Automation Technologies Training

Why?

The engineers and technicians that have grown up with modern automation since the early 1980s are now in their later years and starting to retire. Unfortunately there are more engineers and technicians retiring than there are knowledgeable ones to replace them. This creates a set of major problems:
  • Who understands the equipment they have been working on that is also aging?
  • Who has the knowledge to implement the technologies they have spent 20+ years in learning?
  • Modern technologies are great, but without a foundation from which to understand them, they can be difficult to understand.
Attending product-specific classes are helpful, but they always assume a base of knowledge. It is like learning algebra without learning the basic arithmetic first! Students come out of college with a base of general knowledge and the ability to think, but don’t know what to do with that knowledge or how to apply it practically in their corporate environments.

automation triangle

Curriculum

  • Level 1: Basics - Introduction to Automation
  • Overview and conceptual understanding
  • Foundation for Level 2
  • Target audience:
    • Non-technical personnel seeking some frame of reference
    • Recent college graduates entering the workplace

 

  • Level 2: Architectures - Intermediate Automation
    • Architectures
    • Sizing factors & concepts
    • Software, electrical & mechanical concepts
    • Target audience: technical personnel seeking to better understand general automation technologies
  • Level 3: Selection - Advanced Automation
    • Sizing & selection
    • Target audience: experienced technical personnel seeking to design systems and do their own sizing and selecting of products

COURSELEVELLENGTHOBJECTIVES & TOPICS
Advanced Automation130 minWhat is “automation”?
Why does one “automate”?
Automation Solutions Overview115 minWhat are the areas we cover in Valin’s Automation Group?
Motion Control Building Blocks130 minWhat is required for electromechanical motion?
What other types of motion are there?
Motion Control Basics290 min
  • Servo History
  • Servo Theory
  • Elements of motion control
  • Basics of:
    • Turning a step motor
    • Open-loop vs. Closed-loop
    • Control Theory Basics
    • Servo loops
    • Feedback
    • Commutation
    • Servo vs Stepper
Electrical Concepts260 minBasic electrical definitions and concepts.
  • Voltage, Current, Resistor and Power
  • Capacitor, Inductor
  • AC vs DC
  • Analog vs Digital vs 4-20mA
  • Grounding planes
  • Optical Isolation
  • H-bridge
  • Sinking and Sourcing current
  • Electrical noise
  • Single-ended vs Differential
Sensors160 min
  • Main sensor types
  • Basics
  • Terminology
Sensors 260 min
  • More on sensor types
  • Advanced features
  • How to select photoelectric sensors
  • Reading data sheets
  • Fiber optics
Mechanical Basics160-90 min
  • Force, Torque & Moment
  • Precision, Accuracy & Repeatability
  • Mechanical components
  • LOSTPED overview
Mechanical Concepts22 hours
  • Mechanical components - deeper look
  • Linear Motors
  • Mechanical specifications
  • Statics & Dynamics
  • Mitigating risk in mechanics
  • LOSTPED deeper look
Automation in Process130-60 min
  • Automation applications in the process industry:
  • Not your regular valve control
  • Networking
  • Information control
Controls Architectures21 - 2 hours
  • PLC vs Motion controllers and their evolutions
  • Old types of controls
  • Centralized vs Decentralized
  • Local vs Remote
  • Controller-based vs Drive or PC-based
  • Types of programming languages
Drives, Motors & Feedback Overview11 hours
  • What does a drive do?
  • What different types of motors are there?
  • What methods of feedback are there?
Drives, Motors & Feedback In-depth21.5 - 2 hours
  • What makes motors move?
  • What are the parts of motors?
  • How does a drive work?
  • What are the different drive architectures?
  • How do the different feedbacks operate?
EMC Installation31 hours
  • Why is installation important?
  • What is the source of electrical noise?
  • What is the solution?
Safety Overview14 hours
  • Overview
Safety: Risk Assessments24 hours
  • Why? What? How?
Safety: Machine Guarding Overview21 day
  • Risk Assessments
  • Standards
  • Circuit configurations
  • Guarding technologies
Safety: OSHA Machine Guarding31 day
  • What are the rules per OSHA?
  • Covers all the OSHA Machines
  • plus the general safeguarding clause (1910.212)

 

Pricing

  • $750 per person per day with a minimum of 4 people in the class.
  • $3000 per day for one company onsite plus travel expenses if outside of California.

For more information please email: valinuniversityinquiries@valin.com

Download Automation Technologies Training Brochure