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

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Why Is Instrumentation Critical for the Automation Professional?

 

The following tip is from the ISA book by Greg McMillan and Hunter Vegas titled 101 Tips for a Successful Automation Career, inspired by the ISA Mentor Program. This is Tip #34, and was written by Hunter.

 

This tip is actually a compilation of Tip #1 “Never Stop Learning” and Greg’s tip on “Seek Principles,” Tip #66. As a young engineer I spent a great deal of time and effort learning how instrumentation worked. Once I had a thorough understanding of that information, I could evaluate competing instrumentation designs and better select the best choice for a given application.

 

Concept: Making the effort to study and understand exactly HOW instruments work will generate a lifetime of benefits. This should be a high priority for any young automation engineer.

Details: Young engineers are often amazed by the ability of a seasoned engineer to ask a handful of pointed questions and immediately select the best instrument type and manufacturer for a given application. This skill does not require a photographic memory nor 54 years of instrumentation specification experience. It simply requires that the engineer understand exactly HOW the equipment functions. Once you know that, it is a straightforward effort to systematically eliminate instrument types that cannot work and gradually pare the number of options to a select few. A few more questions will often reveal the superior option. If you know the different designs offered by the various vendors and know the strengths and weaknesses of those designs, you can quickly name the particular make and model best suited for the application being considered.

Learning all of that information is not a minor undertaking, but it is not monumental either. When an opportunity arises, take the time to learn about unfamiliar instrumentation and seek to understand the details behind its function.

 

Watch-Outs: The pursuit of instrumentation knowledge should begin with unbiased sources (such as ISA or other technical organizations). These organizations tend to provide a more complete picture of instrument design and list the pros and cons of each technology. Vendors often give a more limited view of the technology, highlighting their own product line but downplaying (or even ignoring) competing designs. Vendor information can provide useful information about the particular design details of different instruments, but it is a poor place to start if you are just entering the field.

Exceptions: None.

Insight: Spending some time in the field with the maintenance technicians can be invaluable to a new engineer. If you develop a good relationship and rapport with the techs, you will learn a great deal about the installation, repair, and troubleshooting of various instruments. Knowing how instruments can fail is as important as knowing how they work.

Rule of Thumb: Take a few basic ISA instrument courses, read some books, and ask co-workers about instrumentation and how it works. A detailed understanding of these devices is critical for any automation professional.

 

 

About the Author
Gregory K. McMillan, CAP, is a retired Senior Fellow from Solutia/Monsanto where he worked in engineering technology on process control improvement. Greg was also an affiliate professor for Washington University in Saint Louis. Greg is an ISA Fellow and received the ISA Kermit Fischer Environmental Award for pH control in 1991, the Control magazine Engineer of the Year award for the process industry in 1994, was inducted into the Control magazine Process Automation Hall of Fame in 2001, was honored by InTech magazine in 2003 as one of the most influential innovators in automation, and received the ISA Life Achievement Award in 2010. Greg is the author of numerous books on process control, including Advances in Reactor Measurement and Control and Essentials of Modern Measurements and Final Elements in the Process Industry. Greg has been the monthly "Control Talk" columnist for Control magazine since 2002. Presently, Greg is a part time modeling and control consultant in Technology for Process Simulation for Emerson Automation Solutions specializing in the use of the virtual plant for exploring new opportunities. He spends most of his time writing, teaching and leading the ISA Mentor Program he founded in 2011.

 

Connect with Greg
LinkedIn

 

Hunter Vegas, P.E., holds a B.S.E.E. degree from Tulane University and an M.B.A. from Wake Forest University. His job titles have included instrument engineer, production engineer, instrumentation group leader, principal automation engineer, and unit production manager. In 2001, he joined Avid Solutions, Inc., as an engineering manager and lead project engineer, where he works today. Hunter has executed nearly 2,000 instrumentation and control projects over his career, with budgets ranging from a few thousand to millions of dollars. He is proficient in field instrumentation sizing and selection, safety interlock design, electrical design, advanced control strategy, and numerous control system hardware and software platforms.

 

Connect with Hunter
LinkedIn

 

Greg McMillan
Greg McMillan
Greg McMillan has more than 50 years of experience in industrial process automation, with an emphasis on the synergy of dynamic modeling and process control. He retired as a Senior Fellow from Solutia and a senior principal software engineer from Emerson Process Systems and Solutions. He was also an adjunct professor in the Washington University Saint Louis Chemical Engineering department from 2001 to 2004. Greg is the author of numerous ISA books and columns on process control, and he has been the monthly Control Talk columnist for Control magazine since 2002. He is the leader of the monthly ISA “Ask the Automation Pros” Q&A posts that began as a series of Mentor Program Q&A posts in 2014. He started and guided the ISA Standards and Practices committee on ISA-TR5.9-2023, PID Algorithms and Performance Technical Report, and he wrote “Annex A - Valve Response and Control Loop Performance, Sources, Consequences, Fixes, and Specifications” in ISA-TR75.25.02-2000 (R2023), Control Valve Response Measurement from Step Inputs. Greg’s achievements include the ISA Kermit Fischer Environmental Award for pH control in 1991, appointment to ISA Fellow in 1991, the Control magazine Engineer of the Year Award for the Process Industry in 1994, induction into the Control magazine Process Automation Hall of Fame in 2001, selection as one of InTech magazine’s 50 Most Influential Innovators in 2003, several ISA Raymond D. Molloy awards for bestselling books of the year, the ISA Life Achievement Award in 2010, the ISA Mentoring Excellence award in 2020, and the ISA Standards Achievement Award in 2023. He has a BS in engineering physics from Kansas University and an MS in control theory from Missouri University of Science and Technology, both with emphasis on industrial processes.

Books:

Advances in Reactor Measurement and Control
Good Tuning: A Pocket Guide, Fourth Edition
New Directions in Bioprocess Modeling and Control: Maximizing Process Analytical Technology Benefits, Second Edition
Essentials of Modern Measurements and Final Elements in the Process Industry: A Guide to Design, Configuration, Installation, and Maintenance
101 Tips for a Successful Automation Career
Advanced pH Measurement and Control: Digital Twin Synergy and Advances in Technology, Fourth Edition
The Funnier Side of Retirement for Engineers and People of the Technical Persuasion
The Life and Times of an Automation Professional - An Illustrated Guide
Advanced Temperature Measurement and Control, Second Edition
Models Unleashed: Virtual Plant and Model Predictive Control Applications

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