Learning outcome

A candidate who has completed the course will have a learning outcome in the form of aquired knowledge, skills, and general competence, as described below[1].

Knowledge

The candidate:

• understands the need for control and automation of industrial plants in order to achieve safe, stable and profitable operation.
• has knowledge about the most common document types within automation such as and piping and instrumentation diagrams (P&ID) and the most important tests in automation such as Factory Acceptance Test (FAT) and Site Acceptance Tests (SAT)
• has knowledge about the application of classical PID control and control structures such as ratio control, cascade control and split range control.
• has knowledge about control of the most common unit operations and process equipment such as vessels, reactors, flash tanks, columns and heat exchangers.
• understands the need for, and has knowledge about safety and automatic safety interlocks in industrial plants.
• has knowledge about real-time optimization (RTO) .

Skills

The candidate:

• is able to analyse a process flowsheet and a process description for an industrial plant and develop a control structure that will ensure stable operation maintaining mass and energy balances as well as addressing product quality.
• is able to identify important safety risks in case of failure in the normal control system of a plant and is able to develop automatic safety interlocks preventing hazardous situations to escalate.
• is able to investigate possibilities for increased profit of a plant using Real-Time Optimization.

General competence

The candidate:

• is able to analyze and solve overall problems in automation and operation of industrial plants taking into account both safety and economy.

[1] Codes given in parentheses correspond to the codes given in the programme description.

Course Description

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• Need for control in industrial processes
• Control structure to ensure stable operation
• Ratio-, cascade- and split control etc to enhance control performance
• Safety functions
• Control hierarchy
• Real-time optimization (RTO)
• Automation of continuous and batch processes.
• Project management of automation projects.

Assessment Methods

The final test counts 100 %. A number of mandatory exercises and a project have to be delivered and approved to pass the final exam.

Minor adjustments may occur during the academic year, subject to the decision of the Dean