By definition, a source is a device delivering energy into a system,…
Current is the name we give to the motion of electric charges from a…
Circuit breakers are the “final control elements” of the…
Circuit breakers used in residential, commercial, and light industrial…
A form of protection against faults on long-distance power lines is…
In the United States, the ANSI and IEEE organizations have…
Those familiar with industrial instrumentation will find much within…
Given the ability of pressurized fluids to transmit force over long…
A machine in the broad sense of the word is any device designed to…
The two “process variables” we rely on most heavily in the…
The term “grid” refers to the conductors and equipment…
The transformer is one of the most important components in all of AC…
DC electric motors generate torque by a reaction between two magnetic…
Electrical power grids primarily consist of three-phase AC circuits.…
While 50 and 51 (instantaneous and time overcurrent) relay functions…
Sometimes we encounter a diversity of instrument signal standards in…
Classical mechanics (often called Newtonian mechanics in honor of…
Three-phase AC is the dominant mode of electric power generation and…
“Polyphase” means “many phases,” describing a…
One of the fundamental laws of electric circuits is Kirchhoff’s…
Developed by the Modicon company (the original manufacturer of the…
An important design parameter of a control valve is the position it…
In contrast to quantitative tuning procedures where definite numerical…
Cyber-security seems to have its own vocabulary, ranging from unwieldy…
Diagnostic ability is arguably the most difficult skill to develop…
As a general rule, high achievement only takes place in an atmosphere…
A flow switch is one detecting the flow of some fluid through a pipe.…
Atom: the smallest unit of matter that may be isolated by chemical…
The term “grid” refers to the conductors and equipment…
At the next OSI Reference Model layer (layer 4) is a set of protocols…
Process measurements are often of an analog nature: the temperature of…
Volumes could be written about poor diagnostic technique. The…
Control valves are subject to a number of common problems. This…
Imagine a liquid-level control system for a vessel, where the position…
Although analog electronic process controllers are considered a newer…
PID control can be a confusing concept to understand. Here, a brief…
The three “elementary” particles of matter comprising all…
The following animation shows how a radio-energy pulse travels down…
pH is the measurement of the hydrogen ion activity in a liquid…
In order to provide an interface between the internal (digital) world…
A limit switch detects the physical motion of an object by direct…
Classical mechanics (often called Newtonian mechanics in honor of…
Temperature measurement devices may be classified into two broad…
An extremely important topic in engineering is that of transfer…
While 50 and 51 (instantaneous and time overcurrent) relay functions…
The three “elementary” particles of matter comprising all…
Non-dispersive analysis, while newer in discovery than dispersive…
Once while working as an instrument technician in an aluminum foundry,…
When I began teaching full-time in 1998, most of what I thought I…
An interesting parallel to the “unity fraction” unit…
Layer 1 of the OSI Reference Model is where we define the…
The following photograph shows a large air blower in a wastewater…
Much has been written about the benefits of robust PID control.…
Pipe is a hollow structure designed to provide an enclosed pathway for…
Using filter cells to eliminate wavelengths associated with…
A level switch is one detecting the level of liquid or solid (granules…
Virtually any mass above absolute zero temperature emits…
A variety of technologies exist to measure the quantity of stored…
Given the ability of pressurized fluids to transmit force over long…
A limitation inherent to pneumatic valve actuators is the amount of…
