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Automation & Control

Pressure Measurement: Handling Difficult Process Applications

A better understanding of what pressure instruments do and how they work can help improve measurement performance, especially in troublesome applications Effective use of process instrumentation is critical in any chemical manufacturing environment. These instruments are strategically located throughout various…

Pump Safety: Flirting with Disaster

Be vigilant about parallel pumping conditions that can lead to catastrophic failures During my career, I have seen several massive centrifugal pump failures caused by pump users attempting to operate pumps in parallel without the proper equipment review, procedural review…

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Measuring Differential Pressure: Mechanical or Electronic?

Users should consider both options when selecting a DP device. Understanding the differences can help make the decision for a given set of process conditions Differential pressure (DP) measurements are used in many branches of the chemical process industries (CPI)…

Fine Vacuum Control

Many important research and industrial processes require vacuum in what is referred to as the "fine vacuum" range, which is between 0.1 and 0.001 Torr. In a prior post, we talked about the fact that the Pirani style gauge is…

Advanced Vacuum Control

Our most recent post addressed the benefits of proportional-only vacuum process control. Though this approach is well suited to many processes, in some cases more accurate (or precise) control of the pressure level is necessary.  Under such circumstances, employing PI…

Proportional (2 Point) Vacuum Control

In our prior post, we talked about using variants of the classic PID algorithm in order to control vacuum processes.  In the simplest form, the PID control loop can be reduced to a P-only, or 2-point, algorithm.  For example, by…

Approaches to Vacuum Control

Establishing good control over vacuum processes has numerous benefits, such as helping to improve process yields, achieve more repeatable results, and reduce process times.  And there are several options for controlling vacuum processes to achieve these various benefits.  This post…

Operating Cost Benefits of Oil-Free Vacuum – Part 2

In part 1 of this white paper, we reviewed the general advantages of using dry, chemical-resistant diaphragm pumps for process scale-up applications.  In part 2, we will delve into the process of configuring the mini-plant in order to realize the…

Cybersecurity: You Cannot Secure What You Cannot See

Follow this guidance to understand today’s cybersecurity risk landscape and take the necessary steps to create a sound industrial control system cybersecurity program, including the development of a comprehensive, in-depth cyber-asset inventory In industrial facilities, cyber incidents typically result from…

Operating Cost Benefits of Oil-Free Vacuum – Part 1

Introduction Historically, mini-plants have utilized oil-sealed rotary vane vacuum pumps as a vacuum source because they provide relatively high flow rates and because they can reach relatively deep vacuum levels, such as 10-3 mbar. The same can be said of…