Automation Technician in the Oil Sector Course

Lesson 1 • Oil Field Equipment and Terminology

Introduces standard equipment found on oil fields and refineries. Builds vocabulary essential for reading technical documents and schematics.

Lesson 2 • Overview of the Oil Industry

Maps the global oil value chain from exploration to refining. Provides context for where automation technicians operate and add value.

Lesson 3 • Health, Safety, and Environment Basics

Covers hazard identification, personal protective equipment, and emergency response fundamentals. Establishes the safety mindset required before any field work.

Lesson 1 • Electrical Safety and Lockout/Tagout

Covers arc flash hazards, electrical isolation procedures, and lockout/tagout protocols. Prepares technicians to de-energize equipment safely before any maintenance task.

Lesson 2 • DC and AC Circuit Principles

Covers voltage, current, resistance, and power in both DC and AC systems. Provides the theoretical base for understanding sensor and actuator wiring.

Lesson 3 • Electrical Measurement and Test Equipment

Teaches use of multimeters, clamp meters, and oscilloscopes in field conditions. Connects measurement skills directly to instrument calibration and fault finding.

Lesson 4 • Grounding, Shielding, and Noise Reduction

Explains grounding strategies and shielding methods that protect signal integrity. Directly supports accurate sensor readings in electrically noisy oil field environments.

Lesson 1 • Flow Measurement Technologies

Surveys differential pressure, magnetic, ultrasonic, and Coriolis flow meters. Guides selection based on fluid properties and process conditions.

Lesson 2 • Pressure Measurement Instruments

Covers gauge, absolute, and differential pressure transmitters and their operating principles. Connects pressure measurement to process control loop performance.

Lesson 3 • Level Measurement Instruments

Covers float, displacer, radar, and guided-wave radar level technologies. Relates level measurement accuracy to separator and tank inventory control.

Lesson 4 • Temperature Measurement Instruments

Examines thermocouples, RTDs, and infrared sensors used in oil and gas processes. Addresses signal conditioning and cold-junction compensation for accurate readings.

Lesson 1 • Valve Maintenance and Troubleshooting

Addresses packing replacement, seat lapping, and actuator bench-set procedures. Connects maintenance practices to extended valve service life and loop reliability.

Lesson 2 • On-Off Valves and Solenoid Systems

Covers block valves, check valves, and solenoid-operated valve systems used in safety and isolation duties. Links these devices to emergency shutdown logic.

Lesson 3 • Control Valve Sizing and Cv Calculation

Applies flow coefficient calculations to size valves for liquid and gas service. Prevents oversizing and undersizing errors that degrade control performance.

Lesson 4 • Valve Actuators and Positioners

Covers pneumatic, electric, and hydraulic actuators and their associated positioners. Explains how positioners improve valve response and reduce hysteresis.

Lesson 1 • Ladder Logic Programming Fundamentals

Introduces contacts, coils, timers, counters, and comparison instructions in ladder logic. Enables students to write basic control programs for pumps and valves.

Lesson 2 • Analog Signal Handling in PLCs

Covers scaling, engineering unit conversion, and analog alarm configuration in PLC programs. Connects raw sensor counts to meaningful process variable displays.

Lesson 3 • PLC Architecture and Hardware

Explains CPU, I/O modules, power supplies, and communication backplanes in industrial PLCs. Provides the hardware knowledge needed before any programming activity.

Lesson 4 • PLC Program Structures and Best Practices

Addresses modular programming, subroutines, and documentation standards for maintainable code. Prepares students to write programs that other technicians can read and modify.

Lesson 1 • PID Tuning Methods

Applies Ziegler-Nichols, lambda, and IMC tuning rules to real process loops. Enables students to achieve stable, responsive control without excessive oscillation.

Lesson 2 • PID Controller Modes and Functions

Covers proportional, integral, and derivative actions and their individual effects on loop behavior. Builds intuition for how each mode corrects different error patterns.

Lesson 3 • Loop Performance Monitoring

Covers control loop performance metrics, oscillation detection, and valve stiction diagnosis. Enables continuous improvement of loop performance after initial commissioning.

Lesson 4 • Advanced Control Strategies

Introduces cascade, ratio, feedforward, and override control configurations. Addresses complex oil process interactions that single-loop PID cannot handle effectively.

Lesson 1 • Alarm Management and Rationalization

Addresses alarm philosophy, rationalization, and nuisance alarm reduction using industry guidelines. Improves operator situational awareness during abnormal process conditions.

Lesson 2 • DCS Architecture and Components

Explains controllers, I/O subsystems, operator stations, and engineering workstations in a DCS. Provides the system-level view needed before configuration tasks begin.

Lesson 3 • SCADA System Design and Communication

Covers SCADA server architecture, remote terminal units, and communication protocols for oil field data acquisition. Links field devices to centralized monitoring and control.

Lesson 4 • Historian and Data Management

Covers process historian configuration, tag compression, and data retrieval for performance analysis. Connects stored process data to troubleshooting and optimization activities.

Lesson 1 • Functional Safety Concepts and SIL

Explains safety integrity levels, risk reduction factors, and the safety lifecycle framework. Establishes the conceptual foundation for all SIS design and verification work.

Lesson 2 • SIS Architecture and Hardware Selection

Covers redundant sensor voting, logic solver selection, and final element architecture for SIL targets. Links hardware choices to probability of failure on demand calculations.

Lesson 3 • Management of Change for Safety Systems

Covers the management-of-change process for modifications to SIS hardware, software, and setpoints. Prevents unintended reduction of safety integrity during plant modifications.

Lesson 4 • Safety Logic Solver Programming

Addresses cause-and-effect matrix implementation, interlock logic, and bypass management in safety PLCs. Ensures safety programs meet functional requirements without spurious trips.