During another full month, the Johannesburg team had the pleasure of hosting the branch year-end function, as well as a technology evening presented by turboTRAIN. The year-end function was a spectacular quiz night that was filled with laughter and competitive spirits. Thank you very much to everyone who participated.
The technology evening was presented by turboTRAIN’s Eric Carter, who agreed to step in at short notice to present on ‘PID for Dummies’. In this presentation, there was no pretence at advanced control, just the basics of what P, I and D are all about, with references to how they interact.
The presentation was marred by Teams issues, but the point was made that this is not rocket science and that people such as Ziegler and Nichols made important contributions to the factors that contribute to how the proportional action (gain), integral action (reset) and derivative action (rate), all contribute to a controller output that, if optimally tuned, returns the process variable to set-point, or very close to it, in an optimal way.
There were some interesting questions afterwards, particularly regarding PD control, which Eric answered with reference to common temperature control systems. Another question related to on/off outputs (as opposed to analog). This was explained as being pulse width modulation, also common in temperature control applications, where the time constant is long and integral action sometimes causes problems. The gain is usually high (so proportional offset is small) and a small derivative component is added to prevent overshoot.
The branch thanks all members for their continued support during 2021 and wishes you all the best for 2022.
Read more...SAIMC: Secunda branch SAIMC
SAIMC
The branch’s two most recent technology evenings featured presentations on ultrasonic flow meters, and cables and cable technology.
Read more...SAIMC: Durban branch SAIMC
SAIMC The Hennie Prinsloo Golf Day
May weather in Durban? Beautiful! And the weather on 6 May for the Durban branch golf day did not disappoint. It was clear, sunny, warm (dare we say hot?) and just beautiful ...
Read more...SAIMC: Cape Town branch SAIMC
SAIMC
The SAIMC Cape Town management team would like to thank Robert Wright and RJConnect for the great presentation and hopes to hear from him again in the future.
Read more...SAIMC: From the office of the CEO SAIMC
SAIMC
Most people are aware that South Africa has one of the highest unemployment rates in the world and that new technologies are about to make that even worse unless countries are prepared for it.
Read more...SAIMC: Cape Town branch SAIMC
SAIMC
So well was his presentation received that after Bafana’s allotted hour ended, the audience was not sated until another 40 minutes had passed.
Read more...SAIMC: Durban branch SAIMC
SAIMC
4 May marks the branch’s return to face-to-face technology meetings, including evening drinks and networking, followed by dinner.
Read more...SAIMC: Secunda branch SAIMC
SAIMC
All instrumentation and control-related mechanicians, technicians and engineers are welcome to attend the upcoming monthly technology events on 5 May and 2 June.
Read more...SAIMC: From the office of the CEO SAIMC
SAIMC
This year kicked off with South Africans rebelling against foreigners taking their jobs. Truck drivers were among these, saying that driving a truck is not a critical skill and therefore it should be ...
printer friendly version