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Ask the Automation Pros
This long-running series of discussions, curated by 2010 ISA Life Achievement Award recipient Greg McMillan, gathers responses from ISA subject-matter experts on technical topics important to industrial automation professionals, academics and students.
169 Results Found
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What Are Best Cutover Strategies for Upgrading an Industrial Plant?
When retrofitting an industrial plant, review budget, schedule, financial justification for the project, as well as all areas of concern such as shutdown. -
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The Good, Bad, and Ugly of Thermal Mass Flowmeters
Thermal mass flowmeters can be a relatively inexpensive flowmeter that can handle extremely small and large flows -
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PID Tuning for Near and True Integrating Processes
The most important loops on vessels and columns typically have a near or true integrating response. -
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What are the Equivalent Methods to Eliminate Proportional Step and Derivative Kick?
There are several methods for eliminating or controlling the proportional step and derivative kick in a PID output resulting from a change of setpoint. -
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What Is the Definition of PID Bumpless Transfer?
Bumpless transfer and how a new operating point can be achieved quickly and smoothly after the PID is switched to automatic mode. -
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How Do You Measure Control System Performance?
Seek a suite of practical metrics in terms of key performance indicators that can have an impact on plant control system performance. -
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How Do You Convert Tuning Settings of an Independent PID?
Considerable confusion exists on how the PID Form affects tuning settings. Lack of understanding of Form & units of settings can lead to disastrous results. -
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What are the Implications of Industrial Reactor Type on Control?
The effect of reactor type on dynamic response, allowable measurement lags and delays, controller tuning, and control strategies is significant. -
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Top 10 Mistakes Made Every Day in pH System Design
In pH control systems reagent piping and injection must minimize transportation delays, volumes must have proper geometry and agitation to maximize the process time constant that filters pH oscillatio -
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How to Smooth the Transition Between Batch and Continuous Operations
The unbalance between continuous operation flow & instantaneous batch flow can be spread over available inventory by an adapted rate limited feedforward.







