Instrumentation

Abstract

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Instrumentation is essentially information conveyance. It is important to understand the underlying principles of instrumentation so that the control system can optimize the application of existing technology and employ new technology as it becomes commercially available. This chapter begins by discussing the common characteristics and electrical design considerations, and talks about the three types of sensor or transmitter output signals used in most control systems. The next two sections deal with the measurement and transmission of pressure and temperature. Another section discusses the flow measurement devices commonly encountered in aeration systems. Most of the analytic instruments are complex—involving multiple parameters and sophisticated algorithms for determining the process variable. Heat is the principal enemy of electric motors. Motor monitoring is principally concerned with detecting excessive temperature in the motor or preventing damage by detecting high currents from overloads that will cause excess temperature.