Process Control, Instrumentation, and Troubleshooting Course

Introduction

This training Center’s 5-day, 30-hour program equips you with the knowledge and practical skills needed to excel in process control and instrumentation. In industrial environments, measuring and controlling key process parameters is crucial to optimizing performance, ensuring safety, and maintaining product quality. The need for highly skilled engineers and technicians to address measurement and control challenges drives this course. It is designed to provide participants with a solid understanding of the fundamental principles of instrumentation, sensor and transducer technology, and process control techniques, enabling them to effectively troubleshoot and resolve measurement and control issues. Participants will explore a broad range of instrumentation systems, measurement techniques, and sensor technologies used in industrial settings. The course combines theoretical learning with hands-on activities, allowing delegates to design, build, and test practical instrumentation systems. Key topics include temperature, pressure, flow, strain, and ultrasonic measurements, as well as advanced process control strategies such as PID tuning and troubleshooting. By the end of the program, attendees will have developed the skills and confidence to apply these techniques to solve real-world measurement and control problems in their respective industries.

Objectives

Upon successful completion of this Process Control, Instrumentation, Troubleshooting & Problem Solving course, participants will be able to:

• Provide a solid understanding of the principles and operation of various sensors and transducers used in industrial processes.
• Enable participants to design, build, and test typical instrumentation systems with appropriate signal conditioning circuits through hands-on activities.
• Familiarize attendees with a wide range of measurement techniques and their practical applications.
• Provide knowledge of process control systems and the characteristics of process variables being measured.
• Foster peer knowledge exchange and discussions to broaden the understanding of instrumentation and control techniques.
• Introduce participants to PID control and the methods for tuning process control systems using PID principles.
• Develop the confidence and competence to apply instrumentation and control principles to solve custom measurement and control problems in real-world situations.

Training Methodology

This training Course is presented from basics, and builds up to an advanced level, as far as course main topics are concerned. Participants will receive copy of the training course material. Participants are encouraged to keep an open mind, and to ask as many questions as necessary, to ensure that maximum learning takes place.

Who Should Attend?

This course is designed for professionals working in the instrumentation and process plant industries, including:

• Engineers and Technicians responsible for the design, selection, installation, testing, operation, and maintenance of process instrumentation and control systems
• Electronic, Chemical, Electrical, and Mechanical Engineers
• Instrumentation Engineers and Technicians
• Electrical and Maintenance Technicians
• Instrument and Process Control Engineers
• Instrument Fitters
• Operations Engineers and Technicians
• Process Engineers and Technicians
• Process Operators and Production Professionals
• Project Design Professionals
• System Integrators
• Managers, Engineers, and Technicians seeking a deeper understanding of process control and instrumentation in the process industry

Course Outline

Module 1: Introduction to Sensors, Transducers, and Instrumentation Systems

• Pre-test assessment of existing knowledge
• Overview of course schedule and objectives
• Introduction to Sensors, Transducers, and Instrumentation Systems
• Key terminology and definitions in instrumentation:
  • Maximum error
  • Hysteresis
  • Repeatability
  • Sensitivity
  • Resolution
  • Span
  • Response time
• Exploration of process variables such as:
• Mass flow
• Volumetric flow rate
• Pressure
• Viscosity
• Turbidity

Module 2: Strain, Pressure, and Flow Measurement (Practical Activities Begin)

• Technical design and structural configuration of combustors
• Principles of strain measurement: tension, compression, stress, strain, Young’s modulus
• Gauge types: operation and configurations
• Principles of pressure measurement:
• Devices including diaphragms, bellows, capacitive devices, and fiber-optic pressure measurement techniques
• Principles of flow measurement:
  • Invasive devices: Coriolis flowmeter, differential pressure type flowmeters, orifice plate, venturi tube, flow nozzle, Dall flow tube, electromagnetic flowmeters
  • Non-invasive devices
• Practical Activity 1: Design and calibrate a liquid level process measurement system

Module 3: Temperature, Level, and Non-Invasive Ultrasonic Measurement Techniques

Overview of critical gas turbine elements and their functions

Overview of temperature scales

Devices used for temperature measurement:

• Resistance temperature detectors (RTDs)
• Thermistors
• Thermocouples
• Radiation pyrometers
• Principles and techniques for level measurement:
  • Direct and indirect measurement techniques
  • Devices for ultrasonic, capacitive, and pressure-based level measurement
• Principles and applications of ultrasonic techniques for non-invasive measurements
• Non-invasive flow measurement with ultrasonic flowmeters
• Practical Activity 2: Design and calibrate a liquid level process measurement system

Module 4: Introduction to Process Control Engineering

• Control strategies and block diagram representations
• Overview of control components: servomechanisms and regulators
• Distinction between open and closed-loop systems
• Negative feedback and transfer functions
• First and second-order systems
• Overview of control actions:
  • ON/OFF control
  • Proportional control
  • Proportional band vs. proportional gain
  • Integral and derivative actions
• Introduction to PID control
• Practical Activity 3: Design and calibrate a thermocouple-based temperature measurement system

Module 5: Tuning PID Controllers

• Concepts of system stability and response
• Frequency domain analysis: Bode and Nyquist plots
• Impact of load disturbances and offset
• Empirical methods for setting controllers:
  • Ziegler-Nichols open-loop reaction curve method
  • Closed-loop continuous cycling method
• Fine-tuning techniques for PID controllers
• Practical Activity 4: Tune a control system using the Ziegler-Nichols methods
• Practical Activity 5: Investigate strain measurement techniques

Module 6: Capstone and Assessment

• Review of Core Topics and Key Learnings
• Final Group Discussion and Q&A
• Post-Test Evaluation