Course Overview

This five-day training course will provide a broad, practical knowledge of instrumentation and process control and covers application, hardware, installation, and performance of process measurement instrumentation and control valves. will discuss advantages and disadvantages of various flow, level, pressure, and temperature measurement techniques.This course also provides practical, useful applications for tuning and applying feedback and feed forward controllers in the processing oil and gas industries,

Course Objectives

Upon completion of this course, the trainees will be aware and understanding of the following:

• Learn the parts of a control loop and process considerations
• Learn advantages and limitations of process measurements
• Learn applications of reciprocating and rotary control valves
• Learn applications of diaphragm and piston control valve actuators
• Gain understanding of the tuning modes for a feedback controller
• Tune a feedback controller on a computer simulator
• Learn to tune an error squared level controller
• Gain familiarity with advanced control methods
• Learn how to scale feedforward and adaptive gain controllers

Who Should Attend?

This training will be valuable for all types of engineers, technicians, operations personnel and others involved to assist in using the full power of instrumentation in designs and also useful to identify problems in the design stage.  It will provide knowledge to engineers who are consulted for troubleshooting operation problems.

Course Contents

Module (01) Introduction

• What is a process?
• Steady-state operations
• Four parts of a control loop
• Disturbances
• Controller action

Module (02) Measurements

• Flow
  • Head type, orifice, venturis, etc.
  • Averaging pitot tube
  • Magnetic
  • Coriolis
  • Vortex shedding
  • Thermal
  • Sonic
  • Variable area
  • Positive displacement
  • Turbine meters
• Level
  • Head
  • Conductance
  • Capacitance
  • Nuclear
  • Sonic
  • Radar
• Temperature
  • Dial thermometers
  • Thermowells
  • RTDS
  • Thermocouples
  • Surface measurements
  • Filled systems
• Pressure
  • Pressure gauges
  • Gauge transmitters
  • Absolute pressure transmitters

 Module (03) Control valves

• Reciprocating
• Rotary
• Valve flow characteristics
• Installed characteristics
• Reduced trim
• Diaphragm actuators
• Piston actuators
• Positioners
• Sizing
• Noise, flashing, and cavitation

 Module (04) Tuning Modes and feedback

• Proportional or gain
• Integral or reset
• Derivative or rate
• PID equations

Module (05) Tuning of feedback controllers

• Benefits of good tuning
• When is tuning required?
• Effects of PID modes
• What is ideal tuning?
• Methods of tuning
  • Trial and error
  • Intelligent trial and error
  • Open loop with response curves
  • Closed loop
  • Reverse response – shrink and swell
  • Predetermined
  • Cascade, ratio, and override controllers
  • Advanced controllers

 Module (06) Feedforward control

• Static feedforward
• Three element boiler controller
• Discrete input feedforward
• Dynamic feedforward
• Scaling

 Module (07) Adaptive gain

• Tuning adaptive gain controllers
• Process changes
• Error squared control
• Transmitter failure detection and control
• Event and time control
• Limiting tool using adaptive gain

 Module (08) Dead time

• Control with dead time
• Pure dead time
• Apparent dead time
• Tuning dead time processes
• Smith dead time predictor
• Adding process lag