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Welcome to the official blog of the International Society of Automation (ISA).

This blog covers numerous topics on industrial automation such as operations & management, continuous & batch processing, connectivity, manufacturing & machine control, and Industry 4.0.

The material and information contained on this website is for general information purposes only. ISA blog posts may be authored by ISA staff and guest authors from the automation community. Views and opinions expressed by a guest author are solely their own, and do not necessarily represent those of ISA. Posts made by guest authors have been subject to peer review.

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AutoQuiz: What Is an Industrial Process Variable?

AutoQuiz is edited by Joel Don, ISA's community manager. 

 

Today's automation industry quiz question comes from the ISA Certified Control Systems Technician (CCST) program. Certified Control System Technicians calibrate, document, troubleshoot, and repair/replace instrumentation for systems that measure and control level, temperature, pressure, flow, and other process variables. Click this link for more information about the CCST program. This question comes from the Level I study guide, Domain 3, Troubleshooting. Level I represents a professional who has a five-year total of education, training, and/or experience.

 

A process variable, which is to be maintained at some desired value (temperature, pressure, level, flow) by means of manipulating another process variable, is the:

a) manipulated variable
b) measured variable
c) controlled variable
d) disturbance variable
e) none of the above

 

The controlled variable by definition is the variable that the control system attempts to keep at a "set point" value. The set point may be constant or it may change. Typically, this part of the process is flow, level, temperature, pressure, or the like.The correct answer is C, controlled variable.

Joel Don
Joel Don
Joel Don is an independent content marketing, social media and public relations consultant. Prior to his work in marketing and PR, Joel served as an editor for regional newspapers and national magazines throughout the U.S. He earned a master's degree from the Medill School at Northwestern University with a focus on science, engineering and biomedical marketing communications, and a bachelor of science degree from UC San Diego.

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