PTOA DEJA VU REVIEW: Numero Quatro, Part #1

You're stuck on repeat, repeat-peat, repeat
You're stuck on repeat, repeat-peat, repeat

("Repeat," by Jessie J, David Guerra et al., 2011)

PTOA SEGMENT #94: WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE? (#3)

PTOA Readers and Students briefly reviewed the knowledge that they had acquired while completing the PTOA Heat Transfer Focus Study.

Next, the upcoming PTOA Temperature Detection and Measurement Focus Study was introduced.

PTOA Readers and Students were alerted:

The PTOA Temperature Detection and Measurement Focus Study would be the last of the four PTOA Focus Studies related to the Process VariableTemperature.
Process Operators must be familiar with the basic operating facts which support the instruments that detect and measure temperature because they must know when an instrument is giving a bogus temperature measurement and also be able to write intelligent work orders.
The PTOA Temperature Detection and Measurement Focus Study would incorporate familiar subject matter that PTOA Readers and Students had already mastered. For example...
All temperature changes are the result of thermal energy (aka heat) transferred by conduction, convection, and radiation; thus, the operating principle of all temperature-measuring devices will involve one or more of these heat transfer methods.
"Instrument Techie" PTOA Readers and Students are PTOA Readers and Students who possess a duo interest in understanding how automatic process instrumentation supports industrial process operations; "Instrument Techie" PTOA Readers and Students were alerted to read-for-understanding the upcoming PTOA Segments that would include the phrase "Instrument Tech Must-Knows" within the title.
"Instrument Techie" PTOA Readers and Students must thoroughly understand the fundamental operating facts that support each temperature detecting and measuring device because they are responsible for troubleshooting and fixing faulty instrumentation.

Not ever clarified in PTOA Segment #94 but stated right here right now is that the information included in the Process Technology and Operator Academy will cover the equivalent of an introductory course on automatic instrumentation.

PTOA SEGMENT #95: TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENT MUST-KNOWS (Part 1)

This PTOA Segment #95 featured fundamental temperature-related facts that are essential to understanding how the Process Variable Temperature is detected and measured.

The most important temperature-related fundamental facts presented in this PTOA Segment #95 were the statements about how increases in temperature are caused by heat being conducted into the atoms and molecules that Stuff/Matter/Mass is made out of.

The PTOA Department of Redundancy Department has decreed the need to reiterate the following which PTOA Readers and Students learned in PTOA Segment #95:

Upon being heated, the outcome of conduction heat transfer at the molecular level is agitated atoms that bump into each other.

Logically ... the more heat absorbed, the greater the frequency that atoms bump into each other ... which increases the temperature more rapidly.

The opposite also occurs ...

When heat is transferred out of Stuff/Matter/Mass into the surrounding environment the the atoms and molecules that compose the Stuff/Matter/Mass become less agitated and a lower temperature is observed.

The above statements are the most important temperature-related fundamental facts because they are directly related to the measurement response lag time that each temperature detection/measurement device has.

The best Control Board Operators will competently understand the measurement response lag of each type of instrument and will not over-correct during an emergency.

Other fundamental temperature facts featured in PTOA Segment #95 were:

Revisiting the difference between temperature (a "sense of hotness") and heat (the thermal form of energy that is always on the move being transferred).
Revisiting the common temperature scales, Farenheit and Centigrade/Celsius.
Understanding the differences between the physical properties and chemical properties of Stuff/Matter/Mass.
Learning that conductivity is a physical property of Stuff/Matter/Mass which can be used to detect and measure temperature.

PTOA SEGMENT #96: TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENT MUST-KNOWS (Part 2)

PTOA Segment #96 continued the focus on fundamental temperature-related facts that all PTOA Readers and Students must thoroughly understand prior to comprehending how temperature detecting and measuring devices work.

PTOA Segment #96 introduced and discussed the application of the Kelvin and Rankin Absolute Temperature Scales.

PTOA Readers and Students also learned that the length of Stuff/Matter/Mass will increase when heated and decrease when cooled; the fancy name for this happenstance is "linear expansion."

A Table of Linear Expansion by Engineering Toolbox.com compared the wide variance in linear expansion rates between different types of Stuff/Matter/Mass ... like Brass and Invar.

The "Linear Expansion Rate" of different materials was another physical property of Stuff/Matter/Mass that could be used to detect and measure temperature.

PTOA Readers and Students also revisited the old news about how a change in temperature will cause a change in volume of Stuff/Matter/Mass.

PTOA Readers and Students were already familiar with the impact of temperature changes on volume changes because they had already completed the focus studies related to phase-changing temperature-increasing industrial equipment like Package Boilers and Waste Heat Boilers.

PTOA Readers and Students were reminded that a "change in volume" for the same amount of Stuff/Matter/Mass is also called a "change in density."

PTOA Readers and Students had already studied the impact of temperature changes on density changes in past PTOA Segments that focussed on how "convection currents" make it possible for boilers and hyperbolic cooling towers to function.

Ergo,

PTOA Readers and Students were extremely familiar with the relationship between temperature and volume changes.

How convenient! This temperature/volume relationship can also be used to detect and measure process temperatures!

After reading PTOA Segments #95 and #96, PTOA Readers and Students could predict that the physical properties of conductivity, linear expansion, and volume expansion ... that all occur with temperature changes .... could be used to detect and measure process stream temperatures.

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