Industrial instrumentation and PID control, free and complete: sensors, transmitters, calibration and loop checks, P&ID reading and instrument design documents, control valve and flowmeter sizing, hazardous-area Ex equipment, PID tuning and loop strategies, with notes, quizzes and an optional verifiable certificate.
The half of the loop that is not code. Follow one measurement from the transmitter in the field, down the 4-20 mA loop, into the analog card, through NORM_X and SCALE_X into engineering units, out again to a valve, and back to the control room when the reading is wrong.
Trace one loop from sensing element to final element and say which half a wrong reading is in
Read a transmitter's range and span, and work out the process variable at any current
Wire two-, three- and four-wire transmitters, and tell a fault current from a measurement
Closed-loop control the way it is done on an S7-1200 or S7-1500: analog in, NORM_X and SCALE_X, PID_Compact configured, tuned and wired to an HMI, analog or PWM out, proved on a free tank simulation.
Explain on/off, three-point and PID control and when each fits
Read P, I and D as gain, reset time and rate time
Scale analog inputs with NORM_X and SCALE_X and outputs the other way
From on/off to a tuned loop: what P, I and D each do, how to tune by hand and by rule, anti-windup and filtering, and PID inside Allen-Bradley controllers.
Explain why on/off control cannot hold a setpoint on a fast process
Wire a loop's transmitter and final element on Micro800 and MicroLogix
Predict what raising gain, shortening reset or adding rate does to a loop
Free beginner instrumentation course: sensors, 4-20 mA loops, control valves, P&IDs and calibration. Learning is free; the certificate is optional and paid.
Tell open-loop from closed-loop and name every part of a control loop
Explain absolute, gauge and differential pressure and the instruments that measure them
Choose a level and a flow technology for a service and say why
Calibrate pressure, temperature, level and flow transmitters to a written procedure, then run the cold and hot loop checks that hand a plant over: calibration vocabulary and TUR, the 5-point as-found and as-left test, DP flow and level, RTDs and thermocouples, 4-20 mA and HART, switches, valve stroke checks, loop folders and calibration management.
Calculate span, percent-of-span error and a test uncertainty ratio, and judge whether a reference is good enough
Run a 5-point as-found and as-left calibration and write a record someone can sign
Calibrate pressure and DP flow transmitters, including square-root flow
Choose and size the right control valve, actuator and positioner, and the right flowmeter: valve types and characteristics, Cv and the installed characteristic, liquid sizing with flashing and cavitation, gas and steam sizing and noise, fail action and spring sizing, the valve datasheet, orifice plates to ISO 5167, magnetic, vortex, ultrasonic, Coriolis and thermal meters, installation and loop troubleshooting.
Choose globe, ball, butterfly or eccentric plug valves and the right trim characteristic
Calculate Cv and Kv, valve authority and the installed characteristic
Size liquid valves to IEC 60534-2-1 and check choked flow, flashing and cavitation
Read any P&ID like an EPC engineer, then produce the instrument design documents design offices hire for: ISA 5.1 symbols and tags, loops, interlocks and trips, line numbers and spec breaks, the instrument index and I/O list, datasheets, loop diagrams, hook-ups, junction box and cable schedules, layouts, vendor review and an overview of Intergraph Smart Instrumentation (SPI).
Tell a BFD, a PFD and a P&ID apart and read a P&ID sheet in the right order
Decode any ISA 5.1 tag and symbol, including location and signal lines
Trace control loops, interlocks, SIS trips and alarm settings on a P&ID
Work safely and competently with electrical and instrument equipment where gas, vapour or dust can explode: gas groups and temperature classes, zones and classification drawings, EPLs and Ex marking, Ex d, e, n, i, p, m, q and t, the intrinsic safety entity calculation, cable glands, IEC 60079-17 inspection, and permits and gas testing. It covers the knowledge base of CompEx units Ex01 to Ex04.
Place a gas or dust in its group and choose a temperature class below its ignition temperature
Read zones 0, 1, 2 and 20, 21, 22 and question a classification drawing
Decode ATEX and IECEx markings and match the EPL to the zone
Build steady-state process simulations in DWSIM, the free open-source chemical process simulator: property packages, streams and flash calculations, pumps, valves and compressors, separators, heat exchangers, shortcut and rigorous distillation, absorbers, conversion, equilibrium, Gibbs and kinetic reactors, recycle loops, adjust and sensitivity studies, crude assays and a gas processing capstone, with every result checked by hand.
Set up DWSIM: compounds, property package, units, streams, unit operations and the solver
Choose Peng-Robinson, SRK, NRTL, UNIQUAC or steam tables for a mixture and defend the choice
Solve flashes, bubble and dew points by hand with Rachford-Rice and read phase envelopes
Industrial Instrumentation first. Technicians then take Instrument Calibration, Loop Checks and Commissioning; design engineers take P&ID Reading and Instrumentation Design Documents and Control Valves and Flow Measurement; oil and gas staff add Hazardous Areas. PID Control and the DCS courses come after.
Is this for instrument technicians or automation engineers?
Both. The instrumentation course teaches the field devices; the PID courses teach the control that uses them, and every automation engineer needs both.
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