₦airaland Forum

Kingslaw:
microphones, loudspeakers,
thermometers

Speaker does opposite of Transducer. It converts electrical signal to sound wave. Speaker fall under what is called Inverse Transducer.
Good attempt

bestbiz17:
Sir, like suggestion, let's have a WhatsApp or telegram class. And a structured timetable where we can interact. This will make this training more educative and impactful

WhatsApp or telegram limits the training to few people hence defeating the aim. This training is free and open to as many interested Nigerian youth as possible.
Grouping can come latter when I split the training into modules. After laying the foundation, we can go into modular forms. There are some aspect of the training that require strong brains, if I start something like PID control ( proportional integral differential), a lot will back out.
Let just keep going small small.
So far happy with available response

If you have followed up to this level, I say congratulations.
We have established electrical signals and how they are being produced using transducers.
We shall move to another level but before that, let's do little exercise.

Name 3 examples of a Transducer. I want very active participation

Southboy:
I had A1 in Physics in secondary school, but this is the first time I am grasping the concept of IVR.
Thank you very much

Having A1 in physics make you over qualified in this Automaton class. One of my top boys doing well in this field studied physics.

Signal we are talking about is just small values of voltage and current.
Let's refresh a bit.
In Electricity, we have three brothers(variables), their names are:
a. Voltage
b. Current
c. Resistance ( according to Ohms law)
To understand how each brother play a role in the field of electricity, let use this illustration.
I want to kill a bird perched on a tree. I want to use a small stone(variant) to execute the job. This stone is as useless as anything if force is not applied to it. I need another variant(force) to make the stone useful. Applying force on the stone using catapult has energized the stone (Kinetic energy) to hit the bird. One of the laws of physics says energy cannot be created or destroyed but can be converted from one form to the other.
Here, the kinetic energy from the stone is absorb by the bird, this energy now killed the bird
In summary
The stone is the CURRENT
The force on the stone is VOLTAGE
The bird is the LOAD (RESISTANCE (
These are variables meaning their values can be changed any time not constant.
For our domestic use, the
Voltage value is 220V ( fairly constant)
The current depends on the appliance (Load)
Remember, the stone that killed a bird may not kill a dog, higher animal require higher or bigger stone. The bigger the load(appliance), the more current it will draw from the NEPA system.
Hope by now, you know what current, voltage, and load stands for.
Hit the Likes button if this point is clear to you

In modern engineering practice, every other aspect of engineering be it mechanical, electrical, chemical, civil etc is electronically controlled.
Pastor wanted to address a large congregation but his voice cannot be heard, he needs an electronic system( speaker) to raise his voice. His voice is a physical quantity not an electrical signal. Here we need to convert his voice to electrical signal. We have discussed two forms of electrical signal before I.e. Digital and analog signals.
Anything that must be controlled electronically MUST be converted to electrical signal discussed above. For example, you may need to control flow of liquid may be in a refinery, movement of object or weight, other examples include temperature , pressure, and humidity control etc.
Whatever physical quantities you want to control, examples of such physical quantities:
Temperature
Pressure
Voice
Weigh
Height
Flow etc
Must be converted to electrical signal.
Here comes the man Transducer.
Transducer is an electronics device that converts physical quantities to an electrical signal.
Hope I have not confuse anybody

Kingslaw:
A transducer is an electronic device that converts energy from one form to another. Common examples include microphones, loudspeakers.

Have been looking for you. Where you hid all these while.
Good answer

Southboy:
Please provide the correct answer

Analog signals commonly used in automation are
a. 0 to 10 vdc ( 0-10v)
b. 4 - 20mA
When our class gets proper, I will go into details. 90% of young graduates will fail this question. Please get this answer sink down you

I will continue the moment my questions are answered.

Southboy:
I don't have an Engineering background, would you still advice that I continue with the training?

Your effort is so much appreciated. Do you have a phone? If yes, how come you are successfully making use of it without engineering background?
It's just interest and determination, by the grace of God, I can even train a goat much more an intelligent fellow like you.
Feel free to make attempt always and ask questions.
Engineering knowledge started one day

Southboy:
Analog signals can take on any value within a specified range. For example, in an industrial setting, an analog signal representing temperature might use a range of 0V to 10V to represent a temperature range of, let's say, 0°C to 100°C.

You tried. I give you 25%

Another follow up question

What is Transducer?

In automation we talk about
1. Digital signal
A. Digital input
B. Digital output

2. Analog signal
A. Analog input
B. Analog output

First assignment with #200 recharge card.
We use 24vdc to represent digital signal. What do we use to represent analog signal?

Before we continue our explanation on digital signal, let's take a look on analog.
In an examination involving about 20 persons, 5 persons scored 0%, 2 persons scored 100%, 13 persons scored between 50 and 99%.

Now, we are going to reward the students digitally and by analog as well.
First scenario by digital
Here we will consider only the students that scored 0% and 100%. What does that mean? It means that the information about the 13 students that scored between 50 and 99% is lost since digital representation means the two extreme conditions.
Let's take it to industrial application for example, in an application that requires to know recipe conditions at various temperature say 0 to 100 degree centigrade. It means that digital representation will not in any way provide the necessary information.

Unlike digital that give two level information, analog provide all inclusive information within the range.
In the above students example, all the 20 students are represented and rewarded accordingly.
In the case of temperature, the information from 0 to 100 degree centigrade are all captured.
So while digital is discrete
Analog is continuous (infinite)

I hope I have not confuse anybody

Southboy:
I would like to express my gratitude for dedicating your time to educate us on the subject of automation. If you're willing, could you kindly provide us with the following information:

1. What is the primary goal of this training?
2. What topics and subjects will be covered in the training curriculum?
3. What level of understanding or knowledge do you anticipate participants will have by the conclusion of the training?
4. Are practical hands-on sessions included in the training program?
5. Is the training only for Engineering students?

Essentially, could you outline the overall structure and organization of the training? Your insights would be greatly appreciated.

I was nobody, before my service year, I wanted to get out of the village and relocate to a city like Lagos but nobody was willing to accommodate me. I circulated my CV around but got no help.
Many young graduates are in this category of no hope just like me many years back. It's not good to forget the days of little beginning. I have worked with many people across the globe and had a lot of foreign trainings. I did not pay a dime for any of these trainings though sponsored by the organization I worked for.
I tell you that the person that made me somebody from nobody has already paid for this training. It may just be because of an individual or group of persons.
A week training in this field cost close to half a million and I know that over 95% of people in job section cannot afford it. It's a lot of sacrifice and commitment for me to come here and dishing out such rare knowledge to people that may not know the worth. Anybody that have not work in a big manufacturing company cannot value this training. The job seekers of course has no value for it simply because their lack exposure.

This training if given any attention to by the students will give them the relevant skill for industrial jobs.

We are just trying to start, as we progress, I will base on the interested people and level of knowledge come up with the training structure.

Southboy:
I want to suggest that you create like a Telegram group and drop the link here for everyone that is interested to join. Then people will know when a new message is dropped and they can respond to it on time.

Point noted

Now, we are talking about electronics, it does not know yes or no, big or small etc, these two conditions are only relevant to us. How do we now present these values electronically?
Please answer the question!
Here we are now talking about signals present or not. Is either there is signal or not. No two ways about it.
What do we mean by signal? This is another question.
Well, I don't want to start explaining what's called VOLTAGE and CURRENT. I assumed you know this, if otherwise alert me.
The common digital signal we use in automation is
24vdc (direct current voltage)
Another common one 5vdc
Here we are going to be making use of only 24vdc

Coming down to digital meaning
24v present
Or 24v not present.
We are going to represent these two conditions with a symbol which will be used in the PLC programming.

I hope I have not confuse anybody
If you understood the whole thing up to this point, please indicate

Get it very clear
When we talk about digital, it means two extreme conditions example
1 or 0
True or false
Up or down
Low or high
Big or small
Yes or No
Here, you must note one thing - Nothing stands in-between. Not the word in-between.
Here let's put the value in %
It means
0 or 100% nothing in-between

[quote author=Southboy post=125119306][/quote]Very good answer. Am very excited. It shows somebody is ready to learn and my input is not in vain.

However, I need more response. I don't want anybody to be left out. We are gradually entering the main thing. Very soon, we will write our first Ladder Logic Program. If you don't understand this concept you will not move an inch with us

No response to my question. Where are those following? First task, not even a single attempt. Well, I will stop here until you guys are ready to move the class forward

Still waiting for your response. Make an attempt, when I now explain, you will understand it better

While waiting for more people to join. Let's keep ourselves busy with this little exercise.
What's Digital?
What's Analog?
We must understand these basic concept.
Do you know one thing, I never read and study while in school as I did in self developing myself. Even as a master holder in Control Engineering, I still study more than those writing their final year exam.
This class will be interactive in nature. Do your research and tell us what you know about Digital and Analog.

Why should I learn automation or become an automation expert? What's the financial reward?

Now, let's look at a very rich man that's under the control of one young lady. However the lady got the man mumu button is not our business, the only point here is that the man is under the woman's control. This woman in quote can manipulate the man to do anything for her.
Same is applicable to an automation engineer. The entire company is at the mercy of this man. It takes integrity and fear of God not to suck the organization dry.
Let me give you a practical example. About 8 years ago, there was a technical problem that almost shut down the company's operations. I did my troubleshooting and discovered the problem. Now, for you to get to this level am talking about, the company must have establish trust and confidence on you base on your past records.
Having discovered the problem, I was summoned by the management. The question they put across was, " what assistance do you need to resolve the problem ?". I informed them of the need to travel to Lagos and search for a particular spare. The next question was " how much do you need ?" The requested amount was provided immediately and they booked flight for the journey.
The gains are enormous. I hardly touch my salary but the job is only for a determined mind. You have many hard nuts to crack to understand and know it.
By the grace of God, we shall crack those nuts together.
Once I get reasonable number of interested persons, we start cracking the nuts

Kingslaw:
Carry on Sir

OK, I will

Let's examine what automation is all about. Now am using cigarette production as example. Do you know that cigarette company in Nigeria produces an average of 30millions cigarette in a day and this figure is not enough to meet up the daily demands.
Three processes are involved in the production
1. Processing the tobacco leaves from farm into what is called Stem and Lamina
2. Processing Stem and Lamina into what's called Tobacco
3. Folding Tobacco into the end product.
This is just the basic process, there are other sub processes involved like filter rod production etc.
Now, let's consider the process number 3 that's cigarette making.
This involves folding Tobacco in a very long paper and applying glue to form a cigarette rod which is cut into smaller sizes before attaching to it's ends filter rods.
If these activities are to be neatly produced by humans, one person who is also equivalent to one machine may not produce up to 20 pieces in a day. But here, one machine produces an average of 8000 pieces in a minutes.
Different people are involved in different stages of production, but you see a situation where one machine is design to carry out the entire process of production AUTOMATICALLY to achieve the desired result in a short time.
This process of making machine work automatically is known as AUTOMATION

Please feel free to ask any question

One sure way of breaking through is the skill you possess or acquire. Each factory has daily, weekly or monthly targets. Let's take for instance, Refinery, do you know how many litres of petrol consumed daily only in Nigeria and what it takes to produce such?. It's whole lot of problems ranging from mechanical, electrical, electronics, chemical, medical, safety, financial, logistics, legal, accounting, human, linguistic, machinery, etc. These problems must be attended to the moment they occur else the production process will be put on hold.
The question now is - which of these problems do you have the capacity to tackle? Companies are looking for people with skills to resolve different types of problems.
Please don't be in a rush, if you have a means of surviving, use one or two years to acquire relevant skill. That's the most sure way of not only getting a job but remaining and growing in the job.
Please indicate if you're following.

Let me open your eyes again on how you could find your way in. Do you know these traditional rulers? I don't think you know the power and influence they possess. The MDs of companies don't joke with them especially the ones from the host communities.

I remember in my jamb days, the difficult in getting admission unlike these days you have multiple of private universities. My father met my community traditional ruler for assistance. The Igwe agreed to help and took us to his oga( a higher traditional ruler). To my surprise, my name was added to a list already existing there which I never know. That's how I entered the list of the applicant from the chairman of traditional rulers Enugu state.
Guess what happened, in our presence, the chairman called the VC of UNN and summoned him to his palace. The day the VC came, we were all there, after his meeting with the VC on other issues, he handed the list to him and asked him to make sure he find a place for all of us.

Being a member of interview panel, we have encountered some CVs with a note on top " This CV is from Emir". My brother wisdom is profitable to direct, such CVs are automatically engaged.

This is the question - what have you benefited from your traditional rulers?

The most challenges you may face is getting in. The mode of entrance may not matter at long run. Our former HR manager was employed as a messenger but retired as HOD. Many people entered as casual workers or contract staff but were later converted to permanent staff. Some even entered as IT students but later make their way through.
Please whatever accessible way of entrance before you, follow it, just find your way in. At this stage, forget about the pay. Don't ever put the pay first what matter most is the experience.

Am very much encouraged by the response so far. Before now, I was wondering the type of young people we have in this country. People that could not recognize a rare opportunity. I suffered a lot of insult, embarrassment, intimidation and all sort of humiliation from white people before I could garner the knowledge am about dishing out. I can't work in a company again not because I don't have the energy but because I choose to retire and face my own business. Now I wake up from bed any time I like, get to my office at my own time unlike before even in my dream I kept on solving problems.

At a time in my place of work, the management decided to employ more hands to assist me because of huge work load on me but could not find anyone. The only person that was promising hardly get chance except on Sunday, the interview was fixed on Sunday, yet the man could not attend. I was left alone. There came a vacancy for production manager, I applied for the post, came out the winner but the management refused to allow me out of the engineering job but rather promoted me to Automation manager.

But do you know one thing, in all the foreign trainings I got, I was trained by small small boys in their 20's. What can you make out of this? I want to make a change base on this. Please where are our young boys? What are you waiting for before you join this moving train.

We are in era of get rich quick but I tell you, anything you acquire through this method does not last. The road that leads to success is that tough one, not the easy road.
In my first few months in the company where I worked, I was amazed by the technology and determined to be an automation engineer like the expatriates (white men) running the lines. The desire put me into action of learning about the programmable logic controller. The journey was not an easy one but over time my dream became actualised to the point I became a manager in that field.
Young Nigeria graduates, it high time you became serious with your career. Business before pleasure, the earlier you leave your comfort zone and pursue your future, the better for you.

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