Resource Guide: Best summer reading, videos in process automation

July 26, 2016
Control's monthly guide brings you invaluable industry information to stay up to date on the latest trends and developments.

JUSTIFY INVESTMENT WITH ROI

The 29-page whitepaper, “Your next automation or information system upgrade: define ROI to win approval” by Eric Mayer, analyzes different return on investment scenarios, delivers real-world examples of ROI benefits by automation and information systems, and provides a formulaic approach for  calculating quantitative ROI of plant system upgrades. It’s available for free with registration here

Avid Solutions / www.avidsolutionsinc.com

ALL THINGS PROCESS EDUCATION

The Process Control Education website by McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, is for students and practicing engineers. It includes sections on process control learning support, sample process control course, instrumentation for process control, web-based educational resources for PCs, process interoperability and even a free textbook. It’s located here

McMaster University / www.pc-education.mcmaster.ca

TWO INTRODUCTORY LECTURES

These two 55-minute videos, “Introduction to Process Control,” are the first in a series on process control and related topics by the Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur and sponsored by India’s eight-university National Program on Technology-Enhanced Learning (NPTEL). The topics include mathematical modeling, dynamic behavior of chemical processes, feedback control, advanced control, general instrumentation principles, measurement systems and pressure measurement. They’re located here and here.   

NPTEL / http://nptel.ac.in

SERIOUSLY ESSENTIALS SERIES

Written by Control’s editors, the 12-part “Control Essentials” series covers key engineering concepts in a practical, non-commercial fashion; includes  reviews of the latest technological  and economic drivers; and presents them in a format well-suited for online consumption. Topics include tank gauging, DCS, connected enterprise, cybersecurity, big data, local visualization, dynamic simulation, industrial Ethernet, flow measurement, intrinsic safety, level instrumentation and safety instrumented systems. The series is available here

Control / www.controlglobal.com

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YOU CAN TUNE A LOOP

This 21-minute video, “Tuning a control loop,” is one of a series of “Knowledge Board” videos by Kevin Starr and ABB Service. It covers the essentials of P&ID, controllers, sensors, transducers, I/O, valves, input and output signals, visual inspection, model identification, and parameters for tuning. It’s located here. Other videos in the series cover tank level tuning, single loop control, and process optimization with control utilization.

ABB ServicE / www.abb.com

CONTROL IS FUNDAMENTAL

This 73-page workbook, “Instrumentation and control: process control fundamentals,” covers all the primary concepts, including control theory basics, control loop components ISA symbology, controller algorithms and tuning, process control loops, and multi-variable and advanced control loops. It’s in PDF format here.

PAControl / www.PAControl.com

4-20 mA CURRENT LOOP WEBINAR

This 57-minute video, “The fundamentals of 4-20 mA current loops” by Precision Digital Corp., is the first of three presentations on 4-20 mA process signals, currents and loops. The original webinar was delivered by Precision Digital’s 4-20 mA expert, Joe Ryan, who teaches viewers the fundamentals of a 4-20 mA current loop so they’ll be better equipped to choose the correct devices and instruments, and understand when, where or if a current loop solution is right for their application. It’s available here

Precision Digital Corp. / www.predig.com

ADVANCED SOLUTIONS ARTICLES

The Advanced Solutions blog at Yokogawa’s website has multiple articles for each of several topics, including security, advanced process control, energy management, high-performance operations, manufacturing execution systems (MES), operator training, asset management and others. The blog can be found here

Yokogawa Corp. of America / www.yokogawa.com/us

If you know of any tools and resources we didn’t include, send them to [email protected] with “Resource” in the subject line, and we’ll add them to the website.