Engineers often need to fit experimental data to an empirical relationship for extrapolation or modeling without resorting to a full mathematical treatment based on physical principles or theory. The most widely used platform in science for doing this is MS…
The Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Research Organization (CSIRO) Food Futures Flagship (Sydney; www.csiro.au), has developed an in vitro robotic device for accurately predicting the glycemic index (GI) and resistant starch (RS) in foods. "This instrument will be a valuable tool…
Calibrate High-Quality Thermometers with this Instrument The 4180 Series Precision Infrared Calibrators (photo) includes two new models, 4180 and 4181, which according to the manufacturer are easy enough to use in the field and accurate enough to use in the…
Process modeling has progressed from the "molecule accounting" of steady-state flowsheeting packages to become a central platform for capturing and deploying chemical process industries’ (CPI) intellectual property (IP). Systematic modeling has moved center stage to help companies differentiate themselves from…
Management is a process of managing risk; maintenance management is a process of managing risk for operational reliability. Since it is hard to manage what cannot be measured, effective maintenance management demands good data on machine health — a comprehensive…
The perfect valve to control your process has been selected. The valve will pass your maximum flow. Everything is great, right? In some cases digging a little deeper might help. The control valve usually should not be the most…
Cutler Technology Corp. (San Antonio, Tex.; www.cutler-tech.com) has launched ADMC 64, its most-advanced model-predictive controller ( CE, November 2005, p. 15). With 64-bit resolution, the device easily handles 600 coefficients with calculation times under ten seconds (on an Intel quad…
Launched at ISA Expo 2008 this month (Houston, Tex.; October 14 – 16), the ELDS line-of-sight gas detectors from Senscient, Inc. (League City, Tex.) is said to deliver three orders of magnitude better sensitivity for detecting flammable gases and false-alarm…
Process engineers understand how to harness the power of closed-loop multi-variable control in their plants. The evolution of digital control in the chemical process industries (CPI) has provided that power. Yet digital control represents just one facet of optimization and…
Today, companies in the chemical process industries (CPI) are faced with increased operating expenses, reductions in the number of qualified workers, strong competition and the need to do more with less. To meet these challenges, many companies are making use…