In Memoriam: Hans D. Baumann, Ph.D, P.E.

Summary

Dr. Hans D. Baumann, PE, a world-renowned process control and control valve expert, passed away at his home in West Palm Beach in the early hours of March 25, 2025. He was 94.

Baumann’s contributions to his chosen field are vast and varied, and his dedication to advancing the state-of-the-art is unsurpassed. Baumann designed or directed the development of more than 30 valve lines during his professional career, including the well-known CAMFLEX valve, which has been produced in eight countries and sold more than three million units.

Baumann served in various leadership roles within professional societies, including Director of the ISA Standards and Practices Board, US Technical Expert for IEC TC 65/SC 65B/WG 9 and Chair of the ISA-75.11 Work Group. The International Society of Automation’s (ISA’s) InTech magazine named him one of the 50 Most Influential Industrial Innovators, and he was inducted into the Process Automation Hall of Fame.

Patents and publications

Baumann is credited with more than 150 U.S. and worldwide patents and has published more than 200 papers and articles in addition to authoring/co-authoring seven handbooks on valves and instrumentation. He recently wrote Fluid Mechanics of Control Valves: How Valves Control Your Process, a practical reference guide to control valve design, selection and operations, as well as the fifth edition of  Control Valve Primer, both published by ISA.
 

Prioritizing the fundamentals: Baumann’s concepts and standards

Preferring the practical over the political, Baumann was never shy about steering away from the crowd to get to the underlying fundamentals or to resolve a conflict with a practical approach. Getting to the physical truths of process control was of key importance to him. In that spirit, Baumann pioneered many of what are now fundamental concepts relating to valve sizing and valve noise prediction, such as the critical flow factor (FL), the pipe reducer correction factor (Fp), and a modified valve style modifier (Fd). His proposal in 1970 to utilize modified jet noise theories for aerodynamic valve noise prediction became the basis for ISA-75.17-1989 and IEC Standard 60534-8-3.

His most recent efforts resulted in the development of a novel, simplified, physics-based noise prediction method known as the ABC Method. His scientific and engineering appetites were insatiable right to the end.
 

Baumann’s career

Baumann’s professional career, spanning nearly 70 years, began in his native Germany in the early 1950s. Early in his career, he was able to work at a foundry and with a tool and die maker. These experiences were to prove invaluable in his ability to design practical and cost-effective control valves.

He began his professional career at Welland & Tuxhorn, working as an engineering manager. In 1958, Baumann moved to the United States to work for Masoneilan Company as a development engineer. From there, he progressed to Director of Engineering at A.W. Cashco in Illinois, Manager of R&D at Worthington S/A in France and Corporate Vice-President of Masoneilan International. In 1977, while working as an international consultant, he determined it was time to form his own control valve manufacturing company (H. D. Baumann Assoc., Ltd). After selling his company to Emerson Electric, he worked for Fisher Controls as a senior vice president.

A well-received guest speaker around the globe, he also served as a guest professor at Kobe University in Japan and the Korean Advanced Institute of Technology in South Korea.
 

Affiliations and awards

Baumann’s professional affiliations include the following: Honorary Member of the ISA, Life Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), Honorary Life Member of the Fluid Controls Institute (FCI), and member of Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Honor Society.

He was a member of the ASME Bioprocessing Equipment Executive Committee and Chairman of the Equipment Subcommittee on Seals. He was also the former Standards Chairman for Control Valves for the Fluid Controls Institute (FCI).

Baumann’s control valve designs earned many notable awards including seven U.S. Vaaler awards, the ISA UOP Technology Award, the ISA Chet Beard Award, a Gold Medal from Germany, and prizes from France and Japan. He was also named Entrepreneur of the Year by the New Hampshire High Technology Council.
 

A life of purpose

Baumann lived purposefully; he lived authentically; he lived fully. He was very generous, sharing his knowledge, his experience and his success. He was ever the gentleman in manner and appearance.

He is survived by his two children, five grandchildren and a great-grandson. He will be greatly missed, but his legacy will live on.

“Our country desperately needs innovative entrepreneurs and efficient managers in order to survive this increasingly competitive global environment.” - Hans D. Baumann

“I would advise students and graduates alike to make more use of their brain and imagination.” - Hans D. Baumann

_{This obituary appeared in the August/September issue of Automation.com Monthly.}