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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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Teaching Diagnostic Principles and Practices

Teaching Diagnostic Principles and Practices

Diagnostic ability is arguably the most difficult skill to develop within a student, and also the most…


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What are Simple Machines?

What are Simple Machines?

A machine in the broad sense of the word is any device designed to translate some form of energy into useful…


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Advantages and Disadvantages of Pneumatic Instruments

Advantages and Disadvantages of Pneumatic Instruments

The disadvantages of pneumatic instruments are painfully evident to anyone familiar with both pneumatic and…


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Different PID Equations

Different PID Equations

For better or worse, there are no fewer than three different forms of PID equations implemented in modern PID…


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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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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…


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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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What are Simple Machines?

What are Simple Machines?

A machine in the broad sense of the word is any device designed to translate some form of energy into useful…


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Variable-area Flowmeters

Variable-area Flowmeters

An variable-area flowmeter is one where the fluid must pass through a restriction whose area increases with…


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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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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…


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Kirchhoff’s Current and Voltage Laws

Kirchhoff’s Current and Voltage Laws

Two extremely important principles in electric circuits were codified by Gustav Robert Kirchhoff in the year…


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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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Antennas and Resonant Circuits (Tank Circuits)

Antennas and Resonant Circuits (Tank Circuits)

Capacitors store energy in electric fields, proportional to the square of voltage. Inductors store energy in…


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Laser Spectroscopy

Laser Spectroscopy

A laser is a light source emitting waves of light that not only share the exact same frequency (color)…


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Standardized Volumetric Flow

Standardized Volumetric Flow

The majority of flowmeter technologies operate on the principle of interpreting fluid flow based on the…


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Metric Prefixes and Prefix Scale

Metric Prefixes and Prefix Scale


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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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Proportional-only Offset

Proportional-only Offset

A fundamental limitation of proportional control has to do with its response to changes in setpoint and…


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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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Proximity Switches

Proximity Switches

A proximity switch is one detecting the proximity (closeness) of some object. By definition, these switches…


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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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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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Basics of Electrical Current

Basics of Electrical Current

Current is the name we give to the motion of electric charges from a point of high potential to a point of low…


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Sliding-stem Valves

Sliding-stem Valves

A sliding-stem valve body is one where the moving parts slide with a linear motion. Some examples of…


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Level Gauges (Sightglasses)

Level Gauges (Sightglasses)

Level gauges are perhaps the simplest indicating instrument for liquid level in a vessel. They are often found…


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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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Learn Fundamental Principles, not Procedures

Learn Fundamental Principles, not Procedures

“As to methods there may be a million and then some, but principles are few. The man who grasps…


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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…


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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…


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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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Error Corrections

Error Corrections

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


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Bi-metal Temperature Sensors

Bi-metal Temperature Sensors

Solids tend to expand when heated. The amount that a solid sample will expand with increased temperature…


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Using Manometers for Measuring Pressure

Using Manometers for Measuring Pressure

A very simple device used to measure pressure is the manometer: a fluid-filled tube where an applied gas…


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Self-balancing Pneumatic Instruments Principles

Self-balancing Pneumatic Instruments Principles

A great many precision instruments use the principle of balance to measure some quantity. Perhaps the simplest…


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Capacitive Level Measurement

Capacitive Level Measurement

Capacitive level instruments measure electrical capacitance of a conductive rod inserted vertically into a…


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Motives for Compromising the Security of an Industrial Control System

Motives for Compromising the Security of an Industrial Control System

There are multiple motives for compromising the security of an industrial control system, some of which…


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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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The International System of Units

The International System of Units

The very purpose of physics is to quantitatively describe and explain the physical world in as few terms as…


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Introduction to Power System Automation

Introduction to Power System Automation

Those familiar with industrial instrumentation will find much within the electric power industry remarkably…


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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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Teaching Technical Theory

Teaching Technical Theory

Learning is not merely a process of information transfer. It is first and foremost a transformation of…


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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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