This video series hosted by Control Global's Editor in Chief Walt Boyes, visits the basics of automation.
Back to Basics: Flow Measurement (Corilolis)
June 21, 2011
Editor-in-chief Walt Boyes talks about the coriolis mass flowmeter and how these have changed over time. The earliest flowmeters were volumetric in nature. They measured the volume of the liquid or the gas flowing inside them, but if the temperature, densitiy, or viscosity changed, the flow reading would be less acurate. Watch this video report to learn how coriolis flowmeters have changed over time.
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Back to Basics: Flow Measurement
April 26, 2011
Editor in chief Walt Boyes talks about flow measurement in the automation field. Watch this video to learn more about turbine flowmeters and electromagnetic flowmeters.
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Back to Basics: Cybersecurity
December 15, 2009
Walt Boyes talks about cybersecurity and its relationship to functional security. Today the process automation world is vulnerable to online safety disasters derived from online hacking, sabotage and/or cyber–stupidity accidents. Sometimes, these cybersecurity breaches result in human death. Watch this Back to Basics episode and learn how you can defend your security control systems from cybersecurity attacks.
Back to Basics: Calibration
October 29, 2009
In this edition of Control's Back to Basic video series, executive editor Jim Montague studies calibration of field instruments. Calibration is often misunderstood and sometimes misused. This error can lead to costly lawsuits. Knowing what field instrument calibration is and what the pitfalls are can save you and your plant time and money.
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Back to Basics: SCADA
August 17, 2009
What's a SCADA? Editor Walt Boyes takes you Back to Basics with Supervisory Control and Data Aquisition systems.
Find out.
Back to Basics: Termination Technology
May 27, 2009
One of the most common single points of failure in control systems is the wiring, and especially the connections. Here's a Back to Basics on termination technologies that will help you avoid common mistakes.
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Back to Basics: Sampling Systems
April 17, 2009
The problem with at-line and on-line analyzers is that the analyzer is only as good as its sample. Walt Boyes gets back to the basics of sampling.
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Back to Basics: Basics of Data Acquisition
January 20, 2009
Data, data, it's all about the data. Nothing makes a control system fail faster than a failure of the data acquisition system. Walt Boyes, Control's editor in chief, takes you back to the basics on data acquisition systems and software.
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Back to Basics: What's a PAC?
October 16, 2008
Watch Editor in Chief Walt Boyes on this special Back to Basics report on the development of the programmable automation controller, or PAC. In the past decade, programmable automation controllers have leveraged themselves on COTS hardware and software and become rugged, reliable, versatile and ubiquitous. Often it is not possible to tell the difference between a PLC and a PAC, from the outside. It is only when you get to see the advantages built into a PAC from the inside out that you can tell them apart.
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Back to Basics: Managing Alarms
October 15, 2008
Editor in chief Walt Boyes talks about effective alarm management processes. Over the past 50 years many process industry disasters could have been avoided if only the proper alarm systems had been in place. The switch of alarm management systems from panel walls to display screens and DCSs resulted in system operators' loss of visual pattern recognition. This switch caused the newer generations of alarm operators to develop tunnel vision. Meanwhile lack of careful alarm rationalization causes them to be inundated with too many alarms, making it impossible to respond to the important ones. Watch this 5-minute video and learn how to design an alarm system that contributes to your plant's "inherently safe" lifestyle.
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Back to Basics: Loop Tuning
August 14, 2008
Control Editor in Chief Walt Boyes explains the basics of this fundamental control operation. Learn about dead band, lag time, PID control, manual and adaptive loop tuning and why your loop tuning problems can't always be fixed by software.
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Back to the Basics: Basics of Level Measurement
May 19, 2008
We've been measuring level since the days of the Pharaohs, so why is it still so hard? Control Editor in Chief Walt Boyes talks about the basics of measuring level, and how to select the correct level technology for your applications.
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Back to Basics: DP Flow Measurement
April 15, 2008
Walt Boyes tells it like it is in Flow Measurement: Part One-- Differential Pressure Flow Measurement, another in our Back to Basics series.
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In this video series Control editors conduct market research and discuss the results on video.
Market Intelligence Report: Temperature Instrumentation
May 17, 2011
Temperature is one of the Big 4 control parameters that any process plant must monitor. However, it is sometimes a forgotten measurement because it often isn't as hard to do as the other three. Editor in chief Walt Boyes reviews the 2009 survey on temperature instrumentation and compares it to the 2011 survey findings. There are significant differences between the two surveys. Watch this report to find out.
Market Intelligence Report: Level Measurement
March 29, 2011
Executive editor Jim Montague presents the results of Control's 2011 survey on level measurement technologies, compares this year's results with responses to the same survey in 2009, and then examines some of the up and downs over the past two years -- such as the emergence of WirelessHART.
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Market Intelligence Report: Field Instruments
November 16, 2010
Editor in Chief Walt Boyes presents the results of Control's latest survey on field instruments. Control presented its readers with five different field instrument questions, and this video reports summarizes the findings. Watch this video report to learn more.
Market Intelligence Report: Operator Interface/HMI
August 24, 2010
Control Global surveyed its audience to find out more about how they use operator interfaces and HMIs. Editor in Chief Walt Boyes analyzes the 2010 results and compares these to the results of the same survey taken in 2008. Watch this video report and see if there is a difference in how operator interfaces and HMIs are used today.
Market Intelligence Report: Process Analyzers
July 27, 2010
Executive editor Jim Montague talks about the diverse technologies used in process analyzers. Some technologies leave you asking for more. Watch this video and learn more about the different process analyzer technologies professional use today and see how satisfied they are with these devices.
Market Intelligence Report: Calibrators & Calibration Management Software
May 25, 2010
Editor in chief Walt Boyes reviews the results of ControlGlobal's calibration survey. Control asked its readers to talk about their calibration practices. How and why they calibrate their instrumentation. Watch this video report to find out more about the survey results.
Market Intelligence Report: Power Supplies & Circuit Protection
March 22, 2010
Editor-in-Chief Walt Boyes talks about the results of Control's survey on power supplies and circuit protection. Seven questions were presented asking Control's readership what power supplies and circuit protection devices they use to protect themselves. Watch this video report and learn more about the results found.
Market Intelligence Report: Process Control Software
January 26, 2010
Control Global surveyed its audience on process control software and Editor-in-chief Walt Boyes presents the survey results in this video report. Watch this report to learn more about our recent survey.
Market Intelligence Report: Recorders and Data Acquisition
November 17, 2009
Executive editor Jim Montague analyzes the results of Control's survey on recorders and data acquisition devices. Automation professional need to know different data values across the plant floor such as temperature, level, flow and pressure, when monitoring and controlling plant processes. However, the way that the data gets collected, analyzed, archived and reported has changed over the years. It continues to evolve and expand fast.
Watch this video report to learn how recorders and data acquisition devices have changed, and how these are being used on the plant floor today.
Market Intelligence Report: Flowmeters
September 29, 2009
Editor in chief Walt Boyes talks about the results of the latest Control survey on flowmeters. Control surveyed its audience asking how industry professionals use flowmeters. We received over 250 responses and the results surprised us.
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Market Intelligence Report: Circuit Protection
August 06, 2009
Walt Boyes explains the implications of the responses received from CONTROL's 2009 survey on circuit protection. What factors determine the kind of circuit protection you use? Watch this video and get the entire report. Find out the circuit-protection procedures and practices of our audience.
Market Intelligence Report: Industrial PCs, PLCs and PACs
July 29, 2009
Walt Boyes walks you through the responses received form CONTROL's 2009 survey on industrial PCs, PLCs and PACs. What kind of PC do you use? Watch this video and get the entire report. Discover what type of industrial PCs, PLCs and PAC our audience uses.
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Market Intelligence Report: Safety Instrumented Systems
April 27, 2009
Editor in chief Walt Boyes reports and interprets Control’s latest readership survey. This time we asked our readers about their understanding and usage practices concerning safety instrumented systems. Safety is one of the most important issues facing the process industries, especially as retirement takes much of the institutional knowledge and experience from plants worldwide.
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Market Intelligence Report: Temperature Instrumentation
April 14, 2009
What we think we know isn't always what we DO know. Walt Boyes has some surprising information about how we use temperature sensors.
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Market Intelligence Report: Field Instruments
November 18, 2008
Control's Walt Boyes reports on how end users are using field instruments, analyzers and final control elements. Wired or wireless, this is where the rubber meets the road.
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Market Intelligence Report: Operator Interface/HMIs
September 15, 2008
Human-machine interfaces (HMIs) are increasing in number, variety, resolution, sophistication and related computing power, and so are becoming all-pervasive in most process applications. To help make sense of this rapidly changing market, Jim Montague, Control's executive editor, presents the results of Control's latest Market Intelligence Report on HMIs. Respondents reported on how they use HMIs to interact with their plants' control systems, the age of their existing HMIs, their visual presentation preferences and on how well their HMIs handle alarms.
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Market Intelligence Report: Where's PAT?
July 18, 2008
Find out what users in the process industries have to say about how and where Process Analyzer Technology (PAT) finds a place in their operations. A recent Control survey indicates that users often first use PAT to help meet regulatory requirements and then find multiple other uses for it. At the same time, in spite of many single instances of PAT technology across an operation, surprisingly few of those surveyed have a systematic, global PAT program in place.
>>To see the complete results of our Marketing Intelligence Report on PAT, watch this video.
Market Intelligence Report: Process Control Software
June 12, 2008
Control's market intelligence report on process control software reveals some interesting attitudes on the part of end users. Some of the responses will surprise you. Control's Walt Boyes presents the straight stuff.
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Market Intelligence Report: Power Protection Practices
April 22, 2008
This three-minute video, "Best Practices in Power Protection," represents the collective wisdom of more than 140 process industry professionals on issues ranging from the use of uninterruptible power supplies and circuit breakers to surge-suppressor technology options.
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Market Intelligence Report Video: Calibration Practices
February 8, 2008
Control surveyed its readership about their calibration practices, and we learned new and unexpected things about how end users calibrate field devices and manage their calibration processes. Here are the results.
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Keith Larson hosts this video-based prognostications on various aspects of process automation technology.
FutureCast: Calibration
September 17, 2008
Control's latest Futurecast traces the history of calibration, where its related technologies are presently applied, and how it likely will be used in the future. Because precise control requires accurate measurement, instrument calibration is crucial for end users and can be extremely costly for those that don't have it. Though it may be used less in periodic, preventive maintenance in old instrument shops, some observers report it will be used more for increasingly sophisticated configuration and predictive maintenance in the field.
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FutureCast: Human Machine Interfaces
August 26, 2008
Human-machine interfaces can be defined as any device that allows a human's five senses to interface with a machine. In the past, this meant that HMIs consisted mostly of computer screens, keyboards and pushbuttons. However, recent technology advances are morphing these traditional definitions into new forms and functions-all in an ongoing effort to push engineers and operators' vision ever further into their processes. In this FutureCast, Control executive editor Jim Montague explores some of these trends, and reports on HMI expert Ian Nimmo's perspective about how HMIs will evolve in the future.
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FutureCast: Primary Process Variables
August 5, 2008
We've been using the same short list of process variables, flow, level, pressure and temperature, for 150 years. Control's Walt Boyes believes that there may be new ones, and new ways to use the old ones in the coming two decades.
>>Watch the video, and decide if he's right or not.
FutureCast: Batch Automation
June 23, 2008
Where's the batch? ISA88 was the first attempt to create a manufacturing language. Walt Boyes talks about the direction ISA88 and ISA95 are taking, and what the future holds for batch and hybrid manufacturing.
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FutureCast: Advanced Control
June 9, 2008
Alarm management seems to be harder than it looks. But TiPS' Steve Apple provides some simple, yet effective guidance in this podcast interview with Control's Walt Boyes.
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FutureCast: The Future of OPC and Software Connectivity
June 2, 2008
In another of Control's 20th Anniversary Futurecasts, Control looks at the future of OPC and connectivity. Will software of the future be built like Legos? Will connectivity be as easy as plug and play? Tune in and find out.
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Control FutureCast: Control Valves
May 22, 2008
In this Futurecast, Control's Executive Editor Jim Montague peers into the crystal ball and reports what the future will bring for control valves.
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Control FutureCast: Networking Technologies
April 22, 2008
Keith Larson, Putman Media vice president of content and long time editor of Control, reviews the ongoing development and increasingly prevalent use of digital communication protocols to communicate and integrate process control and plant information streams.
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