Exploring process control terms

Here, we are going to look into some of the common terminology related to process control:

• Process: A process is any operation or event (or sequence of operations or events) that causes a physical or chemical change to an input. Raw materials in industry undergo some kind of series of operations, whether being heated, ground, or mixed, for example, before they resemble a finished product.
• Sensors: A sensor is a device that senses or detects something – just as we have ears that hear, eyes that see, a nose that smells, and a tongue that tastes. We have sensors that sense or detect various physical properties such as temperature, pressure, level, or flow. Sensors basically convert a physical property into an electrical quantity.

Hence, the four common sensors used in process control are a temperature sensor, a pressure sensor, a level sensor, and a flow sensor – some others include a pH sensor, speed sensor, or a position...