Fluid Systems and Measurements

Fluid systems are used to produce a large variety of products and to support production processes. Fluids are used to provide heating, cooling, and lubrication; for flushing and cleaning; and to store and distribute reactants and products. It is important for operators to understand how these systems behave in steady state conditions and also how they respond to operating changes. The transient response curve generated by a step input can help shed light on a system’s response to operating changes and be used to help set up a controller to automatically make adjustments to control important variables. Pressure, flow, level, and temperature are some of the variables that are commonly monitored in fluid process systems. It is important to monitor these variables in order to maintain the safety, performance, and efficiency of the process. This course describes the basic design features of fluid process systems, steady state vs. transient operating conditions, important variables to monitor and control, and how those variables are measured.