Industrial Electronics Glossary

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | Y | Z

fault Any malfunction that interferes with normal system operation.

feedback The signal or signals used to sense motion, machine control, or process control of the controlled variable and sent to the summing junction or controller to be compared to the setpoint or command signal.

FET Field effect transistor.

field The stationary electrical part of a dc motor.

field control A method of controlling dc motor speed by varying the field current in the shunt field winding.

FIFO (first-in, first-out) A method of ordering data items and storing them in the order in which they are received.

filter A device that passes a signal or a range of signals and eliminates all others.

floating-point number format A data storage format that includes the location of the decimal point by expressing the power of the base. (Example: 2357 would be shown as 2.357 E-3 and 0.0023 would be shown as 2.3 E3.).

flow meter An instrument that measures and indicates the rate of flow of a liquid or gas. More info on flow meters.

frame size The physical dimension and size of a motor, usually expressed as a NEMA design code number. This allows interchangeability between motors made by different manufacturers.

frequency The number of periodic cycles per unit of time.

fuse A device designed as a one-time protection against overcurrent or short-circuit current.

Top of Page