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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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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 Representation of Numerical Data

Digital Representation of Numerical Data

Process measurements are often of an analog nature: the temperature of a furnace, the rate of fluid flow…


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Measuring Electrical Conductivity

Measuring Electrical Conductivity

The electrical conductivity of liquids is an important analytical measurement in many industrial processes.…


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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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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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Comparison of  Op-Amp Circuits With Analogous Pneumatic Mechanisms

Comparison of Op-Amp Circuits With Analogous Pneumatic Mechanisms

Self-balancing pneumatic instrument mechanisms are very similar to negative-feedback operational amplifier…


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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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Practical Measures of Reliability

Practical Measures of Reliability

In reliability engineering, it is important to be able to quantity the reliability (or conversely, the…


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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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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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Limit, Selector, and Override Controls

Limit, Selector, and Override Controls

Another category of control strategies involves the use of signal relays or function blocks with the ability…


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Pipe and Pipe Fittings

Pipe and Pipe Fittings

Pipe is a hollow structure designed to provide an enclosed pathway for fluids to flow, usually manufactured…


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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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Circuit Breakers and Disconnects

Circuit Breakers and Disconnects

Disconnect Switches Disconnects are switches designed to isolate sections of a power system in case of damage…


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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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Instantaneous and Time-overcurrent (50/51) Protection

Instantaneous and Time-overcurrent (50/51) Protection

Perhaps the most basic and necessary protective relay function is overcurrent: commanding a circuit breaker to…


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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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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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4-wire (“self-powered”) Transmitter Current Loops

4-wire (“self-powered”) Transmitter Current Loops

DC electric current signals may also be used to communicate process measurement information from transmitters…


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Digital Representation of Text

Digital Representation of Text

Binary patterns are not just able to represent numerical values. Given a standardized code, they may represent…


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Instrument Turndown (Rangedown)

Instrument Turndown (Rangedown)

An important performance parameter for transmitter instruments is something often referred to as turndown or…


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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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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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Introduction to Capacitors and Capacitance

Introduction to Capacitors and Capacitance

Capacitance Any two electrical conductors separated by an insulating medium possess the characteristic called…


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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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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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Introduction to Modbus

Introduction to Modbus

Developed by the Modicon company (the original manufacturer of the Programmable Logic Controller, or PLC) in…


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Transformer Basics and Principles of Operation

Transformer Basics and Principles of Operation

The transformer is one of the most important components in all of AC circuitry. Principally used to…


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Molecular Quantities

Molecular Quantities

Sample sizes of chemical substances are often measured in moles. One mole of a substance is defined as a…


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Controller Output Current Loops

Controller Output Current Loops

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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Chromatography: Methods, Detectors and Species

Chromatography: Methods, Detectors and Species

Imagine a major marathon race, where hundreds of runners gather in one place to compete. When the starting gun…


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Functional Diagrams: the Flow of Information within a Control System

Functional Diagrams: the Flow of Information within a Control System

A unique form of technical diagram for describing the abstract functions comprising a control system (e.g. PID…


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Change-of-quantity Flow Measurement

Change-of-quantity Flow Measurement

Flow, by definition, is the passage of material from one location to another over time. So far this chapter…


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Calibration Errors and Testing

Calibration Errors and Testing

The efficient identification and correction of instrument calibration errors is an important function for…


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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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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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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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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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Digital PID Controllers

Digital PID Controllers

The vast majority of PID controllers in service today are digital in nature. Microprocessors executing PID…


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