Top 5 Control Engineering articles, December 28 to January 3: System Integrator Giants, flow measurement, more

Articles about the 2015 System Integrator Giants, flow measurement challenges, fixing PID, and deploying smart HMIs were Control Engineering’s five most clicked articles from December 28 to January 3. Miss something? You can catch up here.

By Chris Vavra January 4, 2016

The top 5 most read articles online, for Dec. 28 to Jan. 3 for Control Engineering covered the Engineers’ Choice finalists, deploying smart HMIs, the 2015 System Integrator Giants, intelligent and efficient PLC programming, and fixing PID. Link to each article below. 

1. 2015 System Integrator Giants

The System Integrator Giants program (SI Giants) lists the top 100 system integrators among companies listed in the CFE Media Global System Integrator Database, ranked solely on total system integration revenue. 

3. Overcoming flow measurement challenges

Matching the flowmeter to the application can help engineers overcome flow measurement issues. Magnetic, vortex, and differential pressure (dP) flowmeters are the leading technologies used to measure volumetric flow or flow velocity. Know when to use each.

4. Fixing PID, Part 3

PID: Proportional-integral-derivative controllers may be ubiquitous, but they’re not perfect. Consider how deadtime affects integral action.

5. How to deploy smart HMIs as communication hubs

Smart human-machine interfaces (HMIs) can securely tie servers, controllers, and input/output (I/O) devices together, inside and outside the plant. There are many differences between embedded and PC-based HMIs and it is important to know them to find the right fit for a particular system. 

The list was developed using CFE Media’s web analytics for stories viewed on controleng.com, December 28 to January 3, for articles published within the last two months.  

– Chris Vavra, production editor, CFE Media, cvavra@cfemedia.com.


Author Bio: Chris Vavra is web content manager for CFE Media and Technology.