Instrumentation & Control Course

Instrumentation & Process Control - Combo Training Course (3.5 days)

Course Information:
Course Description:	This popular training course is a combination of our Instrumentation and Calibration training course and our Process Controls & Loop Tuning training course. The course consists of approximately 2.5 days of Instrumentation & Calibration training, and 1 day of Process Control & PID Loop Tuning training. This course is designed to provide the big picture for persons needing to understand or troubleshoot the full control loop (including the sensor, controller, and the process). Students will setup, calibrate, configure, and tune various real-world instrumentation and control loops on our pressure, temperature, and level training stations. A heavy emphasis is placed on understanding the operation of the entire control loop, and understanding how the control loop is affected by the instrumentation and control components, and by the process.
Length:	3.5 days (2 to 5 days for custom onsite training)
Percent Hands-on:	Approximately 50%
Training Equipment:	Miscellaneous sensors, transmitters & calibration equipment; Temperature control loop stations; Pressure control loop stations; Dell laptop computers; Various controller units
Pre-requisites:	Basic computer skills & basic electrical knowledge helpful.
Target Audience:	Operators, Electricians, Technicians, Engineers, and Managers
Textook:	Provided for each student: Hardcover text book, approx 700 pages with hundreds of excellent color pictures & diagrams. Oriented at practical aspects of I&C field. Instrumentation 5th edition, by Kirk & Weedon. Amazon.com price approximately $140-$150.
Maximum Class Size:	10 students

Typical Course Topics (partial listing of topic areas, not in sequence):

	Parts of the typical control loop
	Process & Instrument Diagrams (P&ID's)
	Commonly used process control signals
	Signal quality terminology (accuracy, linearity, span, etc.)
	Understanding purpose of standards (NIST, etc.)
	Understanding the 4-20 milliamp current loop
	Signal conversions
	Calibration basics
	Position and speed sensors
	Temperature sensors (Thermocouples, RTD's, Thermistors, etc.)
	Pneumatic and hydraulic pressure concepts
	Pressure, force, and strain sensors
	Level detectors
	Fluid and gas flow concepts
	Flow sensors
	Typical problems in instrumentation systems
	Smart instruments
	Common Instrumentation networks
	Troubleshooting instrumentation systems
	Controller types
	Controller setup concepts
	Understanding process dynamics (dead-time, capacity, etc.)
	On/Off control concepts
	Control actuator basics (AC/DC/Stepper motors, hydraulic/pneumatic actuators, etc.)
	Control valve concepts
	Variable frequency drive basics (AC)
	Variable speed drive basics (DC)
	Common control system errors and problems
	PID control systems basics
	PID control details (windup, CV limiting, feedforward biasing, bumpless transfer, dead-bands, etc.)
	PID control system advanced features
	Controller tuning concepts and methods
	Advanced control strategies (cascade, ratio, feed-forward, etc.)
	Real world applications, common problems, issues, tips and tricks

Primary Skills Learned:

	Troubleshoot and solve problems in Instrumentation systems
	Improve overall control system performance (accuracy, consistency, productivity, efficiency, safety, etc.)
	Understand physical concepts related to instrumentation systems
	Troubleshoot and solve problems in control loops
	Setup standard control loops
	Methodically tune standard control loops
	Logically diagnose control loop related problems
	Apply advanced controller features to improve system performance

Typical Lab Exercises (partial listing, not in sequence):

	Hookup various standard 4-20mA transmitters & actuators
	Convert mA readings to percentages & scaled readings
	Use a multifunction calibrator to simulate and read thermocouples and RTD sensors and trasmitters
	Determine accuracy of transmitters & identify various instrumentation errors
	Perform calibration checks & calibration adjustments on analog instruments
	Develop & be able to read Process & Instrument Diagrams (P&ID's)
	Hookup a thermocouple sensor & transmitter
	Identify various issues & common problems associated with thermocouple systems
	Measure RTD resistance & determine temperature (use & understand RTD resistance tables)
	Configure / calibrate a SMART temperature transmitter using a HART communicator
	Configure / calibrate a SMART Rosemount pressure transmitter using a HART communicator
	Save & load configurations from HART communicators to/from SMART field transmitters
	Calibrate an I/P (current to pressure) transmitter using the Fluke pressure calibrator
	Run pressure control loop & experiment with proportional feedback (gain), offset, and integral values
	Tune the pressure control loop (intuitively - trial & error / guided)
	Tune the pressure control loop using various established tuning procedures & methods (Zeigler Nichols open/closed loop, etc)
	Adjust tuning parameters to achieve various different tuning goals & criteria
	Adjust deadband & observe effects
	Observe effects of CV limits & reset windup issues
	Observe feedforward feature of controller
	Observe bumpless transfer feature of controller
	Hookup speed control loop & test run in manual (test drive - get a feel for the loop)
	Tune the speed control loop using various methods
	Hookup and tune the temperature control loop using various methods, with various criteria & goals
	Troubleshoot various problems in each control loop

	This course is also available as onsite training at your location, to suit your organizational needs. Contact us or complete an onsite training cost worksheet for a quick, no obligation quote.
	If you have additional questions about our training, or would like more detailed information, please call us and we will be glad to answer your questions and help in any way that we can.
	If you do not see the course you are interested in on the course schedule, please contact us and let us know which courses you are interested in and we will try to put together a course to suit your needs as soon as possible, or complete a course interest form to be automatically informed of courses meeting your specific criteria.
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Telephone

800-642-8851

info@orion-training.com

Page Updated: July 12, 2011