01 Instrumentation Basics 2025
01 Instrumentation Basics 2025
MS Industrial Technology
● Instrumentation Basics
● Pressure Measurements
● Level Measurements
● Flow Measurements
● Temperature Measurements
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● Control Valves
Instrumentation
Basics
Moataz Sherif
I&C Department Manager
Instrumentation Basics
● Introduction
● Process Control Definition
● Basic Elements of Control Loop
● Open Loop and Closed Loop Control
● Sensors and Transducers
● Standard Instrument Signals
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● Smart Transmitters
Introduction
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Industrial Instrumentation
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Industrial Instrumentation
Instrument
• Any device for measuring,
indicating, controlling, recording
and adjusting a physical or
chemical property e.g. flow,
pressure, acidity, weight, gas
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concentration, etc.
Industrial Instrumentation
final controlling device which then influences the quantity being measured. 8
Industrial Instrumentation
Instrumentation
• A complete set of instruments used to control a process, e.g. refining, oil/gas
production, LNG, LPG, Power Station, etc.
Industrial Instrumentation
Instrumentation Arrangements
• Instrumentation generally includes many arrangements of instruments used to:
➢ Measure
➢ Indicate
➢ Record
➢ Control
Industrial Instrumentation
Process Variables.
• Variable quantities that exist in a process are :
➢ Pressure
➢ Temperature
➢ Flow
➢ Level
➢ Speed
➢ Vibration
➢ Density
Industrial Instrumentation
Instrumentation System
• An instrumentation system may include:
➢ Transmitters ➢ Positioner
➢ Resistance ➢ Switches
Temperature ➢ Control valves.
➢ Detectors (RTD) ➢ Blow down valve
➢ Pressure gauges
➢ Transducers
Industrial Instrumentation
Methods of Measurements
• There are a two basic methods
Direct
➢ Used for local indication only without signal
transmission
➢ Pressure Gauges
➢ Temperature Indicators
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Industrial Instrumentation
Methods of Measurements
Indirect
➢ This method of measurement uses various
‘Physical Principles’ of the laws of physics
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Programmable Logic Control (PLC)
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Distributed Control System (DCS)
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Safety Instrumented System (SIS)
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DCS vs. SIS
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Turbo machinery Control System
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Vibration Monitoring System
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Vibration Monitoring System
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Instrumentation Engineer Role
• Maintenance Engineer
• Project Engineer
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• Design Engineer
Instrument Maintenance Engineer Role
• On-Job Training
Control System Engineering
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Process Control Definition
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Piping and Instrumentation Drawing
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Piping and Instrument Diagrams (P&ID)
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Other Documentation
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Instrument Lists
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Location Plans (Instrument Location Drawings)
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Installation Details
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Loop Diagrams
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Flanged Pipe Fittings
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Tapered Thread Pipe Fittings
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Tapered Thread Pipe Fittings
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Tapered Thread Pipe Fittings
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Tube and Tube Fittings
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Tube and Tube Fittings
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Tube Fitter
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Loop Wiring Diagram
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Connections and Wire Terminations
Terminal Strip
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Connections and Wire Terminations
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Connections and Wire Terminations
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DIN rail
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Process Control Definition
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Terminology:
• The set point (SP) is the value at which we wish to maintain the
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Basic Elements of Process Control
• the controller. 65
Basic Elements of Process Control
process
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Basic Elements of Process Control
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Open Loop and Closed Loop Control
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Open Loop Control
• The open-loop control is where output variable does not have any
process variable.
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Open Loop Control
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Open Loop Control
resources.
Example for Open Loop Control
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Example for Open Loop Control
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Closed Loop Control
• Depending on the result of this comparison, the input variable for the
• Error is the deviation of the process variable from the set point and is
defined as
E = SP - PV
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Example for Closed Loop Control
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Closed Loop Control
on the deviation.
• If there is a large negative deviation, that is the measured value of the
volumetric flow is greater than the desired value the valve is closed further.
• If there is a large positive deviation, that is the measured value is smaller
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Closed Loop Control
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Sensors and Transducers
detect.
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Sensors and Transducers
Classification of Transducers
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Transducer and Inverse Transducer
Physical Electrical
Transducer
Quantity Output
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Sensors and Transducers
• There are many other important quantities like Vibration, speed and 91
analyzers.
Pneumatic Transmitter
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Analog Transmitter
• Fixed Range
• Adjusted using zero and span
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Smart Transmitter
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Standard Instrument Signals
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Standard Instrument Signals
• pneumatic
• current loop
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• 0 to 10 volt
Pneumatic Signals
3 to 15 psig
modulating valve.
4-20 milliamp
• Current loops are used because of their immunity to noise and the
Output Scaling
Input Scaling
• Example:
• If we were using a pressure transducer with a required operating range of 0 psig to 100
psig we would calibrate the instrument such that 0 psig would correspond to 4mA
output and 100 psig would correspond to a 20mA output.
• At the controller we would configure the input such that 4mA would correspond to an 100
internal value of 0 psig and 10mA would correspond to an internal value of 100 psig.
0 to 10 Volt
• You may find 0-10 volt signals used in control systems providing the speed
• The range of a sensor is the lowest and highest values it can measure within
its specification.
Upper Range Value (URV):
• the highest quantity that an instrument is adjusted to measure.
Lower Range Value (LRV):
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• the lowest quantity that an instrument is adjusted to measure.
Basic Definitions
Overrange
Accuracy:
• the amount of error that may occur when measurements are taken.
• sometimes referred to as the maximum uncertainty or limit of uncertainty.
• can be expressed as any of the following:
➢ error in units of the measured value
➢ percent of span
➢ percent of upper range value
➢ percent of actual output value
Accuracy Vs. Precision
Precision
• often confused with accuracy.
• It is the reproducibility with which repeated measurements of the
same measured variable can be made under identical conditions.
• In the process measurement, precision is often more important than
accuracy.
Accuracy Vs. Precision
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Linearity
Rangeability:
• The ability to measure very wide ranges and calculated as:
The ratio of the maximum measurable value to the minimum
measurable value.
Turndown:
• Describes the ratio between the highest and lowest possible
span of measurement output.
Turndown Ratio = max allowable span/min allowable span
Turndown Ratio
This means that a technician may adjust the span anywhere between
300 PSI (e.g. range = 0 to 300 PSI) and 15 PSI (e.g. range = 0 to 15 PSI)
Turndown Ratio
Example:
Suppose you were working at a facility where the operations
personnel requested a pressure transmitter installed on a process
vessel with a measurement range of 50 PSI to 90 PSI. You go to the
warehouse where all the new instruments are stocked, find a
pressure transmitter with a (maximum) range of zero to 1000 PSI,
and a turndown ratio of 20:1.
• Can you use this transmitter??
Turndown Ratio
• But what is the problem of using the transmitter lower than its available
range??
Turndown vs. Accuracy
• Example:
Plot the curve that represents a pressure transmitter with an input
range of 0 to 100 PSI and an electronic output signal range of 4 to
20 mA electric current.
Live Vs. Dead Zero
• The instrument engineer must consider the following dynamic conditions that
affect process measurement:
• Temperature Effects
• Static Pressure Effects
• Interference
• Instrument Response
• Noise
• Damping and Digital Filtering
• These dynamic conditions cause the presence of uncertainty in measuring
systems
Temperature Effect
• Pressure not only can drift the output reading, but it can
damage the sensor itself.
Electrical Interference
• Rise time is the time it takes for an instrument to provide a signal that
represents 100% of the value of the variable it is measuring after a
step change in the variable.
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Smart Transmitters
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Field Communicator
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Field Communicator
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Field Communicator
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Field Communicator
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Field Communicator
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Field Communicator
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Field Communicator
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Field Communicator
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Field Communicator
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What is PACTware?
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Smart Transmitters
• A smart transmitter is a digital device that converts the analog information from a
sensor into digital information, allowing the device to simultaneously send and receive
information and transmit more than a single value.
• Smart transmitters, in general, have the following common features:
Digital Communications
Configuration
Re-Ranging
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Signal Conditioning
Self-Diagnosis
Smart Transmitter
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Smart Transmitters
bus and Profibus contain only a digital output, with no analogue signal.
HART FSK signals communicate auxiliary information such as
in-system calibration data, reliability information, diagnostics,
and additional sensor data
4-20mA DC signal
communicates primary
variable, sensor data
Smart Transmitters
Configuration
Signal Conditioning
Self-Diagnosis