Human-machine interfaces, or HMIs, are a critical part of nearly all control systems, complementing the…
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The transformer is one of the most important components in all of AC circuitry. Principally used to…
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Two extremely important principles in electric circuits were codified by Gustav Robert Kirchhoff in the year…
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A wise PLC programmer once told me that the first thing any aspiring programmer should learn about the PLC…
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Much of our knowledge about atomic structure comes from experimental data relating the interaction between…
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In the United States, the most common language used to program PLCs is Ladder Diagram (LD), also known as…
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Three-phase AC is the dominant mode of electric power generation and distribution in modern societies.…
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The fundamental principle of electromagnetism is that an electric current will create a magnetic field at…
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Pipe is a hollow structure designed to provide an enclosed pathway for fluids to flow, usually manufactured…
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Control strategies such as cascade, ratio, feedforward, and those containing limit and selector functions can…
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Although analog electronic process controllers are considered a newer technology than pneumatic process…
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The term “grid” refers to the conductors and equipment interconnecting power sources to power…
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“Polyphase” means “many phases,” describing a form of AC electrical system where…
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DC electric current signals may also be used to communicate process measurement information from transmitters…
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It is possible to convey electrical power and communicate analog information over the same two wires using 4…
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Capacitance Any two electrical conductors separated by an insulating medium possess the characteristic called…
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It is often useful to express the amplitude of an alternating quantity such as voltage or current in terms…
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The simplest form of 4-20 mA current loop is the type used to represent the output of a process controller,…
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Non-dispersive analysis, while newer in discovery than dispersive analysis (Isaac Newton’s 17th-century…
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As we have seen, the concept of integration is finding the accumulation of one variable multiplied by another…
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Imagine a liquid-level control system for a vessel, where the position of a level-sensing float sets the…
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Finally, we arrive at the loop diagram (sometimes called a loop sheet) for the compressor surge control system…
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Tube, like pipe, is a hollow structure designed to provide an enclosed pathway for fluids to flow. In the case…
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The three “elementary” particles of matter comprising all atoms are electrons, protons, and…
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Feedback obtained from industrial users of FF reveal a common pattern: Fieldbus is a powerful and reliable…
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So far we have just looked at instruments that sense, control, and influence process variables. Transmitters,…
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One of the most common, and most useful, pressure measuring instruments in industry is the differential…
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Certain types of nuclear radiation easily penetrates the walls of industrial vessels, but is attenuated by…
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To better understand the design and operation of self-balancing pneumatic mechanisms, it is helpful to examine…
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A wise PLC programmer once told me that the first thing any aspiring programmer should learn about the PLC…
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I remember first learning about the world-wide Internet, and wondering what it actually looked like. The first…
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All substances are comprised of various elements in various combinations and proportions. Elements may thus be…
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The simplest form of 4-20 mA current loop is the type used to represent the output of a process controller,…
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The dispersion of visible light into its constituent colors goes all the way back to the 17th century with…
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Calculus. Few areas of mathematics are as powerfully useful in describing and analyzing the physical…
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Stoichiometry is the accounting of atoms before and after a chemical reaction. It is an expression of the Law…
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Process measurements are often of an analog nature: the temperature of a furnace, the rate of fluid flow…
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A fundamental principle in instrumentation system troubleshooting is that every instrument has at least one…
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A pressure switch is one that detects the presence of fluid pressure. Pressure switches often use diaphragms…
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“Feedforward” is a rather under-used control strategy capable of managing a great many types of…
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This animation shows the basic operation of a gas chromatograph, showing the separation of different molecular…
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A fundamental limitation of proportional control has to do with its response to changes in setpoint and…
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A unique form of differential pressure-based flow measurement deserves its own section in this flow…
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The term “grid” refers to the conductors and equipment interconnecting power sources to power…
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Many years ago, when I was first learning about electricity, I happened to discover a length of coaxial…
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Self-balancing mechanisms consisting solely of a baffle/nozzle detector coupled to a feedback bellows, while…
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Linearity of Measurement Instruments The purpose of calibration is to ensure the input and output of an…
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In order for any PID controller to be practical, it must be able to do more than just implement the PID…
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Disconnect Switches Disconnects are switches designed to isolate sections of a power system in case of damage…
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Solids tend to expand when heated. The amount that a solid sample will expand with increased temperature…
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There is much to be said for neatness of assembly in electrical signal wiring. Even though the electrons…
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A special type flowmeter suited for powdered or granular solids is the weighfeeder. One of the most common…
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To review, voltage is the measure of potential energy available to electric charges. Current is the uniform…
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Feedback Control System Components Before we begin our discussion on process control, we must define a few key…
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Feedback obtained from industrial users of FF reveal a common pattern: Fieldbus is a powerful and reliable…
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While the term “probability” may evoke images of imprecision, probability is in fact an exact…
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All substances are comprised of various elements in various combinations and proportions. Elements may thus be…
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A limit switch detects the physical motion of an object by direct contact with that object. An example of a…
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A great many precision instruments use the principle of balance to measure some quantity. Perhaps the simplest…
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Classical mechanics (often called Newtonian mechanics in honor of Isaac Newton) deal with forces and motions…
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