Only through proper troubleshooting and then solving the underlying problems can control loop performance be improved. Process design certainly plays a role in control loop performance, but experience ...

When implementing cooling solutions for electronic equipment, system designers are confronted with a complex set of variables. The cooling requirements are typically dynamic, and ambient temperatures ...

Power plants–especially coal-fired boilers–pose a set of process control problems unparalleled in other industries. Rapid load ramps, continuous unit demand changes, variable fuel quality and process ...

One of the bigger problems with any CNC machine or 3D printer is the issue of missed steps when moving the toolhead. If a stepper motor misses a step, the entire layer of the print – and every layer ...

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.

Control valve selection plays a crucial role in optimizing control loop performance, and engineers must consider factors beyond just cost, leakage class and pressure drop. As explored in a Control ...

Machines and processes are controlled using many strategies, from simple ladder logic to custom algorithms for specialized process control, but proportional-integral-derivative (PID) is the most ...

In 2012, Automation World published an article looking at the decision factors faced when choosing electric or pneumatic actuators. More than a decade later, manufacturing engineers and OEMs still ...