Instrumentation, SCADA and Controls for Operators
Know what your instruments are telling you, when to trust them and how to prove them: signals, meters, analyzers, drives, control loops, PLC and SCADA, alarms, loop checks, commissioning and troubleshooting.
Who it is for
Wastewater treatment and collection operators, operators in training, maintenance staff who support instruments, and construction inspectors who witness installation, loop checks and start-up testing.
Format
Online, self-paced: 12 timed modules with the manual reading, worked examples and a short check after each module, plus the student manual to download.
Length and price
4 hours, $140.
What you will learn
12 modules. Worked examples use the fictional White River Resource Recovery Facility.
- Measurement basics: accuracy, range, span and calibration (16 min)Accuracy, range and span, percent of span versus percent of reading, calibration, as-found and as-left records.
- Signals: 4 to 20 mA loops, scaling, HART and discrete signals (18 min)How a two wire 4 to 20 mA loop works, scaling milliamps to engineering units, loop power budgets, HART and discrete I/O.
- Flow measurement: mag meters, open channels, ultrasonic, venturi and air flow (20 min)Mag meters, Parshall flumes, ultrasonic, venturi and thermal air flow meters, where each works, and field checks that prove a flow reading.
- Level and pressure measurement (17 min)Ultrasonic, radar, pressure and bubbler level, floats as backup, pressure units and the conversions operators use.
- Process analyzers: DO, pH and ORP, ammonia and nitrate, solids and chlorine (21 min)DO, pH and ORP, ammonia and nitrate, solids and chlorine analyzers: cleaning, calibration, verification against the lab and a maintenance schedule.
- Final control elements: valves, actuators and variable frequency drives (18 min)Control valves, actuators and positioners, fail positions, variable frequency drives, Hand-Off-Auto and the affinity laws.
- Control circuits, motor starters and electrical basics for operators (23 min)Ladder diagrams, start/stop circuits, motor starters and overloads, level electrodes, control transformers, unbalance and safe meter use.
- Control loops: on-off, PID, cascade, DO and ammonia control, level and flow pacing (20 min)On-off control, P, I and D actions, tuning symptoms, cascade loops, DO and ammonia based aeration control, and flow pacing.
- PLCs, SCADA, HMI, alarms, interlocks and ISA tags (21 min)PLC parts and the scan, SCADA and HMI layers, ISA tags and P&ID symbols, alarm management, interlocks and running the plant by hand.
- Reading trends, spotting bad data and cybersecurity basics (17 min)Reading trends, spotting frozen, clipped, noisy and drifting data, choosing trend scales, and cybersecurity habits for the control network.
- Instrument installation, loop checks and commissioning (23 min)Installation details inspectors look for, loop sheets and five point loop checks, the double square root error, testing hold points and the turnover package.
- Troubleshooting instruments and loops, and working safely around them (16 min)A six step method for any instrument problem, splitting a loop to find the fault, case studies and working safely around instruments.
What operators take away
- How a measurement gets from the process to the SCADA screen, and what accuracy, span and calibration really mean for the numbers you log.
- Signal math you can check in the field: milliamps to engineering units and back, percent of span, loop power, flume and mag meter flows, level from distance or pressure.
- Care, calibration and verification routines for DO, pH, ammonia, nitrate, solids and chlorine analyzers, with a maintenance schedule.
- How valves, drives, starters and control circuits behave, and how PID, cascade, ammonia based aeration control and flow pacing loops respond.
- PLC, SCADA and HMI basics, ISA tags, alarm management, interlocks, bad data on trends and everyday cybersecurity habits.
- For operators and inspectors: installation checks, loop sheets, five point loop checks, hold points and the turnover package.
- A six step troubleshooting method, a field troubleshooting checklist and a way to split a loop to find the fault.
- Timed online modules with a short check after each one, a final quiz that opens when every check is passed and the study time is logged, and a certificate of completion from Wastewater Academy™ when you pass it.
- A student manual to download (comes with the class).
Look inside
A few sample pages from the student manual. Tap a page to open it full size.
These are sample pages only. The full student manual comes with the class.
Register
4 hours, $140.
CEU approval status varies by state. Check with your state certification office before you count class hours toward a renewal.
Questions about this course? Contact help@ActivatedSludge.com.
Our courses have not been approved by any state agency unless a state approval number is shown. Whether a course counts toward your renewal is decided by your certifying authority. Please confirm with your state before enrolling. See where you can use these classes.
Registration is open. Register online and start right away.
After you pay, you are taken to a page where you start the online course and download the student manual. Work through the 12 modules in order; each ends with a 4-question check, and you need 3 of 4 to open the next module. The study timer counts time only while a module page is open and in the foreground, and you have been active in the last 5 minutes. It pauses when the tab is in the background or idle. Module checks open after about 30 percent of that module's required study time is logged. The final quiz opens after every check is passed and 3 hours 50 minutes of study are logged. It has 15 questions; you need 80 percent, with up to 3 attempts. After you pass and fill in a short course evaluation, you get a certificate of completion from Wastewater Academy™ in the name you enroll with. Online access, including the course, manual, quiz, and certificate, lasts 90 days from purchase. To see the style of questions first, try a free practice quiz.
Before you buy, read our refund policy, terms of use and privacy notice.
Certificate Only, $112: Same online course, manual and final quiz, with 90 days of access. The certificate reads “Certificate of Completion. Not submitted for continuing education credit.” and lists no contact hours, CEUs or license numbers. See terms.
Taking more than one class? This class is part of the All-Access Pass: every online class except Indiana exam prep, for 365 days, for $220. Training a crew? See group pricing.
See the All-Access Pass