Instrumentation 路 Free
Control Valves and Flow Measurement: Sizing and Selection
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.
Inside the course
From the lessons
Control valve types and what the trim does
Fisher Valves & Instruments
Liquid sizing to IEC 60534 and ISA-75: flashing and cavitation
Fisher Valves & Instruments
Actuators, fail action and spring sizing
Technical Engineering School
The control valve datasheet and specification
Asad (I&C Engineer)
Differential pressure flow: orifice plates to ISO 5167, and venturis
Rosemount
Installation: straight runs, impulse lines and magmeter grounding
Calibration Academy
Lesson frames belong to the creators named in the Credits below and are shown from YouTube.
What you will learn
Choose a control valve body and trim for a duty; calculate Cv and Kv and the installed characteristic from valve authority; size liquid valves to IEC 60534-2-1 and check for choked flow, flashing and cavitation; size gas and steam valves with the expansion factor and check outlet velocity and noise; choose fail action and size an actuator spring; specify positioners, boosters, solenoids and limit switches; fill in a control valve datasheet; size an orifice plate to ISO 5167 and check its limits; choose between DP, magnetic, vortex, ultrasonic, Coriolis and thermal meters; install meters with the right straight runs, impulse lines and grounding; and diagnose stiction, hunting and drift.
- 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
- Size gas and steam valves with the expansion factor, and check noise and outlet velocity
- Choose fail action, size the actuator spring and specify positioners and accessories
- Fill a control valve datasheet and check travel at maximum, normal and minimum flow
- Size an orifice plate to ISO 5167-2 and choose between DP, magnetic, vortex, ultrasonic, Coriolis and thermal meters
- Install meters correctly and diagnose stiction, hunting and drift in flow loops
For you
Taking Control Valves and Flow Measurement: Sizing and Selection from the United States
- Free in the United States, as everywhere, and self-paced: lessons, notes and the final assessment are open at any hour, so your time zone and shift pattern do not matter.
- The optional certificate for learners in the United States is a one-off US$28.99. What you get for it
- Plants across the Americas most often run Allen-Bradley, Siemens and Inductive Automation; each has its own free course to take next.
- See automation and engineering jobs in the United States, and what the industry looks like in Houston, Detroit and Chicago.
- EDWartens also has a regional site for the United States, for classroom training and local support: edwartens.com/us.
The course project 路 about 14 hours
Size and specify a cooling water control valve and its orifice flowmeter, with both datasheets
Size one liquid control valve and one orifice flowmeter for a cooling water line to a product cooler: calculate Cv for three cases, check choked flow and cavitation, choose the valve size and trim from the travel check, choose the fail action and accessories, size the orifice bore to ISO 5167-2, check its limits and turndown, and fill both ISA-style datasheets with a short report that justifies every choice. A complete sample pack shows each document for the same line.
Sample document pack, 4 documents, filled in for the scenario
- ReportSizing calculation, FV-2101 and FE-2101, cooling water to product cooler
- DatasheetControl valve datasheet, FV-2101
- DatasheetOrifice plate and DP transmitter datasheet, FE-2101 and FT-2101
- RegisterCalculation check register, FV-2101 and FE-2101
Read inside the course and download as a workbook. The project is optional practice, marked when you submit it; the certificate needs only the modules and the final assessment.
Course content
13 modules 路 45 lessons 路 8h 10m
In order, at whatever pace suits you. Each module ends with a practice task that builds on the last.
- 01Control valve types and what the trim does3 lessons11m
- 02Cv, pressure drop and the installed characteristic5 lessons1h 9m
- 03Liquid sizing to IEC 60534 and ISA-75: flashing and cavitation4 lessons1h 8m
- 04Gas and steam sizing, and valve noise5 lessons32m
- 05Actuators, fail action and spring sizing3 lessons17m
- 06Positioners, boosters, solenoids and limit switches4 lessons25m
- 07The control valve datasheet and specification2 lessons2h 7m
- 08Flow measurement principles: accuracy, turndown and selection3 lessons26m
Requirements
- Who it is for
- Intermediate. For instrumentation, process and control engineers, technicians and final-year students. You should know what a 4-20 mA loop and a P&ID are and be comfortable with algebra and a spreadsheet.
- Software
- A spreadsheet for the sizing calculations (LibreOffice Calc is free). Vendor sizing tools such as Fisher Specification Manager and the free online sizing tools from valve and flowmeter makers are used to check hand calculations; none is required. What to download, and how
- Hardware
- None.
Software you need
What to download, where from, what it costs and how to install it. Every link goes to the maker's own site, never a mirror.
Nothing to install
A spreadsheet is enough for the valve and orifice sizing; vendor sizing tools such as Fisher Specification Manager are optional checks.
Optional
Useful, not needed to finish the course.
- 01Free
LibreOffice
The Document Foundation
- Runs on
- Windows 10 or 11, macOS 11 or newer (Intel or Apple silicon), Linux
- Account
- None needed
- Size
- up to 1.5 GB of disk space on Windows
LibreOffice is free, open-source software under the Mozilla Public License 2.0, for any use including business. Calc is its spreadsheet.
Steps
- 1.Open the LibreOffice download page.
- 2.Check the page has picked your operating system, then select Download.
- 3.Run the installer (administrator rights are needed on Windows).
- 4.Start LibreOffice Calc for spreadsheet work.
- 5.Save as .xlsx if you need to share files with Excel users.
- Choose the latest main version unless your organisation asks for the older, more conservative release.
Official download pagelibreoffice.org
Checked against each maker's own page on 27 September 2026. Trial lengths and editions change; the maker's page is the final word.
Control Valves and Flow Measurement: Sizing and Selection at a glance
Control Valves and Flow Measurement: Sizing and Selection is a free, self-paced online course from EDWartens for instrumentation, process and control engineers and technicians who size, specify and maintain control valves and flowmeters. It has 13 modules and 8h 10m of video lessons by Fisher Valves & Instruments, Endress+Hauser, Rosemount and others, with written notes and worked problems, a practical project with a document pack and a 15-question final assessment (pass mark 60%). Learning is free with an account; an optional certificate with a public verification code is issued when you pass. Last updated 27 September 2026.
All course factsHide course facts
- Price
- Free, for good. No trial, no card. The only paid item is the optional certificate, a small one-off fee.
- Who it is for
- Instrumentation, process and control engineers and technicians who size, specify and maintain control valves and flowmeters
- Format
- 13 self-paced modules, 8h 10m of video, written notes, a practice task per module and one final assessment.
- Level
- Intermediate. Intermediate. For instrumentation, process and control engineers, technicians and final-year students. You should know what a 4-20 mA loop and a P&ID are and be comfortable with algebra and a spreadsheet.
- Brand
- Vendor-neutral
- Software
- A spreadsheet for the sizing calculations (LibreOffice Calc is free). Vendor sizing tools such as Fisher Specification Manager and the free online sizing tools from valve and flowmeter makers are used to check hand calculations; none is required.
- Hardware
- None.
- Certificate
- Optional EDWartens Certificate of Completion, verifiable by code. Not a vendor credential.
- Video lessons by
- Fisher Valves & Instruments, Endress+Hauser, Rosemount, Kimray, Control Station, HardHat Engineer, Asad (I&C Engineer), IMI Climate Control (independent creators, credited below)
- Language
- English
- Last updated
- 27 September 2026
A shareable EDWartens certificate
Finish every module and pass the final assessment, and the optional EDWartens certificate is yours. It carries a unique verification code on a public page anyone can check, so it stands up when a recruiter looks it up. See it below.
The course itself stays free whether or not you ever buy one.
Stuck? Ask a practising engineer
A free course usually means a comment section and hope. This one does not. Every module has an Ask-your-trainer panel that reaches the same engineers who teach our paid programme: people who commission panels for a living, not moderators.
Pairs well with
PLC programming 路 FreeSiemens TIA PortalFrom zero electrical knowledge to a working, simulated S7-1200 program, for nothing.
PLC programming 路 FreeSiemens TIA Portal in Three HoursThe first three hours of the Siemens TIA Portal course, cut to end on a win: what a PLC is, how it is wired, a project configured in TIA Portal, and your first ladder program running in simulation. Finish it in an evening or two, earn a certificate, and carry straight on into the full course.
PLC programming 路 FreeTIA Portal: Build a MachineOne machine, start to finish. Take a bottle filling line from a written specification and an I/O list to a structured S7-1200 program with a fill station, a capper, a reject sorter and an operator screen with alarms, then test it against a written record and archive it for hand-over. The lessons are the reference; the machine is yours, and it is what you submit.
Instrumentation 路 FreeInstrumentation for PLC EngineersThe 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.More free courses: Free instrumentation and process control courses
Learner reviews
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Reviews here are written only by learners who have finished every module of Control Valves and Flow Measurement: Sizing and Selection, and they are published exactly as written. Finish the course and yours will be the first.
Common questions
Who is this control valve sizing course for?
It is for instrumentation, process and control engineers, instrument technicians and final-year students who specify or maintain control valves and flowmeters, including those working on EPC projects and on Gulf oil, gas and utility plants. You need to know a 4-20 mA loop and a P&ID and be comfortable with a spreadsheet.
Is the course free to learn?
Yes. Every module, the notes, the worked problems, the project and the final assessment are free. Only the certificate is paid, if you want one.
Which standards does it follow?
Valve sizing follows IEC 60534-2-1 (the same equations as ANSI/ISA-75.01.01), noise is introduced through IEC 60534-8-3, seat leakage through ANSI/FCI 70-2, and orifice sizing follows ISO 5167-2 with the Reader-Harris/Gallagher equation. The notes paraphrase the standards; buy the editions your project cites for design work.
Do I need Fisher Specification Manager or other sizing software?
No. Every calculation is done by hand or in a spreadsheet you build, and every worked number was checked. Vendor sizing tools are shown as a way to check your work, not as a requirement.
How long does the Control Valves and Flow Measurement course take?
About 14 hours of video, notes and practice at your own pace, with about 8 hours of video. The optional project takes about 14 hours more.
What certificate does the Control Valves and Flow Measurement course give?
An EDWartens Certificate of Completion, issued when you pass the 15-question final at 60 percent, with a number anyone can verify on our site. It is not an ISA certification such as CCST or CAP and not a vendor qualification; the course covers knowledge those exams also test.
How is it different from the Industrial Instrumentation course?
Industrial Instrumentation introduces every kind of measurement and the control valve. This course goes deep on sizing and selection: Cv calculations, cavitation, actuators, datasheets and orifice sizing. Go on to the PID Control course for loop tuning and the Instrument Calibration, Loop Checks and Commissioning course for site work.
What job does it help with?
It covers the sizing and specification work of an instrumentation design engineer at an EPC contractor or consultant, and the troubleshooting a plant instrument or control engineer does on flow loops.
What you walk away with
Your certificate for Control Valves and Flow Measurement: Sizing and Selection
Finish the course, pass the final, and this is the document with your name on it.
Verifiable by anyone
Adds to LinkedIn in one click
QR code on the certificate
Names what you can do
A permanent link
Earned, not attended
Learning is free. The certificate is optional.
Add it now and pay only when you have finished the course, or come back for it later. One-off, US$28.99, with a receipt.
Issued by EDWartens, the training division of Wartens, as a Certificate of Completion for this self-paced course. Sold by Wartens Ltd (England and Wales). It is not a vendor certification, a university award or a CPD-accredited activity, and it does not certify competence on live equipment. Delivered electronically; see the refund policy.
Credits
Who made the video lessons
The video lessons in this course were created by the people below, not by EDWartens. Every lesson streams from its creator's own YouTube channel; EDWartens neither hosts nor sells that footage, and the creators are not affiliated with EDWartens and do not endorse this course. What EDWartens wrote is the study plan, the notes, the practice tasks and the assessments.
- Fisher Valves & Instruments (Emerson)the lessons on the types of control valves, the Control-Disk rotary valve, sizing a control valve for liquid flow and for compressible fluid, the cavitation demonstration, the noise demonstration and treating valve noise with Whisper trim
- Endress+Hauserthe electromagnetic, vortex, ultrasonic and Coriolis flow measuring principle animations
- Rosemount (Emerson)how differential pressure flow works, how conditioning orifice plates work, installing the 405 conditioning orifice with a centering ring, grounding procedures for magnetic flowmeters and the plugged impulse line diagnostic
- Kimraythe lessons on the three types of control valve trim and on selecting and sizing a control valve
- Control Stationthe webinar on how stiction disrupts PID control and what to do about it
- HardHat Engineerthe lessons on fail open, fail closed and fail lock, and on the types of flowmeters in piping
- Asad (I&C Engineer)the lesson on how a valve positioner works, and the two long webinars on control valve datasheet preparation and control valve knowledge
- IMI Climate Controlthe webinar on sizing and selection of control valves, including authority
- Douglas Pricethe lecture on control valve basics
- Boostrand ChemEthe lesson on sizing parameters and inherent and installed characteristics
- Engineering Design & Managementthe lesson on control valve flow characteristics and sizing
- Simple Sciencethe Cv calculation for liquids
- Instrumentation Toolsthe lesson on cavitation, flashing and choked flow
- BAS Simplifiedthe steam control valve sizing lesson with a worked example
- Process Simulationthe walk-through of gas valve sizing in Fisher sizing software
- Technical Engineering Schoolthe lesson on how pneumatic actuators work and their types
- REXAthe clip on spring fail-safe actuation
- Smart Automation Solutionsthe DVC6200 positioner installation and stroking clip
- Instrument Specialtiesthe lesson on pneumatic volume boosters on valve systems
- Process Systemsthe lesson on limit switch boxes for pneumatic actuators
- JUMOthe basics of flow measurement
- 3D DECODEthe comparison of DP, vortex, magnetic and Coriolis technologies for selection
- Hibiscus Pinkthe lesson relating Bernoulli's theorem to the ISO 5167 mass flow equation
- Set-Pointthe orifice plate flow and pressure drop calculation
- Flow Control Magazine (Sierra Instruments video)the Sierra video on how thermal mass flow meter technology works
- ifm efector USAthe lesson on installing a magnetic flowmeter
- Calibration Academythe lesson on DP transmitter installation for flow and level
If you are one of these creators and would like a lesson removed or credited differently, write to info@wartens.com.