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 ...

Good building mechanical design requires a firm grasp of the mechanical engineering fundamentals (thermodynamics, psychrometrics, the fan laws, etc.). The same can be said about the BAS design needed ...

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 ...

PID loops are a central component of modulating boiler control systems with applications ranging from basic steam header pressure control to cascading 3-element drum level control. A modern ...

On my first project as a combustion control engineer, I was responsible for loop checks and for watching the experts tune the system controls. The first loop I tried to tune solo was the drum level ...

Plant engineers and technicians are frequently asked to tune the controller when a control loop’s process value has prolonged or significant excursions from the set point. But in many instances, no ...

Steve Sandler explains what every engineer should know about ‘non-invasive’ stability assessments. The non-invasive stability assessment is a method that uses an output impedance measurement to ...

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 ...