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Calibration Standards to Produce and Measure Physical Quantities

Calibration Standards to Produce and Measure Physical Quantities

As previously defined, calibration refers to the checking and adjustment of an instrument so that its output…


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Electrical Sources and Electronic Load

Electrical Sources and Electronic Load

By definition, a source is a device delivering energy into a system, while a load is a device extracting…


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Troubleshooting Current Loops

Troubleshooting Current Loops

A fundamental principle in instrumentation system troubleshooting is that every instrument has at least one…


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Digital Multimeter (DMM) Tips and Tricks

Digital Multimeter (DMM) Tips and Tricks

The digital multimeter (DMM) is quite possibly the most useful tool in the instrument technician’s…


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High-reliability Control Systems

High-reliability Control Systems

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


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Pneumatic PID Controllers

Pneumatic PID Controllers

A pneumatic controller receives a process variable (PV) signal as a variable air pressure, compares that…


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Electrical Sensors: Potential Transformers (PTs) and Current Transformers (CTs)

Electrical Sensors: Potential Transformers (PTs) and Current Transformers (CTs)

The two “process variables” we rely on most heavily in the field of electrical measurement and…


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Pressure Sensor Accessories

Pressure Sensor Accessories

Multiple accessories exist for pressure-sensing devices to function optimally in challenging process…


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Flow Switches

Flow Switches

A flow switch is one that detects the flow of some fluid through a pipe. Flow switches often use…


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Understanding the “Normal” Status of a Process Switch

Understanding the “Normal” Status of a Process Switch

Perhaps the most confusing aspect of discrete sensors is the definition of a sensor’s normal status.…


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Techniques for Analyzing Control Strategies

Techniques for Analyzing Control Strategies

Control strategies such as cascade, ratio, feedforward, and those containing limit and selector functions can…


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Null-balance Voltage Measurement

Null-balance Voltage Measurement

A number of different sensors used in instrumentation generate DC voltage signals proportional to the process…


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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…


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Understanding Electrical Power Grids

Understanding Electrical Power Grids

The term “grid” refers to the conductors and equipment interconnecting power sources to power…


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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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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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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…


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Temperature Sensor Accessories

Temperature Sensor Accessories

One of the most important accessories for any temperature-sensing element is a pressure-tight sheath known as…


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Relating 4 to 20 mA Signals to Instrument Variables

Relating 4 to 20 mA Signals to Instrument Variables

A 4 to 20 mA current signal represents some signal along a 0 to 100 percent scale. Usually, this scale is…


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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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Digital Multimeter (DMM) Tips and Tricks

Digital Multimeter (DMM) Tips and Tricks

The digital multimeter (DMM) is quite possibly the most useful tool in the instrument technician’s…


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Electromagnetism Basics

Electromagnetism Basics

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


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Differential Pressure Transmitters

Differential Pressure Transmitters

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


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Material Volume Measurement

Material Volume Measurement

A variety of technologies exist to measure the quantity of stored material in a vessel. For liquid…


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Differential Pressure Transmitters

Differential Pressure Transmitters

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


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The HART Digital/Analog Hybrid Standard

The HART Digital/Analog Hybrid Standard

A technological advance introduced in the late 1980’s was HART, an acronym standing for Highway…


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Process and Instrument Diagrams

Process and Instrument Diagrams

The next level of detail is the Process and Instrument Diagram, or P&ID. Here, we see a “zooming…


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Thermistors and Resistance Temperature Detectors (RTDs)

Thermistors and Resistance Temperature Detectors (RTDs)

One of the simplest classes of temperature sensor is one where temperature effects a change in electrical…


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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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Valve Packing

Valve Packing

Regardless of valve type, all stem-actuated control valves require some form of seal allowing motion of the…


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Dampers and Louvres

Dampers and Louvres

A damper (otherwise known as a louvre) is a multi-element flow control device generally used to throttle large…


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Valve Seat Leakage

Valve Seat Leakage

In some process applications, it is important that the control valve be able to completely stop fluid flow…


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Polyphase AC Power

Polyphase AC Power

“Polyphase” means “many phases,” describing a form of AC electrical system where…


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Rotary-stem Valves

Rotary-stem Valves

A different strategy for controlling the flow of fluid is to insert a rotary element into the flow path.…


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Process/Instrument Suitability

Process/Instrument Suitability

Every flow-measuring instrument exploits a physical principle to measure the flow rate of fluid stream.…


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Use of Line Reactors

Use of Line Reactors

Regulating the electric power sent to an electric motor is a task performed by high-speed switching…


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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…


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Safety Instrumented Functions and Systems

Safety Instrumented Functions and Systems

A Safety Instrumented Function, or SIF, is one or more components designed to execute a specific…


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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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Analyzer Sample Systems

Analyzer Sample Systems

Some analyzers measure the composition of a process stream by directly immersing the sensing element in that…


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Interconnected Generators

Interconnected Generators

Any power grid large enough to meet the demand of an entire nation must have multiple generators drawing from…


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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…


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Zero and Span Adjustments (Analog Instruments)

Zero and Span Adjustments (Analog Instruments)

Linearity of Measurement Instruments The purpose of calibration is to ensure the input and output of an…


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Atomic Theory and Chemical Symbols

Atomic Theory and Chemical Symbols

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


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