Hi everyone, I have just finished my Master's in Mechanical Engineering with a focus on Process Engineering. That's what it's called at my university. What we covered there gave me a strong background in thermodynamics-related subjects, such as mixtures, distillation (and similar processes), HVAC, process equipment sizing, and some process control as well. I am now looking into the field of process control and am curious about what mechanical engineers actually do in companies that specialize in automation for process industries. Thanks!

Hello, I am a high school student currently studying in the Australian TAFE program as an engineer with a II degree in industrial process engineering. I am thinking about traveling to complete my studies to obtain a bachelor’s degree in quality engineering, but I did not find universities that teach this major even after my in-depth research. Does anyone know a reputable university in Britain? Or which English-speaking country teaches this major? Please advise me, thank you

Hello!

Anyone who can help with this one: ?

https://preview.redd.it/sddw8iihsawd1.png?width=735&format=png&auto=webp&s=ea5959103ff68ddee82ec30737ec231997fd2b2f

Hello fellow production people!

We've developed a groundbreaking method to stabilize crucial process KPIs and prevent process disruptions simultaneously. Our causal AI delivers real-time recommendations for adjusting set points and parameters of a production line during production, proactively keeping everything system-wide in the green. The best part? The AI learns all the necessary knowledge about process behavior and interactions directly from the line's raw process data!

If you're a process/control engineer or machine operator driven by curiosity, we'd love to get your thoughts on our prototype. And don't worry—this isn't a sales pitch. We're genuinely eager to hear from professionals like you in a 30 minutes interview.

If you're interested, feel free to drop a comment or send me a message!

I work in field service and don’t have a full understanding of what adjusting the dead band means in terms of output. My understand of PIDs is loose at best as well.

In my example, people are asking us to adjust a deadband to correct a sinusoidal behavior in flow and I want to understand what that means and how it compensates for adjusting the I value.

The system is closed loop (electronic valve, HICV, and flow meter). The reason for adjusting the dead band is to reduce sinusoidal behavior in flow.

The question is, what does the deadband adjustment actually do when it’s adjusted on the electronic valve? Does it change response time of the valve? Please explain like I’m five if possible, I’ve read the Wikipedia, but with my limited grasp of controls I’m at a bit of a loss.

Thank you!

I'm building a requirements management tool. Worked for Jama and saw the need for a new-age tool, that integrates AI and fixes common issues, like bad interface, no real live collaboration. Curious to learn about the various tools you use in your daily work, more specific to industries where SW is integrated into HW. Your insights would be valuable, thanks in advance.

1. What tools and software do you use?
2. What common problems or limitations do you encounter with these tools?
3. If you could improve or change one aspect of these tools, what would it be and why?

Hi everyone,

I hope you're all doing well! My name is Brian, and I'm a mechanical engineer working on an exciting startup idea. Over the past two months, I've been researching and developing this concept, and I'm hoping to take it to the next level with your help.

Currently, I work for an equipment distribution firm, and I've noticed a recurring issue in the field of equipment maintenance. Many people rarely read the manuals before operating the equipment and only consult them when something goes wrong. These manuals can be incredibly lengthy and tedious to navigate, often over 100 pages long!

My idea is to create an AI model that can answer technical questions related to industrial equipment—a specialized ChatGPT just for maintenance and troubleshooting. I believe this could make a significant difference in how maintenance is handled, saving time and reducing errors.

To validate this idea, I'm conducting some market research and would greatly appreciate your input. If you could spare 5 minutes to complete the survey linked below, it would be incredibly helpful. Your feedback will play a crucial role in demonstrating the need for such a solution and potentially getting the project started in collaboration with my current company.

Thank you so much for your time and support!

https://tally.so/r/w2rRoA

Hi everyone! I am relatively new to process control. Anyone here know the difference between BCAS (backup cascade) and CAS (cascade) in Honeywell DCS? Thank you!

I currently have a process with a Gap Controller connected to a level tank that controls an on off valve. When the level reaches SP, valve opens to dump liquid content from the tank and then closes. Leaving the valve open however results in the system stripper pressure it’s connected to to always increase. We want to replace the Gap Controller with a PID to make the process continuous and make the valve run in auto. Need to come up with a design solution for this. What all will I need to check to make sure implementing a PID is even feasible for this process?

I started my career working for Emerson designing the underlying infrastructure (networks /hypervisors / servers) for their DeltaV product. I used to love it however I slowly drifted into pure IT and I now want to look to drift back into the OT side of things.

I now run my own IT consultancy company and have partnered with a couple of vendors that also offer OT variants of their network/security products. I would like to try and get my head back into the land of OT and redevelop my skills. I would like to put together a small (cheapish) eBay shopping list of network based SCADA components where I could potentially take input from 4-20mA rosemount temperature probe into a Analogue Input device, fire it over the network to some sort Digital Output device to trigger a strobe or something like that?! I potentially may also want to have a little bit of Modbus TCP thrown in there for good measure. I know with Emerson this would have been almost impossible without a 'golden key' or a spending a lot of money on licenses. Does anybody have any good suggestions to point me in the right direction?

I am a winemaker and my backup wine press is a beautiful Italian unit in pristine condition... but it's from 1990 and has analog controls which don't allow sufficient "programming" (setting of timers) to press grapes in the modern way. I'm asking for some advice on retrofitting digital, automatic controls.

A bladder press does three things (and has three corresponding motors)- inflates the bladder with an air compressor, deflates with a vacuum blower, and spins the drum that contains the bladder and the grapes. It relies on two sensors- a pressure sensor and a position sensor (to make sure the perforated side of the drum is facing down when grapes are being squeezed). The pressure ranges from -3 psi to 29 psi.

The manufacturer can retrofit the unit... for $16,000! It seems like a simple enough system that I could do it myself for a lot less. Typically, presses are full of PLCs, but why can't I just use a computer? The programming I need is very simple, ex:

deflate to -3 psi rotate to position, inflate to 6 psi and hold for 3 minutes, deflate, rotate three times, inflate to 9 psi etc...

I would need multiple programs for different applications, but its never more complicated than pressure, time, and number of rotations.

My idea is to install motor controls (VFD) on each motor and control them via relay from a computer. I haven't started down the arduino rabbit hole, but I would just need to send current from the relay to a control terminal on the VFD at programmed times/sensor feedback . This would also let me install manual switches to the vfds for loading and cleaning. I'm way outside my area of expertise, but it seems to me that the VFDs would protect the motors and some simple circuitry would prevent contradictory commands.

I have no idea what to do for computing/programming/interface, but I thought I'd ask ya'll first if this is worth attempting.

I’m a new leader in our organizing and we have a big gap that I am trying to fill in data analitics, tools and systems and I don’t know where to start.

We have delta v and osi pi, LIMS, and a home made PIMS, no erp.

I need to define a role to bring together the data and the systems to drive the business better. To find tools and set digital strategy for our org. But we are small and scrappy <150 people. We have lots of systems but no way to tie them all together. Any ideas what to call the role or where to look?

Hey all

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Im looking to install a 3-phase voltage monitor on a series of linear accelerators im working with, as theyre super sensitive to noise in the power line. To integrate this into the current system, i have a few requirements that i am struggling to meet, so i was hoping you might have some ideas!

I need:
- an output that can be read by my current setup (analogue signal, modbus, serial whatever)
- Only voltage input, not out (tapped onto power line, not in series)

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Everthing seems to be either power meters (in series) or voltmeter but only with relay output.

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Maybe im looking in the wrong place?

Help please! Thanks

Hi All,

i am new here and i need your help.

i have need to connect ABB Tenore OPC to second system.

OPC DA and AE works fine with live data (Realtime). but when i want to take data from history ( OPC HDA) i got problem with analog raw points (measurements from the field not calculated), digital and calculated analog work fine.

For those points i received "0" value instead actual value from historian.

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i cannot figure out where is the problem.

Good morning all, I recently got hired for a process control engineer position, And they are willing to invest what is needed to get me up to speed. Currently looking for valuable training and certification to look into, but don't know where to start. I recently signed up for the ISA AEST boot camp, and looking into the CAP cert (which I lack the requirements for) My background is far from adequate for this position but I was hard saying no to such a great offer. For my background: I hold a mechatronics engineering degree from an institution outside the US which is not ABET accredited I have a year experience in mechanical design 4 years in high voltage mostly maintenance, testing, and troubleshooting field equipment (120v-34kv, SEL relays, mechanical relays, breakers, transformers testing, etc.) 3 years of SCADA experience( mostly dnp3, modbus IO mapping, and communication troubleshooting fiber& copper, serial, TCP/IP, etc.)

Hope this helps clarifying what my background and intent is, and thanks for the help in advance!

Let me know if I am missing something and if I misspelled something let me know will correct it or clearly it! English is not my first language Position is in the US btw

2 questions

1: I have a pneumatic tamper cylinder, operated by solenoid, that intermittently stutters/chatters in the retracted state. If i apply pressure to the tamper plate with my hand, it stops and immediately starts again after letting go. I haven't encountered this before and Google keeps giving me hydraulic results. No indicator light on solenoid to suggest issue is electrical, kind of narrows it down to solenoid or cylinder but I'm not sure what to look for

2: any other industrial process maintenance subs out there?

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https://preview.redd.it/8x8jr40vqq6c1.jpg?width=2550&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=164dd3439bd88578c112a39efdb67e965698c82e

I hope that someone here can help me out. I have a computer that is sending a CSV stream of 1 number that updates every second on Port 2001. I can Telnet to IP Address:2001 from another computer on the network and see the data updating.

I want to be able to display the number dynamically in a web page, to make it easier to read. Anyone have an idea on how to do that? I tried Googling it, and all I could ind was displaying a CSV file in HTML.

Any help, or pointing me in the right direction, would be much appreciated.

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Hi guys, so I have the following problem which I couldnt solve:

A system, whose open chain transfer function is first order, has an
improper gain constant and a pole equal to 6 and -2, respectively.
A processing engineer then decides to place this system under unitary
negative feedback, aiming to make the system faster.
What is the value of the new system time constant?
A) 0,125
B) 0,25
C) 0,5
D) 1
E) 3

I never seen the term 'improper gain' before but I just assumed it was my regular 'K' and with some simple maths to determine the time constant I found the following Transfer Function:

tau*(-2)+1=0 → tau=0.5
G(s)=K/(0.5s+1)

Calculating the Closed loop Transfer I did

G(s)/(1+G(s))

And got

(6/7)/(s/14+1)

So the new Gain constant would be 6/7 (instead of 6) and the new time constant would be 1/14, instead of 1/2.

However this isnt the answer. What did I do wrong and how would one solve this? Thanks in advance

I don’t know how many of you are still using pneumatic controllers but we have a topic of date in my shop and I’m wanting to expand the amount of amount of people in the discussion. We have a PI Fischer controller. In the VTD it says to close the reset knob to the slowest setting than to start to balance the controller. Some old timers say you have to lock in 9psi in the reset bellows instead of doing that. What does everyone think?

These are from the instructions for reference. They old timers say at step three to lock in 9psi to the reset bellows

1. For C1P and C1B controllers with anti-reset windup record the direction of the arrow on the anti-reset windup assembly (key 190, in figure 22).

Remove the assembly and install the two O-rings (key 81), and cover (key 80) supplied with the controller. Secure the cover with the two machine screws (key 82) provided. 2. Connect regulated supply pressure to the controller. Do not exceed the normal operating pressure in table 5. 3. Rotate the reset knob to CLOSED (slowest setting). 4. Rotate the proportional band adjustment knob to 1.5 (15 percent proportional band). 5. Verify that the calibration adjuster screws (key 48) are at mid-position in the calibration adjuster (key 36) slots. Depending upon the controller action, perform one or the other of the following procedures.

For reverse-acting controllers: 6. Apply an input pressure equal to the sensing element upper range value. 7. Rotate the pressure setting knob to the maximum value. 8. Adjust the nozzle (key 54) until the controller output pressure is between 0.6 and 0.7 bar (8 and 10 psig). 9. Apply an input pressure equal to the sensing element lower range value. 10. Rotate the pressure setting knob to the minimum value.

Need help interpreting our simulation results. Our control system is to monitor the energy consumption in a room. Once it reaches the set point energy consumption: 5.7kWh per day, a smart plug cuts off the electric supply and will reset at 12 am. We used rectangular pulse function. We get that it rises up to 5.7kWh due to consumption and returns back to 0 after 24 hrs. Why is it at steady-state though? What does it entail? Is there another input function we can try to show the gradual energy consumption in a day then back to 0 after 24 hrs?

https://preview.redd.it/zbh60jw0ow0b1.png?width=673&format=png&auto=webp&s=c7eed7cfdd0b293479c23b4daf84961e746bf5bf

We have a 24v solar/battery system that operates our remote pipeline station.

The controls cabinets have tamper switches in them that will show when someone opens the cabinets and it will log the tamper in our data historían.

Three weeks ago, we lost communications with the station, we go investigate and there’s a Siemens 24VDC breaker in the off position (not in the tripped position). Another tech thought that was odd but switched it back on, everything came back on, the tech monitored for an hour and it held.

For three weeks.

Yesterday, we lost it again. Head to the valve station today and it was just as reported before: Not tripped but in the off position.

No tamper recorded previous to the loss of comms.

There was a spare breaker next to it so we hooked up on that one. We’re seeing if we might have a bad breaker or a bad component.

I am aware that there are some breakers that trip off and to be completely honest I’ve never seen one of these Siemens breakers trip.

Just seeing if you guys might’ve seen this before.

I read that the pressure inside the tank will decrease when the gas cylinder is left open. Does it mean that when an LPG tank is in use or if there's a gas leak, the LPG tank will release pressure? Is there a way to measure the magnitude of the gas pressure output for leakage monitoring system in the kitchen?

Hi! Undergraduate student here. Was tasked to design a basic control system for home improvement. My options are (a) kitchen temperature monitoring and alarm (b) device for continuous glucose monitoring and (c) automatic door lock system. I'm leading towards (a) but we have no background in designing a control system. Among those, which do you think can be done by a student? (Feel free to suggest if you have a better idea. Badly needed) Thank you!

Not sure if this belongs in this sub.

I have recently started at a new site and product waste is ridiculous. At the end of each run on the 7 packing machines, the bin above is left with roughly 120lbs of product that gets scrapped. This is due to only having Vega level transmitters and no low level probe for true low level detection.

I have fairly extensive process experience. In my previous plant, we'd mark a bin empty if LIT was <5% and Low level probe was off for some short period of time. This was fairly reliable unless the LIT went crazy.

I looked into the program on these machines and basically they're doing some calculations once it's the end of the run and LIT is <2%. They're trying to calculate the product weight and figure out how many more packages can be produced. While my immediate recommendation is to calibrate the LIT's, ensure they're long enough and then I'll look to get the calculations better afterwards (product density will still be an issue here).

I also recommended adding a low level probe, but I was told that due to quality concerns it can't be added. Would need to re-validate the wash sequence and will never get buy in for this.

Has anyone ever dealt with this problem? Is there some type of non contact or flush mount sensor that would help here or a different method I can apply that quality will possibly allow? We can't run the bin completely empty due to the way the machine functions, so just running until the weights on the check weigher go down isn't an option either. It would cause issues with the line.

Also in my previous plant, I was able to shift the business to load cells on every new project, but this may be difficult due to needing a flexible 300psi pipe for isolation. Most pipes I've seen are flexible and would allow product to remain trapped in the veins too.

Sorry if this is too long and as always I appreciate the wealth of knowledge in this forum.

Some Metainformation to understand the snippet of this drawing better;

supply top : a mix of excess process and fresh water.
supply bottom : pipe which feeds LIC has cleaned water. Pipe who goes to pulper is seal water, fresh water.

1rst Question: When is is necessary to open the impurity discharge gate valve on the bottom of the pulper (right now it is displayed in closed position)

2nd Question: What does the abbreviation EV mean at the gate valves?

3rd Question: Why is the valve placed there below the pulper?

I would be elated if someone knows the solutions :)

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