Forklift Control Valve - Automatic control systems were first developed more than two thousand years ago. The ancient water clock of Ktesibios in Alexandria Egypt dating to the third century B.C. is believed to be the very first feedback control machine on record. This clock kept time by regulating the water level within a vessel and the water flow from the vessel. A popular design, this successful tool was being made in a similar manner in Baghdad when the Mongols captured the city in 1258 A.D.
Through history, a variety of automatic machines have been used to be able to simply entertain or to accomplish specific tasks. A popular European style during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries was the automata. This particular piece of equipment was an example of "open-loop" control, comprising dancing figures that will repeat the same job repeatedly.
Feedback or "closed-loop" automatic control devices comprise the temperature regulator found on a furnace. This was actually developed during the year 1620 and accredited to Drebbel. One more example is the centrifugal fly ball governor developed during the year 1788 by James Watt and utilized for regulating the speed of steam engines.
J.C. Maxwell, who discovered the Maxwell electromagnetic field equations, wrote a paper in 1868 "On Governors," that was able to clarify the instabilities exhibited by the fly ball governor. He made use of differential equations to explain the control system. This paper demonstrated the importance and helpfulness of mathematical models and methods in relation to comprehending complicated phenomena. It likewise signaled the beginning of mathematical control and systems theory. Previous elements of control theory had appeared before by not as convincingly and as dramatically as in Maxwell's analysis.
New developments in mathematical techniques and new control theories made it possible to more accurately control more dynamic systems than the original model fly ball governor. These updated techniques include various developments in optimal control during the 1950s and 1960s, followed by advancement in stochastic, robust, adaptive and optimal control methods during the 1970s and the 1980s.
New technology and applications of control methodology has helped produce cleaner engines, with cleaner and more efficient processes helped make communication satellites and even traveling in space possible.
At first, control engineering was carried out as just a part of mechanical engineering. Control theories were initially studied with electrical engineering for the reason that electrical circuits could simply be described with control theory techniques. Today, control engineering has emerged as a unique practice.
The very first control relationships had a current output which was represented with a voltage control input. In view of the fact that the correct technology in order to implement electrical control systems was unavailable at that moment, designers left with the alternative of slow responding mechanical systems and less efficient systems. The governor is a really efficient mechanical controller which is still often utilized by some hydro plants. Ultimately, process control systems became obtainable previous to modern power electronics. These process controls systems were normally utilized in industrial applications and were devised by mechanical engineers using hydraulic and pneumatic control machines, lots of which are still being used today.
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