COURSE OVERVIEW

Since its inception, the concept of Distributed Control Systems has swept alternative control technologies from the field. The substantial growth in grass-roots construction of plants in the traditional heavy process industries, such as power generation, refining, oil and gas, water and petrochemicals are driving significant growth in the utilization of Distributed Control Systems (DCS). The broad architecture of a solution involves either a direct connection to physical equipment, such as switches, pumps and valves or connection via a fieldbus communication system.
With the advent of high-speed data highways and locally collected plant information, Distributed Control Systems are being used to reduce cabling costs, as well as the implementation of advanced control strategies. The course will cover the practical applications of Distributed Control Systems. The course is based on a selection of subjects that either have had a strong impact on distributed systems today, or explore novel ideas which may be important in the future. Other subjects cover important aspects of distributed systems such as data communications, SCADA and Safety Instrumented Systems plus PLC applications.
The evolution of computer control systems is discussed in this course and the architecture of contemporary DCS offerings is described in general terms. The course covers hardware, configuration, data communications, user interfaces and I/O devices. In addition, the course introduces the general maintenance requirements of the DCS. It covers troubleshooting techniques using DCS self-diagnostics and the various diagnostic displays available to the engineers and technicians as well as safe and proper component replacement procedures for cards, modules and power supplies.
The course also looks at the different methods of tuning three term controllers using the various Zeigler- Nichols approaches.