Computer-processing equipment

The advent of the laser has made the generation of diffraction patterns by a suspension of fine particles a relatively easy task. At the same time, the rapid development of computer-processing equipment and specialized photocells has made it possible to process the information in a group diffraction pattern to generate the particle size distribution of the fine particles in suspension. One of the first commercially available... 

Computer modelling provides powerful and convenient tools for the quantitative analysis of fluid dynamics and heat transfer in non-Newtonian polymer flow systems. Therefore these techniques arc routmely used in the modern polymer industry to design and develop better and more efficient process equipment and operations. The main steps in the development of a computer model for a physical process, such as the flow and deformation of polymeric materials, can be summarized as ... 

Almost all vendors and manufacturers of process equipment use computer programs in designing and rating the equipment that they make. Such programs are made available to the purchasers of their equipment, often as a service or at a minimal cost. From an engineering point of view, some of these programs are biased in favor of the vendor s equipment. 

Spreadsheet Applications. The types of appHcations handled with spreadsheets are a microcosm of the types of problems and situations handled with fuU-blown appHcation programs that are mn on microcomputers, minis, and mainframes and include engineering computations, process simulation, equipment design and rating, process optimization, reactor kinetics—design, cost estimation, feedback control, data analysis, and unsteady-state simulation (eg, batch distillation optimization). 

NFPA 75 Standard for the Protection of Electronic Computer/Data Processing Equipment. National Fire Protection Association, Quincy, MA. 

Industrial process furnaces and ovens Mechanical powertransmission equipment, n.e.c. General industrial machinery and equipment, n.e.c. Electronic computers Computer storage devices Computer terminals Computer peripheral equipment, n.e.c. Calculating and accounting machines, except electronic computers Office machines, n.e.c. ... 

After preparation, a checklist may be used by less expert engineers than the preparers for inspecting the process areas to compare the process equipment and operations with the checklist oidrcr on hardcopy or laptop computer. The analyst fills in the checklist according to observations from their inspection, process documentation, and interviews with operators and their perceptions. 

In certain cases, more than one data point was available for a given data cell table in the CCPS Taxonomy. When several data points were considered appropriate and applicable to process equipment, the data were combined through a computer-aided aggregation process. The aggregation process is described in Section 5.2. 

Modem instmmental analysis is an outgrowth of the technological advances made in physics and electronics since the middle of this century. Statistics have been with us somewhat longer, but were impractical until the advent of powerful electronic data processing equipment in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and even then remained bottled up in the central computer department. 

In practice, the process regime will often be less transparent than suggested by Table 1.4. As an example, a process may neither be diffusion nor reaction-rate limited, rather some intermediate regime may prevail. In addition, solid heat transfer, entrance flow or axial dispersion effects, which were neglected in the present study, may be superposed. In the analysis presented here only the leading-order effects were taken into account. As a result, the dependence of the characteristic quantities listed in Table 1.5 on the channel diameter will be more complex. For a detailed study of such more complex scenarios, computational fluid dynamics, to be discussed in Section 2.3, offers powerful tools and methods. However, the present analysis serves the purpose to differentiate the potential inherent in decreasing the characteristic dimensions of process equipment and to identify some cornerstones to be considered when attempting process intensification via size reduction. 

Chemical engineers, however, have to find practical ways for dealing with turbulent flows in flow devices of complex geometry. It is their job to exploit practical tools and find practical solutions, as spatial variations in turbulence properties usually are highly relevant to the operations carried out in their process equipment. Very often, the effects of turbulent fluctuations and their spatial variations on these operations are even crucial. The classical toolbox of chemical engineers falls short in dealing with these fluctuations and its effects. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) techniques offer a promising alternative approach. 

Finally, the entire fault tree procedure enables the application of computers. Software is available for graphically constructing fault trees, determining the minimal cut sets, and calculating failure probabilities. Reference libraries containing failure probabilities for various types of process equipment can also be included. 

Automation and control of processing equipment by highly sophisticated computer control systems is becoming the standard at most hydrocarbon facilities. Automatic control provides for closer control of the process operating conditions and therefore increased efficiencies. Increased efficiencies allow higher production outputs. Automation is also thought to reduce operator manpower requirements. However other personnel are still needed to inspect and maintain the automatic controlling system. All process control systems should be monitored by operators and have the capability for backup control or override commands by human operators. 

The sensor, transmitter, and control valve are physically located on the process equipment ( in the field ). The controller is usually located on a panel or in a computer in a control room that is some distance from the process equipment. Wires connect the two locations, carrying current signals from transmitters to the controller and from the controller to the final control element. 

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