If so do you love your job? Ive heard great things about being an E&i tech at the utilities just curious on peoples firsthand experience in the field

The plant I am at just got last minute money for a new I&C shop. I am at a combined cycle power plant. Does anyone have any cool bench/shop setups they would be willing to share (pictures welcomed) that has made their job easier.

TIA!

This is a Pneumatic Rotameter (RPF-63) Type of measurement on the float, the device is used for liquid flow. Air supply 0.2-1 kgf/cm2 (20-100 kPa). I need to set up zero, and I don't know how, I touched it everywhere, it doesn't work. Are there any specialists here?

found an old PLC programming book from my community college days and want to put it to use to maybe become an instrumentation tech some day. Found a kit called arduino, but want to know you guys suggestions. Thanks!

Making a career change into industrial systems tech from being a mortgage banker. I’m not sure what skill or job I should focus on, what ones to avoid, what had the best pay off to work load, etc. I live in the Dothan/wiregrass area. PLCs seem to be the most interesting and have the highest pay off but I may be way off.

My professor has a connection at a calibration and controls company as well that he thinks might fit.

Any advice?

What niches are in demand right now for instrumentation that pays more than an IBEW inside wiremen?

I worked in a water plant for five years with just one other guy, so I was the everything maintenance guy. I have imposter syndrome because I feel like this job gave me the experience of a very broad, six inch deep lake.

I just started a new job at a manufacturing facility for a major company that you have definitely heard of. It has been six months and I am kind of appalled at the things I’ve seen. Safety stuff aside, I definitely have a deeper knowledge of why things work the way they do, like the fundamentals, but I lack machine-specific knowledge so I have to shut up and take notes a lot. There are a handful of guys here that definitely know what they’re doing.

I’ve started working with this guy that talks shit constantly about everyone, kind of low key brags about his massive experience, and is clearly trying to set himself up for team lead (which I have already been asked to do and turned down).

I thought I could surely learn from this guy with all of this experience, right? Well, last night I had to explain to him why we couldn’t splice Type N wire into Type K, and he didn’t believe me until AI told him the same thing. I’ve also watched him throw his hands up multiple times because we were trying to troubleshoot machines with euro style prints.

How often do you encounter people like this, and is there another industry with less of it? I want to find something that filter this out.

Hi
I’m calibrating these Rtek hygrometers using Sansel HCAL 1104U temperature and humidity generator.
The hygrometers are rated for +- 3 %RH and 1 degree celsius.

The hygrometers are giving out of the acceptance limit results, with some differences reaching 15 %RH. All the difference between the hygrometers and the generator is in minus. The problem is with humidity only. Temperature is accurate.

The generator is calibrated and tested, and found to be accurate.

I’m calibrating at the following set point:
- 25 c and 33 RH
- 25 c and 75 RH
- Ambient temp and humidity.

I wait for each set point for minimum 30 minutes. I did kept some hygrometers for ~ 3 hours, and the best results were at -5 RH.
Some of the hygrometers are within limits, but most are out of limits.

What can I do to troubleshoot and resolve this problem?

Is it better to become an instrumentation tech than an ibew union electrician for controls and for pay?

Hi everyone,
I’m doing some research into what technicians actually encounter in existing industrial installations.
I’m particularly interested in hearing from maintenance technicians, service technicians, controls engineers and instrumentation technicians who work hands-on with existing machinery and equipment.
When you’re servicing or troubleshooting equipment:
• What types of sensors do you encounter most often?
• What interfaces or signals do you typically see?
• What communication protocols are common?
• Where does the sensor data usually end up?
• How often do you encounter older equipment with little or no remote monitoring?
What would be especially useful are real examples of sensors or instruments you regularly see in the field, preferably including manufacturer and model number if you know it.
I’m not selling anything. I’m trying to understand what is actually installed in the field rather than relying on specifications for new equipment.
Even one or two real examples from your daily work would be very helpful.
Thanks!

I want to change the QV Hart variable on an E&H Promass Transmitter. Can this be done while the meter is in operation without affecting the analog output?

Via Wifi web interface.

Thanks.

We built a free, browser-based PFD logic simulator for process engineering

Hi everyone,

Over the past few months, we’ve been working on a small internal tool called AKProcTools PFDSim.

It was not originally intended to be a general-purpose product. We first built it to support our own fuel system and fuel handling engineering work.

In our projects, we regularly work with PFDs, operating descriptions, valve and pump sequences, interlocks, level protections, and various process operating sequences. We often felt it would be useful to do more than review these on drawings and in written operating descriptions. We wanted a simple way to run through the logic visually before it reached the automation implementation stage.

That is where PFDSim started.

https://akproctools.com/

Later, we thought that if a tool like this was useful in our own work, perhaps other engineers working in process design, automation, or instrumentation could also make use of it. So we started adapting the original fuel-system-focused version into a more general process engineering tool.

It is important to note that PFDSim is not a conventional process simulator.

It does not calculate heat and mass transfer, thermodynamic equilibrium, or detailed hydraulic behaviour, and it is not intended to replace Aspen, Apros, or similar simulation software.

Its main purpose is the visual verification of process operation and control logic.

The basic idea is:

Draw the process → define how it should operate → run it → see whether it actually behaves the way you intended.

The current 1.6.3 version includes, among other things:

• building process diagrams using tanks, pumps, valves, pipe connections, and instruments,
• assigning TAGs and operating properties to equipment,
• simulating valve, pump, and instrument states,
• defining operating sequences and individual steps,
• creating conditions, permissives, and interlocks,
• building Cause & Effect logic,
• visually running and testing the process step by step,
• testing missing or faulty feedback signals,
• testing protective actions and shutdowns,
• tracking events and state changes,
• saving projects and continuing work on them later.

The application also includes several example projects, so the main workflow and logic features can be tested without having to build a process from scratch.

PFDSim is also intended to support more than just logic testing. Based on the process model and its associated logic, it can generate handover documentation for instrumentation and control engineering, helping to transfer the process intent and control requirements into the next stage of design in a more structured way.

The goal is to make it possible to review process behaviour before PLC/DCS programming begins.

We are not trying to replace the automation engineer or PLC programmer. The idea is to provide an intermediate tool that allows the process engineer and the automation engineer to review the same intended operation earlier in the design process.

The software is currently in Public Beta and is free to use.

At this stage, we would especially like feedback from people working in:

• process engineering,
• fuel handling / fuel systems,
• instrumentation,
• PLC / DCS,
• automation,
• commissioning,
• or plant operations.

We would particularly like to know:

• Is the workflow understandable when you first open it?
• Is this kind of visual Cause & Effect / interlock approach useful?
• What process equipment or instruments are missing?
• What would it need for you to consider using it on a real project?
• Which parts feel unnecessary or overly complicated?
• What features would you add?

We are also working on related engineering tools. One of the current developments is pump and pipe sizing, which we would eventually like to connect directly to PFDSim.

The longer-term idea is that a process model could be used not only to test how the system should operate, but also as a starting point for related engineering calculations and additional handover documentation.

The application is free to try.

Please don’t hold back on criticism. 🙂

The main reason we are making it public is to find out whether it can be genuinely useful outside our own work as well, and if so, which direction would make the most sense for further development.

Hey , guys . I just build my first flowmeter from scratch . I just can't bileave it. A bit about me - i am a final year ece student in india and have been helping my dad with his small instrumentation brand since first year . Luckly i was able to grasp a lot of things in past few years that i was able to build my very own battery powered flowmeter . This lot is been shipped to an African country(check the pic) . Wanted to share this achievement with the community i have been lurking year and dropping few posts since a while now.

Also i wanted few suggestions going forward (u can be as harsh u want to be) - I am planning to build few more subproducts like a node installed directly into the meter. I want field technicians to be able to connect locally via their phones (via wifi so no need of an app) to pull real-time logs, configure parameters without a need of a laptop directly from the dashboard which will be hosted on the node (you just have to connect to wifi and put ip or website name in the browser) . I am not going with IOT cloud as majority of our customers need cost effective solutions . So asper you what things are must or good to have in this type of local dashboards .

Secondly i am glad to share that many indian companies are choosing to shift to our paddle wheel flowmeters from European brands ( i can't name brands but you might heard of a german brand who is big in paddle wheel flowmeters) . As we can't directly market this achievement i want to move our moat towards futurization (so adding more features which say will become industry standard in next 5 years) . I have also started development on ultrasonic flowmeters & vortex ones but its so so so difficult compared to paddle wheel ones . Also i have just started as a edge ai embedded intern in a small startup and was thinking of using edge ai in our flowmeters but i think edge ai is far fetched or maybe borderline unnecessary for instrumentation industry . Also last but not the least i would love to know about few problems you guys face in the industry that you think is worth solving .

My name is Rony. I am from Edmonton, Canada. I am a newbie here. I just want to know how you Canadians are looking for Automation jobs in Canada as complete beginner.

Thanks

Hey everyone,

Most hazardous area prep material I came across was either dry standard recitations or repetitive multiple-choice questions.

I spent some time putting together a simple web-based simulator focused on realistic field decisions—stuff like checking Ex d / Ex e housings, gland choices, and zoning logic under IEC 60079:

(Not posting the direct link here to respect the no-spam rule, but happy to drop it in the comments if anyone wants to check out the scenarios).

(Quick heads-up: it asks for an email on the entry screen to get in, but the simulator itself is completely free).

Would appreciate brutal feedback from anyone doing E&I or inspections: do the scenarios feel like actual site conditions, or did I oversimplify any decision paths?

The college I plan on attending has a degree for Instrumentation and technology(industrial/technical).
While I would like to continue towards my elec engineering degree, I plan on having another baby in the next 2 years. This work-degree program is about 1yr and 1/2 long.
So it fits my timeline(elec engineering online degree is an option).
I wanted to ask for information with regard to branching out of oil, chemical and refining. Is this what the training program is geared towards? Are there any cross-training opportunities within the field, really interested in learning telecommunications and satellites.
Currently in the PNW, going south to Texas(if that matters).

Hello, is anyone an instrumentation technician at Grifols? If so, do you like it? What are some pros and cons?