ABB announces the publication of the updated second edition of the process control textbookSingle Loop Control Methods, written by Kevin Starr, Director of Advanced Services for ABB’s Oil, Gas and Chemicals Business Unit. The book is used extensively by control engineers in industrial process environments, as well as with universities and automation providers.
The objective of Single Loop Control Methods is to help make the complicated subject of process control more easily understood by process engineers of all experience levels. The author distills 30 years of worldwide ABB classroom presentations, hundreds of field applications, and development of several remote-enabled process control enabling technologies into the new updated edition of the book.
When process control is performed with limited knowledge, then problems can be difficult to identify. Kevin Starr writes: “A lack of tuning knowledge, along with a changing production process, valve wear, instrument calibration drift and other factors, can result in control performance that causes process instability, product defects, excessive equipment wear, aggravated operators and lost profits.” An excerpt from the book’s introduction states: “… the millions of dollars spent annually on process control equipment for the purpose of increasing productivity can actually decrease it.” Starr further states: “I have seen process industries producers improve quality by over 50 percent just by applying the fundamentals of process control.”
The author’s career with ABB spans nearly three decades in roles that delivered optimization services globally, trained people on advanced services, and launched optimization services in the US. Starr’s experience working closely with customers led to the development and implementation of globally accepted service offerings, 12 patents, and several software tools. Starr holds a Master’s degree in electrical engineering from Ohio State University, and a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Ohio University, both with an emphasis in process control. He has been a keynote speaker at industry events throughout the world including the Instrument Society of America and the Technological Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry (TAPPI).
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