Calculus has a reputation for being difficult to learn, and with good reason. The traditional approach to…
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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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DC electric current signals may also be used to communicate process measurement information from transmitters…
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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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The vast majority of modern process transmitters (both analog and digital) come equipped with a feature known…
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Imagine a major marathon race, where hundreds of runners gather in one place to compete. When the starting gun…
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Any physical location in an industrial facility harboring the potential of explosion due to the presence of…
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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 simple control system drawn in block diagram form looks like this: Information from the measuring device…
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A pneumatic controller receives a process variable (PV) signal as a variable air pressure, compares that…
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Two extremely important principles in electric circuits were codified by Gustav Robert Kirchhoff in the year…
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Fluid pressure exerts force on any surface area it contacts, as described by the formula \(F = PA\). One…
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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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Regulating the electric power sent to an electric motor is a task performed by high-speed switching…
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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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Learning how to tune PID controllers is a skill born of much practice. Regardless of how thoroughly you may…
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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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As defined previously, calibration means the comparison and adjustment (if necessary) of an instrument’s…
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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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Many years ago, when I was first learning about electricity, I happened to discover a length of coaxial…
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Control strategies such as cascade, ratio, feedforward, and those containing limit and selector functions can…
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“Polyphase” means “many phases,” describing a form of AC electrical system where…
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Valves can experience a number of problems, most of them either preventable or repairable. These problems can…
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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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Light has long been used as a long-range signaling medium. While communication by light through open air is…
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An extremely important topic in engineering is that of transfer functions. Simply defined, a transfer function…
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In order for any PID controller to be practical, it must be able to do more than just implement the PID…
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A pressure switch is one detecting the presence of fluid pressure. Pressure switches often use diaphragms or…
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Constructing PID control systems using discrete components is a fairly simple method involving operational…
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Imagine a major marathon race, where hundreds of runners gather in one place to compete. When the starting gun…
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In the United States, the ANSI and IEEE organizations have standardized a set of numerical codes referring to…
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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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Non-dispersive analysis, while newer in discovery than dispersive analysis (Isaac Newton’s 17th-century…
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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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As defined previously, calibration means the comparison and adjustment (if necessary) of an instrument’s…
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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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Every programmable logic controller must have some means of receiving and interpreting signals from real-world…
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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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The Law of Continuity for fluids states that the product of mass density (\(\rho\)), cross-sectional pipe area…
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Suppose we wished to measure the consumption of propane over time for a large propane storage tank supplying a…
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So far we have just looked at instruments that sense, control, and influence process variables. Transmitters,…
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A technological advance introduced in the late 1980’s was HART, an acronym standing for Highway…
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It is often useful to express the amplitude of an alternating quantity such as voltage or current in terms…
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Fluid pressure exerts force on any surface area it contacts, as described by the formula \(F = PA\). One…
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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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An important design parameter of a control valve is the position it will “fail” to if it loses…
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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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Stoichiometry is the accounting of atoms before and after a chemical reaction. It is an expression of the Law…
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Perhaps the most valuable skill an instrument technician can possess is the ability to efficiently diagnose…
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An exciting development in industrial instrumentation is the WirelessHART radio communication standard,…
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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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First, let us review some of the properties of differentials and derivatives, referencing the expression and…
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To understand just how different FOUNDATION Fieldbus is from other digital instrument systems, consider a…
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Fieldbus devices require far more attention in their initial setup and commissioning than their analog…
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A limit switch detects the physical motion of an object by direct contact with that object. An example of a…
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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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Coy, John J. et. al. (December 2012) Sampled graphic illustrations from his NASA Reference Publication…
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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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Circuit breakers used in residential, commercial, and light industrial service are self-tripping devices: they…
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