Classical mechanics (often called Newtonian mechanics in honor of Isaac Newton) deal with forces and motions…
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Capacitive level instruments measure electrical capacitance of a conductive rod inserted vertically into a…
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This section does not describe a particular type of flowmeter, but rather a design that may be implemented for…
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A powerful mathematical concept useful for analyzing practically any physical system – electrical…
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A Safety Instrumented Function, or SIF, is one or more components designed to execute a specific…
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Suppose we wished to measure the rate of propane gas flow through a hose to a torch: Flowmeters appropriate…
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Electromechanical relays may be connected together to perform logic and control functions, acting as logic…
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A level switch is one detecting the level of liquid or solid (granules or powder) in a vessel. Level switches…
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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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A unique form of technical diagram for describing the abstract functions comprising a control system (e.g. PID…
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An variable-area flowmeter is one where the fluid must pass through a restriction whose area increases with…
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Finally, we arrive at the loop diagram (sometimes called a loop sheet) for the compressor surge control system…
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There are many process control applications in the industry where it is desirable to have multiple control…
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Level gauges are perhaps the simplest indicating instrument for liquid level in a vessel. They are often found…
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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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Much of our knowledge about atomic structure comes from experimental data relating the interaction between…
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While the term “probability” may evoke images of imprecision, probability is in fact an exact…
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RTDs are completely passive sensing elements, requiring the application of an externally-sourced electric…
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In November of 2007 a new computer virus was submitted to a virus scanning service. The purpose of this new…
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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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An important type of “accessory” relay, especially for legacy electromechanical protective relays,…
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Multiple accessories exist for pressure-sensing devices to function optimally in challenging process…
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As defined previously, calibration means the comparison and adjustment (if necessary) of an instrument’s…
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Electromechanical relays may be connected together to perform logic and control functions, acting as logic…
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The term “grid” refers to the conductors and equipment interconnecting power sources to power…
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Control strategies such as cascade, ratio, feedforward, and those containing limit and selector functions can…
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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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When a high-energy photon strikes an atom, it may eject one of the lower-level electrons from its shell,…
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One of the fundamental laws of electric circuits is Kirchhoff’s Current Law, which states the algebraic…
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The electrical conductivity of liquids is an important analytical measurement in many industrial processes.…
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Light is known to interact with matter in very specific ways, which may be exploited as a means of measuring…
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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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Light has long been used as a long-range signaling medium. While communication by light through open air is…
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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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A completely different way of measuring liquid level in vessels is to bounce a traveling wave off the surface…
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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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When control valves operate between fully open and fully shut, they serve much the same purpose in process…
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Diagnostic ability is arguably the most difficult skill to develop within a student, and also the most…
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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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Lipták, Béla G. et al., Instrument Engineers’ Handbook – Process Measurement and Analysis Volume I,…
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“Feedforward” is a rather under-used control strategy capable of managing a great many types of…
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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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Circuit breakers used in residential, commercial, and light industrial service are self-tripping devices: they…
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Mechanical pressure-sensing elements include the bellows, the diaphragm, and the bourdon tube. Each of these…
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While the term “probability” may evoke images of imprecision, probability is in fact an exact…
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The fundamental principle of electromagnetism is that an electric current will create a magnetic field at…
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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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“Radio” systems use electromagnetic fields to communicate information over long distances through…
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The digital multimeter (DMM) is quite possibly the most useful tool in the instrument technician’s…
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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 variety of problem-solving techniques have been presented for students over the years which are all helpful…
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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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The following animation shows how a radio-energy pulse travels down and then up the waveguide of a guided-wave…
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While 50 and 51 (instantaneous and time overcurrent) relay functions monitor line current magnitude and guard…
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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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Several different technologies exist for the conversion of fluid pressure into an electrical signal response.…
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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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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 this section I will show screenshots from a process loop simulation program illustrating the effectiveness…
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