Capacitors store energy in electric fields, proportional to the square of voltage. Inductors store energy in…
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A chemical reaction resulting in a net release of energy is called exothermic. Conversely, a chemical reaction…
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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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As previously defined, calibration refers to the checking and adjustment of an instrument so that its output…
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The disadvantages of pneumatic instruments are painfully evident to anyone familiar with both pneumatic and…
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Any power grid large enough to meet the demand of an entire nation must have multiple generators drawing from…
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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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A great many precision instruments use the principle of balance to measure some quantity. Perhaps the simplest…
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The following animation shows how a radio-energy pulse travels down and then up the waveguide of a guided-wave…
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Classical mechanics (often called Newtonian mechanics in honor of Isaac Newton) deal with forces and motions…
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Capacitance Any two electrical conductors separated by an insulating medium possess the characteristic called…
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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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The final step in treating wastewater before releasing it into the natural environment is to kill any harmful…
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Constructing PID control systems using discrete components is a fairly simple method involving operational…
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An important design parameter of a control valve is the position it will “fail” to if it loses…
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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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Control strategies such as cascade, ratio, feedforward, and those containing limit and selector functions can…
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Human-machine interfaces, or HMIs, are a critical part of nearly all control systems, complementing the…
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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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AC induction motors are based on the principle of a rotating magnetic field produced by a set of stationary…
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Solids tend to expand when heated. The amount that a solid sample will expand with increased temperature…
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One very convenient feature of waves is that their properties are universal. Waves of water in the ocean,…
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The advent of “smart” field instruments containing microprocessors has been a great advance for…
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An electromechanical relay is an electrical switch actuated by an electromagnet coil. As switching devices,…
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When control valves operate between fully open and fully shut, they serve much the same purpose in process…
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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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Instrument technicians should not have to concern themselves over the programming details internal to digital…
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When a high-energy photon strikes an atom, it may eject one of the lower-level electrons from its shell,…
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Programmable logic controllers are essentially nothing more than special-purpose, industrial computers. As…
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As we have seen, the concept of integration is finding the accumulation of one variable multiplied by another…
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Disconnect Switches Disconnects are switches designed to isolate sections of a power system in case of damage…
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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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Perhaps the most confusing aspect of discrete sensors is the definition of a sensor’s normal status.…
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The two “process variables” we rely on most heavily in the field of electrical measurement and…
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Valve actuators provide force to move control valve trim. For precise positioning of a control valve, there…
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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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Much of our knowledge about atomic structure comes from experimental data relating the interaction between…
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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 sliding-stem valve body is one where the moving parts slide with a linear motion. Some examples of…
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Non-dispersive analysis, while newer in discovery than dispersive analysis (Isaac Newton’s 17th-century…
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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 photograph shows a large air blower in a wastewater treatment facility equipped with a…
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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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Cyber-security seems to have its own vocabulary, ranging from unwieldy technical acronyms to slang terms…
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Programmable logic controllers are essentially nothing more than special-purpose, industrial computers. As…
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Binary patterns are not just able to represent numerical values. Given a standardized code, they may represent…
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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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An on/off valve is the fluid equivalent of an electrical switch: a device that either allows unimpeded flow or…
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Control strategies such as cascade, ratio, feedforward, and those containing limit and selector functions can…
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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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A technological advance introduced in the late 1980’s was HART, an acronym standing for Highway…
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The term “grid” refers to the conductors and equipment interconnecting power sources to power…
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Three-phase AC is the dominant mode of electric power generation and distribution in modern societies.…
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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 following animation shows how the “rotating” magnetic field of a three-phase AC induction…
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(Will be addressed in future versions of this book)
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A fluid is any substance having the ability to flow: to freely change shape and move under the influence of a…
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Much has been written about the benefits of robust PID control. Increased productivity, decreased equipment…
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The following collection of photographs chronicles the complete disassembly of a Fisher E-body globe valve…
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Visualizing the actions of P, I, and D tuning parameters using graphs is extremely useful in predicting the…
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