What knowledge should an instrumentation engineer have?

Field Instrumentation
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Instrumentation engineering jobs are one of the most important and vast streams of amoung engineering. Instrument engineers and technicians are often expected to have sufficient knowledge to enable them to work professionally and efficiently.

An instrumentation engineer should have good knowledge in general as well as some special skills, General includes mathematics, physics, electrical, electronics, signal processing and documentation.

General knowledge:

Mathematics:

Instrumentation is no different from other streams in case of mathematics and it is mandatory for all technical jobs.

Physics:

In order to understand basic electricity, electronics and manufacturing processes, knowledge of physical science is necessary. Principles of pressure, level, flow, and temperature use knowledge of physical science. A good instrument technician needs to be able to read and interpret drawings from P&IDs and even help develop some drawings when the need arises.

Electricity and Electronics:

For the new electronic and microprocessor-based instruments and controllers, this knowledge is required. Maintaining modern instruments and control systems requires an understanding of both analog and digital electronics. In the field of instrumentation and control engineering, electrical / electronics maintenance and repair, as well as pneumatic maintenance techniques, are crucial areas of knowledge required.

Signal Processing and Conditioning Equipment:

Signal conditioning and processing equipment help to convert signals like analogue-to-digital or current-to-pressure from one form to another. To transform a signal to usable energy that is consistent with devices which conduct mathematical functions such as summation, integration, counting, and square-root, signal conditioning is required.

Process Control Instrumentation Knowledge:

It is important to know the basic automatic control principle and feedback control system. In contrast to pneumatic and electronic systems, the principle of gain, proportional unit, integrated operation, manual bias etc. must be understood in both analog and digital control circuits.

To know how the control valve influences the process control chain, it is necessary to know the final control elements such as valve positioners and actuators.

Primary Elements:

A primary component is the part of a measurement or sensing tool. Instrument engineers and technicians need to know primary elements such as pressure, level, flow and temperature. The initial conversion of energy measurement is carried out by a primary element and a thorough knowledge of the primary elements is extremely necessary.

Procedures and Documentation:

To properly maintain instrumentation and control systems, it is necessary to know how to implement appropriate structured protocols in the execution and recording of maintenance tasks.

Local or commercial–specific laws, guidelines and recommended practices, as well as plant protocols, need to be recognized and implemented.

Specialized knowledge:

Specialized knowledge for an instrumentation engineer covers many areas from Field instrumentation, analytical instrumentation, automation, industrial communication and control systems.