You go to my head
And you linger like a haunting refrain
And I find you spinning round in my brain
Like the bubbles in a glass of champagne

("You Go To My Head," jazz standard sung by too many jazz artists to list, written by J.F. Coots and H. Gillespie)

PTOA SEGMENT #119: CROSS THE PROCESS VARIABLE TEMPERATURE FINISH LINE!

PTOA Segment #119 recapped the highlights of the fourth and final PTOA Process Variable Temperature Focus Study which was all about describing popular instruments that detect and measure temperature and also explained how they worked.

The effort that PTOA Readers and Students devoted to reviewing the content in PTOA Segment #119  

... as well as in all of the previous PTOA Deja Vu Review Segments ...

... was and will continue to be totally worth it!

The first time you read new information,  your brain is getting used to integrating the new concepts and terminology into the core concepts that you have already mastered.

 

So then the review process reinforces how all the new information applies in the big picture and prepares the brain to take on yet more new, integrated information.

Plus ...

While writing most of the reviews ...

Your Mentor adds background information that would be Too Much Information the first time around!

Like right at this precise moment ...

Let's take a moment in this review segment to ponder what the word "technology" means ...

because this fourth and final PV Temperature Focus Study was all about technology.

Furthermore ...

 

PTOA Readers and Students who are reading the PTOA Segments in the intended sequential order have been investing significant time and effort understanding industrial "Process Technology."

Googlers are going to read the definition of "technology" as:

"the collection of techniques, skills, methods and processes used in the production of goods or services or in the accomplishment of objectives."

Your Mentor is going to paraphrase and the definition of "technology" to the following:

Mankind has noticed cosmic truths* to be self-evident and has then exploited these truths to do (mostly) useful things for Mankind.

*The phrase "cosmic truths" refers to the observed laws and rules of the cosmos that make Stuff/Matter/Mass behave and move the way the Universe wants it to ...

and this was all a-happening well before Mankind was around and had sufficient spare time to start noticing how Stuff/Matter/Mass behaves and moves!

Hey!

This unique ability that Mankind has to observe cosmic truths and apply them to hopefully advance the species is A BIG DEAL!

The next time you hear some dude expounding how artificial intelligence is going to take over the world ...

or that the DNA of chimps is 98% the same as that of human beings ...

Don't be impressed until and unless IBM's Big Blue or the chimp can take the initiative to create a totally new, useful tool based upon observations of how Stuff/Matter/Mass moves over a distance during a certain period of time ... over and over again.

NO CAN DO!

However...

Examples abounded throughout the PTOA Temperature Detection and Measurement Focus Study that showed how successfully Mankind has harnessed the value of the cosmic truths to create useful tools that detect and measure temperature.

The PTOA Temperature Detection and Measurement Focus Study began by differentiating the physical from the chemical properties of Stuff/Matter/Mass and progressed to illustrate how changes in temperature impact the physical properties of Stuff/Matter/Mass.

For example, PTOA Readers and Students reviewed how Mankind figured out the relationship between temperature changes and volume expansion (aka density changes) and created:

• Liquid-in-Glass thermometers for local temperature indicating.
• Fluid-Filled Systems for intrinsically safe local temperature indicating, recording, and controlling.

The cosmic truths that link temperature changes to the linear expansion of metals have been exploited by Mankind to make:

• Bimetallic strip thermometers for local temperature measuring, indicating and recording.
• Bimetallic strip thermometers for on-off control.

Changes in temperature that were observed to impact the electrical conductivity/resistivity of metal and metal alloy junctions, precious metal wires, and metal oxides have been exploited by Mankind to manufacture:

• Thermocouples for "remote" (meaning ... far away ... like in the control room) temperature indicating, recording and controlling over a wide range of temperatures ... and especially extremely high process stream temperatures.
• RTDs for accurate and remote temperature indicating, recording, and controlling.
• Thermistors for accurate temperature measurement in a wide variety of electronic devices, overheat protection of motor windings, and over current protection.

The cosmic truths that govern heat transfer via radiation have been exploited to create no-touch temperature measuring over great distances via optical and IR pyrometers.

Important sub-technologies that supported the above list of technologies used to detect and measure temperatures included:

The usefulness of the of Rankin and Kelvin Absolute Temperature scales.

How a technology called a Bourdon Tube can transduce molecular movement into mechanical movement.

Predictions about how current, voltage, and electrical resistance will behave in a circuit (Ohm's Law).

 

 

Auxiliary technologies that are needed just to sustain the accuracy of a detected temperature included compensating Bourdon Tubes for fluid-filled systems, cold junction compensation and dedicated extension wires for thermocouples, and Wheatstone Bridge circuitry in RTDs and some thermistors.

 

 

By this point in their self-studies, all PTOA Readers and Students have left any residual math anxiety at the door because everybody understands that mathematical expressions are simply used by Mankind to describe and define the cosmic truths that have been observed.

The mathematical concepts that have supported the PTOA Focus Study on Temperature Detection and Measurement included:

The concept of a one-to-one linear relationship between two "things" (one of the things usually being "Temperature") was found to support each temperature detection and measurement technology that was introduced.

PTOA Readers and Students learned how the slope of the graph predicted both the closeness of the linearity (usually as Temperature increased) and the robustness of the relationship between the two "things."

Unbeknownst to PTOA Readers and Students, the study concerning measurement accuracy and repeatability entered the mathematical realm of probability and statistics.

For every useful application of technology Mankind has developed, many thousands more technologies were thrown out before leaving the testing laboratory because the technology was not sufficiently accurate, repeatable, or had acceptable reliability.

PTOA Readers and Students also learned that measurement accuracy must often be optimized with measurement response lag.

The final paragraphs of PTOA Segment #119 demonstrated to PTOA Readers and Students how competent they have become with respect to interpreting a P&ID excerpt.

Nowadays, PTOA Readers and Students have the competency to analyze this P&ID excerpt while imagining what the temperature-changing equipment looks like in the real world as well as deduce what type of instrument would be used for temperature detection and measurement.

PTOA Readers and Students can now also  competently understand what a 'minor process line' drawn on a P&ID refers to.

Lastly in PTOA Segment #119, PTOA Readers and Students were introduced to the Automated Process Control jargon "manipulated" and "measured process variable," which will both return in the future PTOA Automatic Instrumentation Focus Study Area.

 

PTOA SEGMENT #120:THE METHOD TO THE MADNESS IS REVEALED

So ... tell me ...

HOW HOT IS HOT?

 

This question introduced PTOA Segment #1, the very first PTOA Segment that began the PTOA Process Variable Temperature Focus Study Area.

 

The last PTOA Segment dedicated to the Process Variable Temperature was PTOA Segment #120.

PTOA Segment #120 revealed the step-wise plan-of-attack Your Mentor developed for the purpose of introducing and integrating the many core competencies that must be mastered to truly understand how the Process Variable Temperature is used to convert raw materials into more valuable products.

 

The structure of PTOA Segment #120 included a detailed list of the core competencies and supporting applied science, technology, math, and engineering concepts which have been mastered by those reading the PTOA Segments in the intended sequential order.

This list of temperature-related core competencies would impress any potential employer ... not just industrial process plant managers.

Want to know why?

All of the core competencies mastered by PTOA Readers and Students apply universally. 

What makes local and even global temperatures change is a universal concern not limited to the industrial process industries.

The three methods by which heat transfers ...and temperature thus changes ...apply everywhere ... not just in the industrial process industries.

And the technologies Mankind has accumulated in the toolbox that can detect and measure temperature are used in all industries ... not just the industrial process industries. 

 

Whilst getting "knowed-up" in Process Technology, PTOA Readers and Students have been investing their time learning the real-world applications of Science, Technology, Math, and a little design Engineering.

During the timeframe that Your Mentor is writing this PTOA Segment #132, media headlines report that employers just "cannot find skilled workers."

That phrase is code for:

"There are fewer potential employees amongst the masses that have chosen to learn how science, technology, math, and engineering apply in the real world to upgrade raw materials into finished products."

PTOA Readers and Students are not only growing more competent in learning process technology ... they have also demonstrated their personal motivation and perseverance to continue their self study.

WELL DONE!

BRAVO!

Now it is time to review the jargon related to temperature detection and measurement and then start learning all about the Process Variable Pressure!

Namaste,

YM!

 

 

 

©2016 PTOA Segment 00132
PTOA Deja Vu Review 4-12

You need to login or register to bookmark/favorite this content.