Do you know what to look for in a good Control Valve Design? Do you know what you should NOT do with control valves? Learn from Hans D. Baumann’s experience in his book: Control Valve Primer: A User’s Guide Fourth Edition which covers topics such as flow characteristics, control valve installation, environmental concerns, valve sizing, fail-safe [...]
ISA Automation Week 2012 Program Chair Q&A
This year’s ISA Automation Week will be held in Orlando, Fla., on 24–27 September at the Orange County Convention Center. It will offer a world-class, unbiased technical program built around “operational and technical excellence.” ISA Insights recently sat down with Peter Martin, ISA Automation Week 2012 program chair, to find out more about this year’s [...]
What are the factors that affect VFD rangeability?
In the ISA Automation Week Mentor Program, I am providing guidance for extremely talented individuals from Argentina, Brazil, Malaysia, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, and the USA. We will be sharing a question and the answers each week. If you would like to provide additional answers, please send them to Susan Colwell at ISA. The eighteenth question [...]
TUNE YOUR LOOP: Picking the Right Bus—A Comparison of Field and Device Networks
1. Most fieldbuses use what physical topology? 2. The Modbus/TCP protocol suite contains what protocols? 3. Which of the following can NOT be done by a repeater: 4. DeviceNet has a maximum message payload of 5. Foundation Fieldbus allows What are your answers before you read ahead? 1. d 2. a 3. b 4. [...]
Manufacturing Leadership Summit April 29th – ISA Member Discount Available
In case you didn’t know, The 8th Annual Manufacturing Leadership Summit is taking place April 29-May 2 at The Breakers in Palm Beach, FL. This is a premier networking event exclusively for senior manufacturing executives. ISA members are eligible for a $600 discount! Join executives from Ford, Harley-Davidson, Campbell Soup, General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, [...]
Are you ready for Stuxnet 2.0? More at ISA’s Safety & Security Symposium
Are you up to speed on all the latest security and safety best practices with it comes to process control automation? ISA’s Safety and Security Symposium is coming up very soon – April 25-27th, 2012 at the Crown Plaza in Anaheim. The symposium provides you with unbiased knowledge to assist you in your career and [...]
Design PID controllers for desired time-domain or frequency-domain response
Abstract: Practical requirements on the design of control systems, especially process control systems, are usually specified in terms of time-domain response, such as overshoot and rise time, or frequency-domain response, such as resonance peak and stability margin. Although numerous methods have been developed for the design of the proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller, little work has been [...]
What goes on a P&ID?
In the ISA Automation Week Mentor Program, I am providing guidance for extremely talented individuals from Argentina, Brazil, Malaysia, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, and the USA. We will be sharing a question and the answers each week. If you would like to provide additional answers, please send them to Susan Colwell at ISA. The seventeenth question [...]
TUNE YOUR LOOP: Mathematics for Instrumentation Technicians
1. Convert 83.16 inches of water column to PSI. 2. You have a fuel air ration of 10 parts fuel to 40 parts air what percentage of fuel makes up the total mixture? 3. Express 200 Micro volts in volts. 4. Express 5x 103 in a decimal number. 5. Express the decimal number of 2,300 [...]
Measuring level interfaces
Measuring the interface between two liquids in a tank presents unique challenges Finding the interface between two liquids in a tank is critical for some processes. A common measurement in the oil & gas, chemical, and petrochemical industries is detecting the interface level between two liquids in the same tank or vessel, such as oil [...]
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