Controller, or PLC) in…
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As discussed at the beginning of this chapter, instrumentation safety may be broadly divided into two…
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A unique form of technical diagram for describing the abstract functions comprising a control system (e.g. PID…
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So far we have just looked at instruments that sense, control, and influence process variables. Transmitters,…
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The advent of “smart” field instruments containing microprocessors has been a great advance for…
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The following photograph shows a large air blower in a wastewater treatment facility equipped with a…
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Steam boilers are very common in industry, principally because steam power is so useful. Common uses for steam…
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An electric motor is often used as a discrete control element in a control system if driving a pump, conveyor…
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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 is much to be said for neatness of assembly in electrical signal wiring. Even though the electrons…
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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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In the United States, the most common language used to program PLCs is Ladder Diagram (LD), also known as…
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In order to provide an interface between the internal (digital) world of a computer and the external (analog)…
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A design-based fortification is one rooted in technical details of system architecture and functionality. Some…
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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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A simple control system drawn in block diagram form looks like this: Information from the measuring device…
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(Will be addressed in future versions of this book)
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Programmable logic controllers are essentially nothing more than special-purpose, industrial computers. As…
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Few areas of mathematics are as powerfully useful in describing and analyzing the physical world as calculus:…
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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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The next level of detail is the Process and Instrument Diagram, or P&ID. Here, we see a “zooming…
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The very purpose of physics is to quantitatively describe and explain the physical world in as few terms as…
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A proximity switch is one detecting the proximity (closeness) of some object. By definition, these switches…
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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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As we have seen, the concept of differentiation is finding the rate-of-change of one variable compared to…
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By definition, a source is a device delivering energy into a system, while a load is a device extracting…
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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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A positive displacement flowmeter is a cyclic mechanism built to pass a fixed volume of fluid through with…
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Sometimes we encounter a diversity of instrument signal standards in one control system. Such is the case with…
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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 addition to Ohm’s Law, we have a set of rules describing how voltages, currents, and resistances…
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Most people reading this book have likely had the experience of adjusting water temperature using two hand…
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Fieldbus devices require far more attention in their initial setup and commissioning than their analog…
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Earlier in this chapter you were shown a model of a nitrogen atom with a dense nucleus (comprised of protons…
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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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The following animation shows the calculus concepts of differentiation and integration (with respect to time)…
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Imagine a liquid-level control system for a vessel, where the position of a level-sensing float sets the…
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Modern analog-to-digital converters are phenomenally accurate, dependable, repeatable, and surprisingly…
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