Applications of Instrumentation

1) power industry applications,

2) food process industry applications,

3) automobile industry applications

4) biomedical applications
 1) power industry applications,

Process instrumentation plays a vital role in the power industry.

Precise and reliable data are required to optimize plant’s
performance.
The right instrumentation selection allows for heightened
efficiencies, aids in reducing environmental impacts and is an
important aspect to stay competitive.
Renewable energy
 Hydro Power
 Wind Energy
 Solar Power
 Geothermal
 Biomass

Sustainable energy
 Hydrogen & Fuel Cells
 Nuclear
 Fossil Fuel Innovation
 Integration
 Distributed Generation
Instrumentation Scheme of Thermal Power Plant
There are basically three main units of a thermal power plant:
I. Steam Generator or Boiler
II. Steam Turbine
III. Electric Generator
Electricity From Coal (basic principle)
 Objectives of Instrumentation & Control
• Efficient Operation of the plant.
 Maximum efficiency
 Energy conservation
• Economic Operation of the plant.
 Lowest equipment life
 Longest equipment life
• Safe operation of the plant.
• Pollution control
 Minimum environmental effects

This entire task is often taken up by control & instrumentation or

simply instrumentation system which has the following functions:-
a) Measurement c) Operation
b) Control d) Monitoring
e) Protection
For a Plant Measurement system needs to be:
 Very accurate
 Reliable
 Delays should be as small as possible
 Should be switched on manually when a overall control system fails.
Quantities To Be Measured:
 Pressure
 Temperature
 Flow
 Level
 Expansion/ Contraction
 Analysis of (1) Water (2) Steam (3) Flue Gases And Others
 Measurement Points & Variables
Variables Measuring points Types of Approximate
(parameters) sensors/instruments number in plant
Pressure Boiler Bourdon tube 375-400
Turbine Diaphragm
Turbine throttle Bellows
Furnace Bell gauges
Temperature Steam at superheated inlet & outlet 700-750
Feed water at economizer inlet RTD
Water at condenser inlet
Air preheater
Flue gases thermocouple
flow High Pressure Steam Orifice, Venturi, Flow 75-100
Feed water inlet. Nozzle ,etc
Condensate
level Boiler Drum Differentia pressure 75-100
condensate tank methods
Water line
vibration turbine & generator Mass spring with 30-50
shafts & bearing shells Potentiometric Capacitive,
eddy current, piezoelectric
& optical types are used
Expansion Turbine Shaft Relative displacement 6-8
Turbine casing
 ULTRA VIOLET SENSOR
 This device is used in furnace and it measures the intensity of ultra
violet rays there and according to the wave generated which directly
indicates the temperature in the furnace.

Function of C&I department

 C&I controls and operates various motors, pumps, etc and thus helps us
to achieve our targets.
 The main work of C&I department is to observe, control and
manipulate electrical as well as non-electrical quantities like
temperature, pressure, vibrations.
 C&I department governs the whole functioning and operation of power
plant through the Central Control System (DDC-MIS) “Distributed
Digital Control Monitoring and Information System”.
Control and Instrumentation includes:
1. Manometer 4. Electronics
2. Protection and Interlocks 5. Water Treatment Plant
3. Automation 6. Furnaces Safety Supervisory System
1. Manometry instruments
TRANSMITTERS
• It is used for pressure measurements of gases and liquids, its working
principle is that the input pressure is converted into electrostatic
capacitance and from there it is conditioned and amplified.
• It gives an output of 4-20 ma DC. It can be mounted on a pipe or a wall.
For liquid or steam measurement transmitters is mounted below main
process piping and for gas measurement transmitter is placed above pipe.
MANOMETER
• It’s a tube which is bent, in U shape. It is filled with a liquid. This device
corresponds to a difference in pressure across the two limbs.
BOURDEN PRESSURE GAUGE
(a) Spiral type: for Low pressure measurement.
(b) Helical Type: for High pressure measurement.
 2. Protection and Interlocking instruments
INTERLOCKING
• It is basically interconnecting two or more equipment so that if one
equipments fails other one can perform the tasks.
• This type of interdependence is also created so that equipments connected
together are started and shut down in the specific sequence to avoid damage.
protection of equipments
• tripping are provided for all the equipments. Tripping can be considered as
the series of instructions connected through OR Gates.
• When a fault occurs and any one of the tripping is satisfied a signal is sent to
the relay, which trips the circuit.
• The main equipments of this functions are relay and circuit breakers
instrument used for protection are:
1. RELAY
 It is a protective device. It can detect wrong condition in electrical circuits
by constantly measuring the electrical quantities flowing under normal
and faulty conditions.
 Some of the electrical quantities are voltage, current, phase angle and
velocity.
2. FUSES
 It is a short piece of metal inserted in the circuit, which melts when heavy
current flows through it and thus breaks the circuit.
 Usually silver is used as a fuse material .
3. MINIATURE CIRCUIT BREAKER
 They are used with combination of the control circuits to;
a)Enable the staring of plant and distributors.
b) Protect the circuit in case of a fault.
 In consists of current carrying contacts, one movable and other fixed.
When a fault occurs the contacts separate and are is stuck between them.
3. Automation

• deals in automating the existing equipment and feeding routes.

• Earlier, the old technology dealt with only (DAS) Data Acquisition

System known as primary systems.

• The modern technology or the secondary systems are coupled with

(MIS) Management Information System.

• All the control instruments are excited by 24V supply (4-20mA)

because voltage can be mathematically handled with ease therefore all

control systems use voltage system for computation.

4. FURNACE SAFETY AND SUPERVISORY SYSTEM

This system has responsibility of starting fire in the furnace to enable the
burning of coal..
Unburnt coal is removed using forced draft or induced draft fan. The
temperature inside the boiler is 1100 degree Celsius and its height is 18 to
40 m. It is made up of mild steel.
An ultra violet sensor is employed in furnace to measure the intensity of
ultra violet rays inside the furnace and according to it a signal in the same
order of same mV is generated which directly indicates the temperature of
the furnace.
For firing the furnace a 10 KV spark plug is operated for ten seconds over
a spray of diesel fuel and pre-heater air along each of the feeder-mills.
 5. Electronics

undertakes the calibration and testing of various cards.

It houses various types of analytical instruments like oscilloscopes,
integrated circuits, cards auto analyzers etc.
Various processes undertaken in this area are:
1. Transmitter converts mV to mA.
2. Auto analyzer purifies the sample before it is sent to
electrodes
Electrical Maintenance Division:
It is responsible for maintenance of:
1. Boiler side motors
2. Turbine side motors
3. Outside motors
4. Switchgear
Protection By switch gear It makes or breaks an electrical circuit.
6. Treatment plants
Pollution Control systems:
 In order to ensure that NTPC comply with all the stipulated environment
norms, various pollution control systems / devices as discussed below
have been installed to control air and water pollution.
1. Electrostatic Precipitators:
The ash left behind after combustion of coal is arrested in high efficiency
Electrostatic Precipitators (ESP’s) and particulate emission is controlled
well within the stipulated norms. The ash collected in the ESP’s is disposed
to Ash Ponds in slurry form.
2. Flue Gas Stacks:
Tall Flue Gas Stacks have been provided for wide dispersion of the gaseous
emissions (SOX, NOX etc) into the atmosphere.
3. Neutralisation Pits:
Neutralisation pits have been provided in the Water Treatment Plant
(WTP) for pH correction of the effluents before discharge into Effluent
Treatment Plant (ETP) for further treatment and use.

4. Cooling Towers
Cooling Towers have been provided for cooling the hot Condenser
cooling water in closed cycle Condenser Cooling Water (CCW)
Systems. This helps in reduction in thermal pollution and
conservation of fresh water.
5. Ash Water Recycling System:
In the AWRS, the effluent from ash pond is circulated back to the
station for further ash sluicing to the ash pond. This helps in savings
of fresh water requirements for transportation of ash from the plant.
Applications of Instrumentation
1) power industry applications,

2) food process industry applications,

3) automobile industry applications

4) biomedical applications
Level and Flow Instrumentation for Food & Beverage Processors
Level and Flow Applications for Food & Beverage Processing
 Instrumentation in the brewing industry
Automation of the brewing process

Instrumentation for:
• Malting
• Malt and grain storage
• Brewhouse
• Fermentation
• Filtration
• Packaging
• CIP and water preparation
• Boiler
• CO2 and natural gas
 Silos can be easily mapped for fast commissioning
and reliable measurement.

Continuous level measurement in malt silos is done using

Brewhouse
Optimizing the yield and quality of extract production
Fermentation
Consistent quality batch-after-batch
Filtration:- Production of a consistent product with minimal beer loss

Flash pasteurizer temperature

control Fast response time is
needed for stable control
Packaging:- Keep consumers happy with clean, crisp product
3. Automobile industry applications
 Acceleration Sensors

 The use of acceleration sensors has traditionally been driven by

passive safety systems, such as airbags and seatbelt tensioners.
 Now, the airbag system in a typical new passenger car includes a front
passenger airbag, side airbags on both sides, and window bags and
contains 3–5 acceleration sensors.
 Although airbags are still the main market for acceleration sensors,
other applications require them as well which includes
 vehicle dynamics control systems
 antilock braking systems
 anti-theft systems
 active suspension control
 headlight leveling
Pressure Sensors
 Pressure sensors have numerous applications in the automobile.
Historically, the first and still most important is to control the air
intake.
 Other pressure-sensor applications are
 turbocharger pressure
 oil pressure
 atmospheric pressure
 fuel-tank pressure
 brake pressure
 climate control
 fuel pressure
Rotational-Speed and Phase Sensors

 Rotational-speed and phase sensors represent the largest market by

unit of all sensor types.
 The most important applications are:
 wheel speed for ABS and vehicle dynamics control
 engine speed, camshaft, and crankshaft phase for
motor control
 gear shaft speed for transmission control
 Most sensors are based on magnetic field detection.
Angle and Position Sensors
 Similar to rotational-speed sensors, angle and linear position sensors can
be found in a wide variety of applications and systems.
 throttle valve angle
 pedal angle or position
 seat position
 gear lever position
 steering angle
 Magnetic principles are used, as well as inductive, capacitive, and optical
sensors.
 In many applications, where cost requirements predominate over
performance and reliability issues, simple potentiometers are often found.
Radar and Video Sensors
 Radar and video systems for sensing the surroundings will create an
attractive new sensor market in future vehicles and will supplement today’s
ultrasonic parking aids.
 The combination and (often) knowledge-based evaluation of various sensor
signals is a required characteristic for sensing the surroundings of a vehicle.
 The sensors are not simply detecting a single physical quantity, but, rather,
they represent a sensing subsystem aiming to evaluate complex data, as in
traffic situations.
 A starting point for these new sensor functions is the adaptive cruise control
system (ACC), which has already been introduced to the market.
 ACC systems monitor objects that are far in front of a vehicle and their
relative speeds by either RF-radar (at 77 GHz) or laser-radar sensors.
 Video sensing will develop as a complementary technique for sensing a
vehicle’s surroundings and can also integrated with other sensing
methods such as radar and ultrasound.
 Additionally, applications in the passenger compartment, to detect seat
occupancy and occupant classification, are possible.
 Video sensing is encouraged by the considerably decreasing costs of
semiconductor video imagers as they become widespread in consumer
products and personal computers, as well as by new features of imager
chips relating to logarithmic sensitivity and fast random access.
Other Interesting Future Automotive Sensor Markets
Several other sensors not described above will enter the market within the
next decade, Just to mention a few:
• Biometric sensors for driver identification (mainly fingerprint for passive
enterand-go systems or for personalized comfort control).
• Gas sensors (e.g., for sensing air quality, for measuring carbon dioxide in
new types of air conditioning systems, for detecting ozone or fuel-cell
gases such as H2).
• Telemetric sensors (active or passive).
• Electric current sensors (potential-free sensors, e.g., for alternators,
electric motors, and starters or for battery power management in future
42-V systems).
Applications of Instrumentation
1) power industry applications,

2) food process industry applications,

3) automobile industry applications

4) biomedical applications
 4. biomedical applications

 In the Medical Industry, with the aid of small accurately machined

parts and tools, modern surgery has become less intrusive and more
successful.
 For example, a torn meniscus of the knee can be repaired in an
afternoon, and the patient may be walking without pain the next day.
 This kind of operation relies on the development of innovative
techniques and confidence in the medical equipment. This confidence
can only be assured through accurate measurement.
Applications
•Needles and Catheters
•Artificial Joints and Valves
•Surgical Equipment
•Ball Bearings
•Roller Bearings (Tapered, Cylindrical, Spherical, Needle)
Prosthetic Components
•Pacemaker Components
Processes
•Diagnostics and Analysis
•Equipment Maintenance
•Reverse Engineering
•Wear Testing
MEDICAL DEVICES
This is an extremely broad category—essentially covering all health care
products that do not achieve their intended results through predominantly
chemical (e.g., pharmaceuticals) or biological (eg., vaccines) means, and
do not involve metabolism.
A medical device is intended for use in:
• the diagnosis of disease or other conditions, or
• in the cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease
Some examples include
pace makers, dialysis machines
infusion pumps, the heart-lung machine,,
artificial organs, dental implants
artificial limbs, corrective lenses, etc.,
 medical equipment

•Defibrillators
•Patient Monitors
•Electrical Surgical Units
•Sterilizers
•EKG's
•Scope Processors
•Otoscopes
•Pulse Oximeters
•Stretchers & More