Latest PLCs & PACs Education

Categories

Fiber Optic Data Communication

Fiber Optic Data Communication

Light has long been used as a long-range signaling medium. While communication by light through open air is…


Textbook

Legal Code

Legal Code

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License By exercising the Licensed Rights (defined…


Textbook

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…


Textbook

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…


Textbook

Cascade Control

Cascade Control

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


Textbook

FOUNDATION Fieldbus Function Blocks

FOUNDATION Fieldbus Function Blocks

Data-processing modules within FF systems are known as function blocks. Sometimes these blocks serve merely to…


Textbook

Digital PID Controllers

Digital PID Controllers

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


Textbook

Ladder Diagram (LD) Structure Commands

Ladder Diagram (LD) Structure Commands

The simple PLC ladder diagram (LD) commands consist of contacts and coils, arranged in sequences that mimic…


Textbook

Function Block Diagram (FBD) Programming

Function Block Diagram (FBD) Programming

(Will be addressed in future versions of this book)


Textbook

How to Teach Yourself PLC Programming

How to Teach Yourself PLC Programming

Learning PLC programming is a very important skill. If your job involves programming, then you will likely…


Textbook

Memory Maps and I/O Addressing

Memory Maps and I/O Addressing

A wise PLC programmer once told me that the first thing any aspiring programmer should learn about the PLC…


Textbook

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…


Textbook

Sequential Function Chart (SFC) Programming

Sequential Function Chart (SFC) Programming

(Will be addressed in future versions of this book)


Textbook

Feedforward Control

Feedforward Control

“Feedforward” is a rather under-used control strategy capable of managing a great many types of…


Textbook

High-reliability Control Systems

High-reliability Control Systems

As discussed at the beginning of this chapter, instrumentation safety may be broadly divided into two…


Textbook

Policy-based Fortifications

Policy-based Fortifications

These fortifications focus on human behavior rather than system design or component selection. In some ways…


Textbook

Ladder Diagram (LD) Programming Contacts and Coils

Ladder Diagram (LD) Programming Contacts and Coils

In the United States, the most common language used to program PLCs is Ladder Diagram (LD), also known as…


Textbook

Digital Data Communication Theory

Digital Data Communication Theory

One of the great benefits of digital technology is the ability to communicate vast amounts of information over…


Textbook

Error Corrections

Error Corrections

Abdelaziz, Ahmed (June 2014) Identified numerous typographical errors throughout the book, mostly repeated…


Textbook

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…


Textbook

New Content

New Content

Coy, John J. et. al. (December 2012) Sampled graphic illustrations from his NASA Reference Publication…


Textbook

EIA/TIA-232, 422, and 485 Networks

EIA/TIA-232, 422, and 485 Networks

Some of the simplest types of digital communication networks found in industry are defined by the EIA…


Textbook

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…


Textbook

Introduction to Optical Analysis

Introduction to Optical Analysis

Light is known to interact with matter in very specific ways, which may be exploited as a means of measuring…


Textbook

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…


Textbook

Practical Topic Coverage

Practical Topic Coverage

Nearly every technical course teaches and tests students on definitions, basic concepts, and at least some…


Textbook

Ratio Control

Ratio Control

Most people reading this book have likely had the experience of adjusting water temperature using two hand…


Textbook

Policy-based Fortifications

Policy-based Fortifications

These fortifications focus on human behavior rather than system design or component selection. In some ways…


Textbook

FOUNDATION Fieldbus Function Blocks

FOUNDATION Fieldbus Function Blocks

Data-processing modules within FF systems are known as function blocks. Sometimes these blocks serve merely to…


Textbook

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…


Textbook

The Basics of Control Relays

The Basics of Control Relays

An electromechanical relay is an electrical switch actuated by an electromagnet coil. As switching devices,…


Textbook

Applications of Spectroscopy for Analytical Measurement

Applications of Spectroscopy for Analytical Measurement

Much of our knowledge about atomic structure comes from experimental data relating the interaction between…


Textbook

Differential (87) Current Protection

Differential (87) Current Protection

One of the fundamental laws of electric circuits is Kirchhoff’s Current Law, which states the algebraic…


Textbook

Radio-energy Pulse in Guided-wave Radar Level Measurement

Radio-energy Pulse in Guided-wave Radar Level Measurement

The following animation shows how a radio-energy pulse travels down and then up the waveguide of a guided-wave…


Textbook

Ions in Liquid Solutions

Ions in Liquid Solutions

Many liquid substances undergo a process whereby their constituent molecules split into positively and…


Textbook

Stoichiometry and the Law of Mass Conservation

Stoichiometry and the Law of Mass Conservation

Stoichiometry is the accounting of atoms before and after a chemical reaction. It is an expression of the Law…


Textbook

Instruction List (IL) Programming

Instruction List (IL) Programming

(Will be addressed in future versions of this book)


Textbook

Radiation Level Measurement

Radiation Level Measurement

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


Textbook

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…


Textbook

WirelessHART Radio Communication Standard

WirelessHART Radio Communication Standard

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


Textbook

Continuous Float Level Transmitters

Continuous Float Level Transmitters

Perhaps the simplest form of solid or liquid level measurement is with a float: a device that rides on the…


Textbook

Introduction to Calculus

Introduction to Calculus

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


Textbook

Differential Pressure Transmitters

Differential Pressure Transmitters

One of the most common, and most useful, pressure measuring instruments in industry is the differential…


Textbook

Calibration Procedures in Linear, Non-Linear and Discrete Instruments

Calibration Procedures in Linear, Non-Linear and Discrete Instruments

As described earlier in this chapter, calibration refers to the adjustment of an instrument so its output…


Textbook

Glossary of Cyber-security Terms

Glossary of Cyber-security Terms

Cyber-security seems to have its own vocabulary, ranging from unwieldy technical acronyms to slang terms…


Textbook

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…


Textbook

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…


Textbook

PID Control Terminology

PID Control Terminology

PID control can be a confusing concept to understand. Here, a brief summary of each term within PID (P. I, and…


Textbook

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…


Textbook

Digital Representation of Text

Digital Representation of Text

Binary patterns are not just able to represent numerical values. Given a standardized code, they may represent…


Textbook

Heuristic PID Tuning Procedures

Heuristic PID Tuning Procedures

In contrast to quantitative tuning procedures where definite numerical values for P, I, and D controller…


Textbook

Root Mean Square (RMS) Quantities

Root Mean Square (RMS) Quantities

It is often useful to express the amplitude of an alternating quantity such as voltage or current in terms…


Textbook

Atomic Theory and Chemical Symbols

Atomic Theory and Chemical Symbols

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


Textbook

Vibration Sensors

Vibration Sensors

Sensors used to measure vibration come in three basic types: displacement, velocity, and acceleration.…


Textbook

Understanding the Calculus Concepts of Differentiation and Integration

Understanding the Calculus Concepts of Differentiation and Integration

The following animation shows the calculus concepts of differentiation and integration (with respect to time)…


Textbook

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…


Textbook

Cascade Control

Cascade Control

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


Textbook

Vibration Monitoring Hardware

Vibration Monitoring Hardware

The following photograph shows a large air blower in a wastewater treatment facility equipped with a…


Textbook

Electromagnetism Basics

Electromagnetism Basics

The fundamental principle of electromagnetism is that an electric current will create a magnetic field at…


Textbook

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,…


Textbook