Just over a decade ago, an article titled, "Advanced Control Strategies Move into the Field" (Control, October 2008), highlighted three evolving trends in the process control world that would "make ...

I recently surveyed the on-site development of the control system for a large concentrated solar power station. This “first of a kind” facility offered many control challenges, such as balancing heat ...

Industrial control systems can be categorized in two types: open-loop and closed-loop systems. The open-loop control system is a continuous control system that provides no feedback from its output.

In my previous article on loop tuning, I discussed the importance of field data collection and the importance of a methodical approach to PID tuning. I introduced the concept of the bump test and how ...

For injection molding — as well as just about every plastic process — process cooling is very important for cycle time and part quality. Cooling sometimes seems like a last-horizon type of variable ...

The I/O capabilities built into most microcontrollers make it easy to measure the analog world. Say you want to build a data logger for temperature. All you need to do is get some kind of sensor that ...

One segment of a process control system. An open-loop control process requires human intervention, whereas a closed-loop system is entirely automated (see PID). See process control. THIS DEFINITION IS ...

In a recent installment of the International Society of Automation’s “Ask the Automation Pros” series, Erik Cornelsen, ...

US-based company Vulcan Materials is a major producer of aggregates-based construction materials, including asphalt and ready-mixed concrete. A couple of years ago, the company installed an Insitec ...