Switches Indicators & Gauges

Process control is a statistics and engineering regulation that deals with structural design, mechanisms, and algorithms for controlling the output of a specific process. General process controllers have always been high cost items, however, Semrad Pty Ltd have created the Unicont PM-300 series; universal process controllers incorporate at an affordable price.

Features

Features of the Unicont PM-300 series include:

• 2 universal inputs
• Up to 4 output relays
• RS485 modbus
• Autotuning
• 1000 alarm functions
• Auto tuning
• 32 point linearisation
• More than 1 million process configuration possibilities

The Unicont PM-300 series uses Modular design which guarantees short delivery times for the entire range. Unicont PM-300 series includes both PI and PID functions. This enables the control of both heating and cooling. It contains a 2-line, 4-digit bicolour display with a rounding system that can be manually defined for best results. A status indication is provided as well as high and low alarm set points to allow for optimal safety.

Applications of Rain Gauges

Rain gauges are an important tool for assessing Earth’s water resources. Hydrological data obtained from measurements and essential for effective water resource development and management. Modern networks of hydrological instruments began in Europe and North America in the 18th and 19th centuries, and today consist of stations measuring precipitation, evaporation, soil moisture, ice, water quality, groundwater level and river water levels.

Accurate rainfall predictions are necessary for forecasting short-term climate variability, extreme weather events (such as flash floods), as well as rainfall distribution, possible droughts and analysing climate change patterns. Hydrological networks are also used to assist in pollution protection, water conservation, groundwater protection and inland navigation. Data collection is vital for assessing water quality and quantity, both on the surface and below ground.

Precipitation Analysis

Through using these hydrological networks, information can be collected on things such as the distribution of water across the globe or water availability versus population. For example, Africa has 11% of the world’s available water but 13% of the world’s population, Asia has 60% of the world’s population but only 30% of the world’s water, while South America has only 5% of the world’s population and 26% of the world’s available water (according to a study by UNESCO).

Analysis of world mean precipitation shows large annual totals in the tropics, mid-latitudes and where there are high mountain ranges, according to a joint report by the World Water Assessment Programme (UN). Of course towards the poles and with increasing altitude precipitation is more like to fall as snow. By contrast to these areas of high precipitation, areas furthest from oceans, the polar regions and n the lee of mountains receive little rain. These constitute the world’s deserts and semi-deserts, such as the Australian Simpson and Gibson deserts or the African Sahara Desert. This leads to extreme disparities around the glove, from floods in East & South East Asia and much of South America and central Africa, to drought in northern Africa and much of Australia.

The Development of Tools

The basic definition of a tool is an object that creates more effective action of one thing upon another. Simple machines are based on what type of action this involves, whether a lever, wheel and axle, pulley, inclined plane, wedge or screw. These basic categories were defined by Renaissance scientists, and are the basis of complex machines. Although multiple species utilise tools, including monkeys, apes and sea otters, what is unique about humans is that we are the only species that uses tools to create other tools. There are called machine tools.

A machine tool is a powered mechanical device, usually used to fabricate metal components, thus removing the human element in the physical production of tools. After the Industrial Revolution and the development of the steam engine, machine tools were able to be powered by steam. Today most are powered by electricity, and can be operated manually or automatically. Examples of machine tools include the drill press, gear shaper, lathe, hobbing machine, shaper, planer, broaching machine and grinder.

Machine Tools and Mass Production

The invention of machine tools led to the development of mass production. David Hounshell states: “The new manufacturing technology spread first to the production of a new consumer durable, the sewing machine, and eventually it diffused into such areas as typewriters, bicycles, and eventually automobiles.” (1984, p4) It took off from the small arms industry such as Colt’s Patent Firearms Manufacturing Co. As manufacturers worked with the makers of machine tools, they overcame problems related to the cutting, planing, boring and shaping of metal parts.

This ” technological convergence” would lead to the Fordist system of manufacturing and labour division. This system, named after Henry Ford, was based on mass production to lower the price of the product, and simultaneously raising workers’ wages to feed massive consumption. The system emphasised synchronisation, precision and specialisation, and would lead to the economic dominance of the United States from the 1940s onwards.