OVERVIEW OF OUTPUT DEVICES

Industrial electronic circuitry must have some type of output device to provide final control of the system. The previous chapter discussed in detail input devices and sensors that can be used to provide information to the controller. In this series of articles we will shed light on various types of output components one can encounter in modern industrial circuits and applications. E.g., the output of the system may be a simple amplifier for a valve or motor. The amplifier is needed because the output signal from the controller is too small to operate a motor or valve.

Some valves and motor drives have amplifiers that are built into their circuits. The signal from the controller may be digital (on-off) or it can be an analog signal (continuous minimum to maximum such as 0-10 V DC). In some systems the amplifier is a separate component and it will take an input signal and produce a voltage and current to operate a motor or valve. In this series of articles we will introduce you to a wide variety of components, including valves, AC motors, and DC motors that act as the final control element (output) in industrial electrical systems. We will introduce the basic theory of operation of each of these elements, and one can use this knowledge to determine the criteria for selecting the correct size and how to troubleshoot them when they don't operate correctly.


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