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Basic Components Common to all Radio Systems

Basic Components Common to all Radio Systems

“Radio” systems use electromagnetic fields to communicate information over long distances through…


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Proportional-only Control

Proportional-only Control

Imagine a liquid-level control system for a vessel, where the position of a level-sensing float directly sets…


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Interposing Relays in PLCs

Interposing Relays in PLCs

In addition to directly performing logic functions, electromechanical relays may also be used as interposing…


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Practical Measures of Reliability

Practical Measures of Reliability

In reliability engineering, it is important to be able to quantity the reliability (or conversely, the…


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Process and Instrument Diagrams

Process and Instrument Diagrams

The next level of detail is the Process and Instrument Diagram, or P&ID. Here, we see a “zooming…


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Gas Filter Correlation (GFC) Spectroscopy

Gas Filter Correlation (GFC) Spectroscopy

Using filter cells to eliminate wavelengths associated with interfering gases is called positive filtering in…


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Electronic Structure

Electronic Structure

Earlier in this chapter you were shown a model of a nitrogen atom with a dense nucleus (comprised of protons…


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What is Internet Protocol (IP)?

What is Internet Protocol (IP)?

I remember first learning about the world-wide Internet, and wondering what it actually looked like. The first…


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Instrument and Process Equipment Symbols

Instrument and Process Equipment Symbols

This section shows some of the many instrument symbols found in different types of technical diagrams used to…


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Radiative Temperature Measurement

Radiative Temperature Measurement

Temperature measurement devices may be classified into two broad types: contact and non-contact. Contact-type…


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Logic Programming in PLCs

Logic Programming in PLCs

Although it seems each model of PLC has its own idiosyncratic standard for programming, there does exist an…


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Radiation Level Measurement

Radiation Level Measurement

Certain types of nuclear radiation easily penetrates the walls of industrial vessels, but is attenuated by…


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Instrument Turndown (Rangedown)

Instrument Turndown (Rangedown)

An important performance parameter for transmitter instruments is something often referred to as turndown or…


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Equivalent Series and Parallel Circuits

Equivalent Series and Parallel Circuits

Impedance in a series circuit is the orthogonal sum of resistance and reactance: \[Z = \sqrt{R^2 + (X_L -…


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Atomic Theory and Chemical Symbols

Atomic Theory and Chemical Symbols

The three “elementary” particles of matter comprising all atoms are electrons, protons, and…


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Laminar Flowmeters

Laminar Flowmeters

A unique form of differential pressure-based flow measurement deserves its own section in this flow…


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Boiler Water Level Control System Example

Boiler Water Level Control System Example

Steam boilers are very common in industry, principally because steam power is so useful. Common uses for steam…


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Basics of Bridge Circuits

Basics of Bridge Circuits

A bridge circuit is basically a pair of voltage dividers where the circuit output is taken as the difference…


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Weighfeeders

Weighfeeders

A special type flowmeter suited for powdered or granular solids is the weighfeeder. One of the most common…


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Industrial Instrumentation Summary for Teachers

Industrial Instrumentation Summary for Teachers

To summarize some of the key points and concepts for teaching: Do not waste class time transmitting facts to…


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Periodic Table of the Ions

Periodic Table of the Ions


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Pressure Switches

Pressure Switches

A pressure switch is one that detects the presence of fluid pressure. Pressure switches often use diaphragms…


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Numerical Integration

Numerical Integration

As we have seen, the concept of integration is finding the accumulation of one variable multiplied by another…


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WirelessHART Radio Communication Standard

WirelessHART Radio Communication Standard

An exciting development in industrial instrumentation is the WirelessHART radio communication standard,…


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Thermocouple Types, Junctions, Connector and Tip Styles

Thermocouple Types, Junctions, Connector and Tip Styles

RTDs are completely passive sensing elements, requiring the application of an externally-sourced electric…


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Pressure-based Flowmeters

Pressure-based Flowmeters

All masses require force to accelerate (we can also think of this in terms of the mass generating a reaction…


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LRV and URV Settings, Digital Trim (Digital Transmitters)

LRV and URV Settings, Digital Trim (Digital Transmitters)

The advent of “smart” field instruments containing microprocessors has been a great advance for…


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Safety Gas Analyzers

Safety Gas Analyzers

Process analyzers measure the concentration of specific substances for the purpose of measuring and/or…


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Valve Seat Leakage

Valve Seat Leakage

In some process applications, it is important that the control valve be able to completely stop fluid flow…


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4-wire (“self-powered”) Transmitter Current Loops

4-wire (“self-powered”) Transmitter Current Loops

DC electric current signals may also be used to communicate process measurement information from transmitters…


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Active Reading and Outlining Documentation

Active Reading and Outlining Documentation

Learning from reading printed text is a kind of problem-solving activity it is own right. The problem is how…


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Loop Diagrams (Loop Sheets)

Loop Diagrams (Loop Sheets)

Finally, we arrive at the loop diagram (sometimes called a loop sheet) for the compressor surge control system…


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Functional Diagrams: the Flow of Information within a Control System

Functional Diagrams: the Flow of Information within a Control System

A unique form of technical diagram for describing the abstract functions comprising a control system (e.g. PID…


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Proper Care and Feeding of Pneumatic Instruments

Proper Care and Feeding of Pneumatic Instruments

Perhaps the most important rule to obey when using pneumatic instruments is to maintain clean and dry…


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Feedforward with Dynamic Compensation

Feedforward with Dynamic Compensation

As we have seen, feedforward control is a way to improve the stability of a feedback control system in the…


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Introduction to Calculus

Introduction to Calculus

Calculus. Few areas of mathematics are as powerfully useful in describing and analyzing the physical…


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Resistance, Reactance, and Impedance

Resistance, Reactance, and Impedance

Electrical Resistance Resistance (\(R\)) is the dissipative opposition to an electric current, analogous to…


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Actuator Bench-set

Actuator Bench-set

Valve actuators provide force to move control valve trim. For precise positioning of a control valve, there…


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Basic Operation of a Gas Chromatograph

Basic Operation of a Gas Chromatograph

This animation shows the basic operation of a gas chromatograph, showing the separation of different molecular…


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Common Diagnostic Mistakes in Control Systems

Common Diagnostic Mistakes in Control Systems

Volumes could be written about poor diagnostic technique. The following mistakes are not intended to comprise…


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AC Motor Braking

AC Motor Braking

There are several different methods useful for causing an AC induction motor to brake, or slow down: DC…


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