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Cascade Control

Cascade Control

A simple control system drawn in block diagram form looks like this: Information from the measuring device…


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Control Valve Actuators

Control Valve Actuators

The purpose of a control valve actuator is to provide the motive force to operate a valve mechanism. Both…


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On/off Electric Motor Control Circuits

On/off Electric Motor Control Circuits

An electric motor is often used as a discrete control element in a control system if driving a pump, conveyor…


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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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Analysis of Practical Pneumatic Instruments

Analysis of Practical Pneumatic Instruments

To better understand the design and operation of self-balancing pneumatic mechanisms, it is helpful to examine…


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Digital Representation of Numerical Data

Digital Representation of Numerical Data

Process measurements are often of an analog nature: the temperature of a furnace, the rate of fluid flow…


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Instantaneous and Time-overcurrent (50/51) Protection

Instantaneous and Time-overcurrent (50/51) Protection

Perhaps the most basic and necessary protective relay function is overcurrent: commanding a circuit breaker to…


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Non-contact Temperature Sensors

Non-contact Temperature Sensors

Virtually any mass above absolute zero temperature emits electromagnetic radiation (photons, or light) as a…


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Non-dispersive Luft Detector Spectroscopy

Non-dispersive Luft Detector Spectroscopy

Non-dispersive analysis, while newer in discovery than dispersive analysis (Isaac Newton’s 17th-century…


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Electrical Signal and Control Wiring

Electrical Signal and Control Wiring

There is much to be said for neatness of assembly in electrical signal wiring. Even though the electrons…


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Level Sensor Accessories

Level Sensor Accessories

Disturbances in the liquid tend to complicate liquid level measurement. These disturbances may result from…


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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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Techniques for Analyzing Control Strategies

Techniques for Analyzing Control Strategies

Control strategies such as cascade, ratio, feedforward, and those containing limit and selector functions can…


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General Problem-solving Techniques

General Problem-solving Techniques

A variety of problem-solving techniques have been presented for students over the years which are all helpful…


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Limit, Selector, and Override Controls

Limit, Selector, and Override Controls

Another category of control strategies involves the use of signal relays or function blocks with the ability…


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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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An Analogy for Calibration Vs Ranging

An Analogy for Calibration Vs Ranging

The concepts of calibration (trimming) and ranging are often difficult for new students of instrumentation to…


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Analytical Measurements of Chemical Compositions

Analytical Measurements of Chemical Compositions

A great many chemical composition measurements may be made indirectly by means of electricity, if those…


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Wastewater Disinfection Example

Wastewater Disinfection Example

The final step in treating wastewater before releasing it into the natural environment is to kill any harmful…


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Non-contact Temperature Sensors

Non-contact Temperature Sensors

Virtually any mass above absolute zero temperature emits electromagnetic radiation (photons, or light) as a…


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Velocity-based Flowmeters

Velocity-based Flowmeters

The Law of Continuity for fluids states that the product of mass density (\(\rho\)), cross-sectional pipe area…


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Digital PID Controllers

Digital PID Controllers

The vast majority of PID controllers in service today are digital in nature. Microprocessors executing PID…


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Classified Areas and Electrical Safety Measures

Classified Areas and Electrical Safety Measures

Any physical location in an industrial facility harboring the potential of explosion due to the presence of…


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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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Tube and Tube Fittings

Tube and Tube Fittings

Tube, like pipe, is a hollow structure designed to provide an enclosed pathway for fluids to flow. In the case…


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Flow Measurement in Open Channels

Flow Measurement in Open Channels

Measuring the flow rate of liquid through an open channel is not unlike measuring the flow rate of a liquid…


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Physics and Chemistry Terminology and Definitions

Physics and Chemistry Terminology and Definitions

Atom: the smallest unit of matter that may be isolated by chemical means. Particle: a part of an atom,…


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What is Electrical Power?

What is Electrical Power?

Since we often use electricity to convey energy from one location to another, it is important to be able to…


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National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Traceability

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Traceability

As defined previously, calibration means the comparison and adjustment (if necessary) of an instrument’s…


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Electrical Pressure Elements

Electrical Pressure Elements

Several different technologies exist for the conversion of fluid pressure into an electrical signal response.…


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Fundamental Principles of Industrial Instrumentation

Fundamental Principles of Industrial Instrumentation

Shown here is a partial listing of principles applied in the subject matter of this chapter, given for the…


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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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Open-ended, Shorted, and Properly Terminated Transmission Lines

Open-ended, Shorted, and Properly Terminated Transmission Lines

Many years ago, when I was first learning about electricity, I happened to discover a length of coaxial…


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Principles, not Procedures

Principles, not Procedures

One of the marks of a successful problem-solver is a habit of applying general principles to every new problem…


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Introduction to Protective Relaying

Introduction to Protective Relaying

Circuit breakers used in residential, commercial, and light industrial service are self-tripping devices: they…


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Valve Failure Modes

Valve Failure Modes

An important design parameter of a control valve is the position it will “fail” to if it loses…


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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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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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Input/Output (I/O) Capabilities of PLCs

Input/Output (I/O) Capabilities of PLCs

Every programmable logic controller must have some means of receiving and interpreting signals from real-world…


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Tuning PID Controllers

Tuning PID Controllers

Learning how to tune PID controllers is a skill born of much practice. Regardless of how thoroughly you may…


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Phasors, Phase Shift, and Phasor Algebra

Phasors, Phase Shift, and Phasor Algebra

Phasors are to AC circuit quantities as polarity is to DC circuit quantities: a way to express the…


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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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Limit Switches

Limit Switches

A limit switch detects the physical motion of an object by direct contact with that object. An example of a…


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Control Valve Actuators

Control Valve Actuators

The purpose of a control valve actuator is to provide the motive force to operate a valve mechanism. Both…


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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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Basics of pH Measurement in Industrial Control

Basics of pH Measurement in Industrial Control

Hydrogen ion activity in aqueous (water-solvent) solutions is a very important parameter for a wide variety of…


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Self-regulating, Integrating, and Runaway Process Characteristics

Self-regulating, Integrating, and Runaway Process Characteristics

Perhaps the most important rule of controller tuning is to know the process before attempting to adjust the…


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Null-balance Voltage Measurement

Null-balance Voltage Measurement

A number of different sensors used in instrumentation generate DC voltage signals proportional to the process…


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Indicators, Recorders, Process Switches and Alarms

Indicators, Recorders, Process Switches and Alarms

So far we have just looked at instruments that sense, control, and influence process variables. Transmitters,…


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