Perfect proficiency in industrial signal conditioning

The need to measure and control the opera­tion of machinery or process equipment is as old as the Industrial Revolution. Plant instru­mentation has now become the nerves and brain of the modern manufacturing plant. It regulates and supervises the operation of the equipment within the plant. It also provides the means to make plants economically viable. Instrumentation allows the use of processes which would be difficult or impos­sible to operate without automation.

Figure 1: Typical measurement/control loop.

Instruments have grown from purely analog systems to the ‘smart’ systems in use today, ranging from simple potentiometers to com­plex analyzers such as infra-red spectropho­tometers. Yet, for all the advances in systems development, analog field measurements and the electronic signals that carry them are still necessary ingredients in all systems.

Analog measurements take many forms but can be roughly classified into two types — physical measurements and compositional measurements. The first type includes pres­sure, temperature, flow, force, vibration, mass and density. The second includes such measurements as conductivity, pH and chem­ical analysis.

Obtaining, maintaining and improving the quality of these measurements is the goal of proper signal conditioning. Good signal con­ditioning preserves the quality of the meas­urements available and allows the plant sys­tems to make best use of the control and data acquisition systems installed.

Helping Dataforth customers achieve good signal conditioning is the goal of this handbook. Access the free, full Industrial Signal Conditioning: A Tutorial by Dataforth handbook.