Some problem-solving techniques are unique to quantitative problems, involving mathematical calculations. In…
Textbook
In reliability engineering, it is important to be able to quantity the reliability (or conversely, the…
Textbook
Non-dispersive analysis, while newer in discovery than dispersive analysis (Isaac Newton’s 17th-century…
Textbook
Instrument technicians should not have to concern themselves over the programming details internal to digital…
Textbook
Stoichiometry is the accounting of atoms before and after a chemical reaction. It is an expression of the Law…
Textbook
A wise PLC programmer once told me that the first thing any aspiring programmer should learn about the PLC…
Textbook
A form of protection against faults on long-distance power lines is called distance relaying, so named because…
Textbook
One of the great benefits of digital technology is the ability to communicate vast amounts of information over…
Textbook
It is often useful to express the amplitude of an alternating quantity such as voltage or current in terms…
Textbook
The vast majority of modern process transmitters (both analog and digital) come equipped with a feature known…
Textbook
I remember first learning about the world-wide Internet, and wondering what it actually looked like. The first…
Textbook
A flow switch is one that detects the flow of some fluid through a pipe. Flow switches often use…
Textbook
At the root of successful system diagnosis is a rigorous adherence to scientific reasoning. There exists no…
Textbook
The simplest form of 4-20 mA current loop is the type used to represent the output of a process controller,…
Textbook
A powerful mathematical concept useful for analyzing practically any physical system – electrical…
Textbook
Suppose we wished to measure the consumption of propane over time for a large propane storage tank supplying a…
Textbook
A technological advance introduced in the late 1980’s was HART, an acronym standing for Highway…
Textbook
Pipe is a hollow structure designed to provide an enclosed pathway for fluids to flow, usually manufactured…
Textbook
The electrical conductivity of liquids is an important analytical measurement in many industrial processes.…
Textbook
Control valves are supposed to deliver reliable, repeatable control of process fluid flow rate over a wide…
Textbook
The simple PLC ladder diagram (LD) commands consist of contacts and coils, arranged in sequences that mimic…
Textbook
While the term “probability” may evoke images of imprecision, probability is in fact an exact…
Textbook
Regulating the electric power sent to an electric motor is a task performed by high-speed switching…
Textbook
A vertical column of fluid generates a pressure at the bottom of the column owing to the action of gravity on…
Textbook
In reliability engineering, it is important to be able to quantity the reliability (or conversely, the…
Textbook
Process measurements are often of an analog nature: the temperature of a furnace, the rate of fluid flow…
Textbook
Every programmable logic controller must have some means of receiving and interpreting signals from real-world…
Textbook
An electromechanical relay is an electrical switch actuated by an electromagnet coil. As switching devices,…
Textbook
Electrical Resistance Resistance (\(R\)) is the dissipative opposition to an electric current, analogous to…
Textbook
It is often useful to express the amplitude of an alternating quantity such as voltage or current in terms…
Textbook
In order to provide an interface between the internal (digital) world of a computer and the external (analog)…
Textbook
The advent of “smart” field instruments containing microprocessors has been a great advance for…
Textbook
A sliding-stem valve body is one where the moving parts slide with a linear motion. Some examples of…
Textbook
Imagine a liquid-level control system for a vessel, where the position of a level-sensing float directly sets…
Textbook
Any conductor possesses a characteristic called inductance: the ability to store energy in the form of a…
Textbook
Light has long been used as a long-range signaling medium. While communication by light through open air is…
Textbook
As described earlier in this chapter, calibration refers to the adjustment of an instrument so its output…
Textbook
The transformer is one of the most important components in all of AC circuitry. Principally used to…
Textbook
The reason why a pneumatic control valve’s stem position corresponds linearly to the amount of air…
Textbook
As discussed at the beginning of this chapter, instrumentation safety may be broadly divided into two…
Textbook
The reason why a pneumatic control valve’s stem position corresponds linearly to the amount of air…
Textbook
Labwork is an essential part of any science-based curriculum. Here, much improvement may be made over the…
Textbook
Circuit breakers used in residential, commercial, and light industrial service are self-tripping devices: they…
Textbook
Three-phase AC is the dominant mode of electric power generation and distribution in modern societies.…
Textbook
Programmable logic controllers are essentially nothing more than special-purpose, industrial computers. As…
Textbook
Layer 1 of the OSI Reference Model is where we define the “physical” elements of a digital data…
Textbook
One of the most important accessories for any temperature-sensing element is a pressure-tight sheath known as…
Textbook
The simple PLC ladder diagram (LD) commands consist of contacts and coils, arranged in sequences that mimic…
Textbook
Modern analog-to-digital converters are phenomenally accurate, dependable, repeatable, and surprisingly…
Textbook
The digital multimeter (DMM) is quite possibly the most useful tool in the instrument technician’s…
Textbook
Nearly every technical course teaches and tests students on definitions, basic concepts, and at least some…
Textbook
A number of different sensors used in instrumentation generate DC voltage signals proportional to the process…
Textbook
Sometimes we encounter a diversity of instrument signal standards in one control system. Such is the case with…
Textbook
A limit switch detects the physical motion of an object by direct contact with that object. An example of a…
Textbook
Most people reading this book have likely had the experience of adjusting water temperature using two hand…
Textbook
The next level of detail is the Process and Instrument Diagram, or P&ID. Here, we see a “zooming…
Textbook
Every flow-measuring instrument exploits a physical principle to measure the flow rate of fluid stream.…
Textbook
The following animation shows how the “rotating” magnetic field of a three-phase AC induction…
Textbook
In November of 2007 a new computer virus was submitted to a virus scanning service. The purpose of this new…
Textbook
Cyber-security seems to have its own vocabulary, ranging from unwieldy technical acronyms to slang terms…
Textbook
Facebook
Google
GitHub
Linkedin