Process Control

Below you will find white papers on topics involving process control and automation.
Submitted by Parker Veriflo

When to select the perfect regulator. Understanding design parameters of pressure regulators in gas or fluid line systems.

Submitted by WIKA

How hydrogen leakage threatens the decarbonization of the chemical industry – and what can be done about it.

Submitted by Parker Hannifin

In the quest for a decarbonized society there is no doubt that Hydrogen as an environmentally friendly fuel source is gaining a lot of popularity to become the fuel of the future. And the hydrogen revolution is happening now.

Submitted by Emerson

Adding two solenoid valves to your Safety Instrumented System keeps your equipment, facility and personnel safe and your system online. Read the white paper below to learn more.

Submitted by Dr. Jon Monsen

This white paper discusses the rising stem valve and compares it to the rotary valve. The reader will learn what to consider to ensure the lowest overall life cycle cost and best possible degree of process control.

Submitted by Rotork Instruments

The natural gas industry commonly uses pneumatic devices powered by pressurized natural gas as valve controllers and pressure regulators. However, these devices are one of the main sources of vented methane emissions in the industry, with 51 billion¹ cubic feet released per year in the production sector alone.

Submitted by Raimund Weissner || Wika

Sanitary industries, such as biotechnical, pharmaceutical, cosmetics, and food and beverage, are highly regulated to ensure certain processes comply with extremely strict hygienic requirements. To support operations and ensure product quality, measuring instruments in sanitary applications must provide accurate, reliable data — despite harsh process conditions.

Submitted by Jim Breeze || Parker

Achieving a leak-free connection in any environment is the Holy Grail for many piping and instrumentation engineers. Traditional hookups use a multitude of valves and fittings – creating lots of potential leak points. The good news is, adopting ten easy steps can radically reduce leakage risks and achieve substantial cost and efficiency savings.

Submitted by Graham Johnson, Product Manager || Parker

Increasingly, process control instrumentation solutions are being applied in ever more hostile environments. As a result, there has been a corresponding increase in the reported incidence of external corrosion to 316 stainless steel instrumentation tubing systems.

Submitted by Parker Process Control Team

Graham Johnson, EMEA Product Manager for Parker Veriflo Ultra High Purity Fluoropolymer Valves, looks at the benefits of two point seal valves for semiconductor applications. The corrosive nature of high concentration acids and bases, clear chemistries and slurries used in semiconductor applications mean that pneumatic valves specified for these applications need to be particularly robust.

Submitted by Rotork

Rotork IQ technology is well established in the field of intelligent valve actuation. In addition to Rotork’s double-sealed enclosure, ‘non-intrusive’ commissioning, data-logging and predictive maintenance capabilities, the latest IQ3 generation features an extended range of advanced functionality and communication capabilities.

Submitted by Don Wolff || Valin Corporation

Rugged actuators that can handle a full range of ambient conditions are required in some of the more complex environments that produce oil. To provide comprehensive solutions to this precise actuation challenge, Valin has partnered with Valvcon.

Submitted by Jon Monsen

In Jon Monsen's book, Control Valve Application Technology (published and distributed by Valin Corporation), Jon explains how to properly size and select a control valve. Jon recently received inquiries from customers interested in a further explanation of one of the graphs featured in his book. This article will cover that explanation.

Submitted by Jon Monsen

In this paper I will show how an analysis using Metso’s Nelprof® control valve sizing and selection software’s unique ability to graph the installed gain of a control valve can be helpful in selecting the optimum pump for a balance of good controllability and minimum energy use.

Submitted by Parker

Molybdenum disulfide is a naturally occurring blackcolored solid compound that feels slippery to the touch. It readily transfers and adheres to other solid surfaces with which it comes into contact.

Submitted by Clara Moyano || Parker Hannifin

Probably the most significant trend in the instrumentation products world today is the design of increasingly corrosion-resistant systems. Led by oil and gas companies, instrumentation and piping engineers are now focusing far more attention on the materials used to fabricate valves, manifolds and tubing systems. In the offshore project world, for example, Parker Hannifin is currently seeing exponential growth in the use of 6Mo in preference to traditional 316 stainless steel. So, why are so many choosing that particular material?

Submitted by Parker

This article discusses the evolution of ferrule design and hardening technology, using the example of the Parker Hannifin CPI™ single ferrule compression fitting, but the basic principles also apply to two ferrule compression fittings, such as Parker Hannifin’s A-LOK®, as well as the high pressure design.

Submitted by Deborah Pollard || Parker

Here are some essential steps to help ensure your instrumentation tube and fittings system is as safe as possible.

Submitted by Scott Severse || Valin

Clean drinking water is the most precious resource on the planet.  Access to sanitary water is an essential element to a healthy, productive population.  While many consumers take it for granted that they have access to clean water coming from the faucets in their home and in public places, the companies responsible for making sure this is a reality understand everything that is involved.

Submitted by Scott Severse || Valin

Grocery stores require produce to be disinfected before being shipped to their outlet on a regular basis in order to ensure cleanliness before it is sold to their customers.  If left untreated, fresh fruit can be subject to a number of different contaminates that can ultimately adversely affect the consumer’s health. As the public is more conscious than ever about the substances and chemicals that they ingest, ensuring that produce does not harbor microbes is critical.

Submitted by Scott Severse || Valin

Conserving electricity and water are as important as ever for companies in order to reduce operating costs. One area where the experts at Valin can help with this goal is through the use of a conductivity controller for the water treatment program of a cooling tower.

Submitted by Mike Price || Walchem

Selecting the correct chemical metering pump can be a daunting task because of the variations and types of chemical pumps available. In order to pick the best metering pump for the application you will need to consider several factors. For the sake of simplicity, we will limit our discussion to pumps that deliver no more than 50 gph and pressures of less than 250 psi.

Submitted by Fit-LINE

Operational efficiency is a critical factor in the fluid processing industry. The synergy of fitting components and assembly technology to achieve this objective is the focus of Fit-LINE, Inc. Applying extensive polymer technology and injection molding expertise, the company has analyzed the design, tooling and manufacturing processes required to create high-performance solutions for demanding high-purity fluid processing applications. Through extensive R&D, testing and evaluation, Fit-LINE has isolated three variables that need to be addressed to ensure leak-free fitting assemblies.

Submitted by Brian Sullivan

Answer a number of key questions to identify the most appropriate choice

At process plants, a significant percentage of measurement devices aren’t correctly matched to their application, leading to decreased quality and consistency of the operation. Often, the source of this problem is the assumption that one type of level measurement sensor suits multiple applications.

Submitted by Jon Monsen

I was recently asked how the pressure at the vena contracta of a control valve in a liquid application can be determined. I am sharing my answer below.

Submitted by Jon Monsen, Ph.D.

For most systems, in order to get good control with stability throughout the full range of required flow rates, we need to use a control valve that has an installed flow characteristic that is linear, or at least as close to linear as possible.

Submitted by Don Wolff

All wells decline in production over time. This decline can usually be controlled by how hard the well is produced.

Submitted by Jon Monsen, Ph.D., Valin Corporation

There are two strategies for reducing control valve noise:

1. Source control, that is doing something to the valve to make it less noisy, and

2. Path control, that is doing something to prevent the noise from reaching the people who would be bothered by it.

Submitted by Jon Monsen, Ph.D.

We will briefly discuss what causes aerodynamic noise and some of the things that can be done to reduce aerodynamic noise generated by control valves.

Submitted by Jon Monsen, PhD

Perhaps the most misunderstood area of control valve sizing is the selection of the pressure drop, Δp, to use in the sizing calculation