If you’re an automation professional and not already subscribed to the ModelingAndControl.com blog, you’re missing some great stuff.
Greg McMillan has recently posted three “sensible sensor installation” posts:
- Sensible Sensor Installation
- Sensible Sensor Installation – Follow Up
- Sensible Sensor Installation – Tips
Greg offers his rules of thumb based on his vast plant experience for installing temperature and pH sensors. Here’s an example from his initial post:
The best sensitivity from a temperature or pH sensor can generally be achieved by an installation where the tip of the thermowell or electrode is in the center of the pipeline. This is particularly important when there is a high viscosity fluid such as a polymer for temperature control or concentrated sulfuric acid reagent for pH control. For temperature, it is also desirable to maximize the insertion length in the center line to reduce the thermal conduction error from the tip to the flange. The insertion of the thermowell into an elbow affords this opportunity.
I know when I was a young systems engineer I would have really appreciated more rules of thumb to give me grounding on some of the things I needed to consider. Experience teaches these things, so any shortcuts to gain these experiences are greatly appreciated.
As I mentioned in a Web 2.0 presentation at the last Emerson Exchange, many ways are emerging to share your process automation expertise. A blog is one way, but other ways include adding/modifying entries in Wikipedia, social bookmarking with Del.icio.us, and sharing interesting posts you come across with web-based RSS readers like Google Reader.
If you’ve not yet taken the plunge to see what subscribing to RSS feeds is all about, see the screencast of how to subscribe to this blog, and how to import my blogroll. This is my way of helping get you jumpstarted to these rules of thumb with many automation and process industry-based blogs, including Terry and Greg’s ModelingAndControl.com.
