In a manually-controlled process, a human operator directly actuates some form of final control element…
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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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Many years ago, when I was first learning about electricity, I happened to discover a length of coaxial…
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Developed by the Modicon company (the original manufacturer of the Programmable Logic Controller, or PLC) in…
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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 vast majority of PID controllers in service today are digital in nature. Microprocessors executing PID…
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A bridge circuit is basically a pair of voltage dividers where the circuit output is taken as the difference…
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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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There are multiple motives for compromising the security of an industrial control system, some of which…
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Cyber-security seems to have its own vocabulary, ranging from unwieldy technical acronyms to slang terms…
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At the next OSI Reference Model layer (layer 4) is a set of protocols specifying how reliable communication…
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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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“Radio” systems use electromagnetic fields to communicate information over long distances through…
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As discussed at the beginning of this chapter, instrumentation safety may be broadly divided into two…
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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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I remember first learning about the world-wide Internet, and wondering what it actually looked like. The first…
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Programmable logic controllers are essentially nothing more than special-purpose, industrial computers. As…
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Pipe is a hollow structure designed to provide an enclosed pathway for fluids to flow, usually manufactured…
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Every programmable logic controller must have some means of receiving and interpreting signals from real-world…
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An exciting development in industrial instrumentation is the WirelessHART radio communication standard,…
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An important performance parameter for transmitter instruments is something often referred to as turndown or…
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Most pneumatic instruments use a simple but highly sensitive mechanism for converting mechanical motion into…
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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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Learning from reading printed text is a kind of problem-solving activity it is own right. The problem is how…
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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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Modern analog-to-digital converters are phenomenally accurate, dependable, repeatable, and surprisingly…
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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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A quantitative PID tuning procedure is a step-by-step approach leading directly to a set of numerical values…
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Pipe is a hollow structure designed to provide an enclosed pathway for fluids to flow, usually manufactured…
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Any conductor possesses a characteristic called inductance: the ability to store energy in the form of a…
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The three “elementary” particles of matter comprising all atoms are electrons, protons, 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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Temperature measurement devices may be classified into two broad types: contact and non-contact. Contact-type…
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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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Three-phase AC is the dominant mode of electric power generation and distribution in modern societies.…
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Flow, by definition, is the passage of material from one location to another over time. So far this chapter…
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To understand just how different FOUNDATION Fieldbus is from other digital instrument systems, consider a…
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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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In this section I will show screenshots from a process loop simulation program illustrating the effectiveness…
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A very common method for directly controlling low flow rates of fluids is to use a device known as a metering…
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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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Some of the simplest types of digital communication networks found in industry are defined by the EIA…
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While the term “probability” may evoke images of imprecision, probability is in fact an exact…
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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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Thermodynamics is the study of heat, temperature, and their related effects in physical systems. As a subject,…
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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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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License By exercising the Licensed Rights (defined…
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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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A level switch is one detecting the level of liquid or solid (granules or powder) in a vessel. Level switches…
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(Will be addressed in future versions of this book)
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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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A limit switch detects the physical motion of an object by direct contact with that object. An example of a…
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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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Self-balancing pneumatic instrument mechanisms are very similar to negative-feedback operational amplifier…
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A very common form of on/off valve used for pneumatic and hydraulic systems alike is the solenoid valve. A…
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As we have seen, feedforward control is a way to improve the stability of a feedback control system in the…
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To summarize some of the key points and concepts for teaching: Do not waste class time transmitting facts to…
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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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In a manually-controlled process, a human operator directly actuates some form of final control element…
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Recall that an exothermic chemical reaction is one that releases a net sum of energy, as opposed to an…
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