Start Early
As soon as you can, order the review guide from ISA. Go through it
and find out what you don't know and start studying there. If college
is a distant memory, plan on relearning Laplace transforms and control
theory. Read the various standards on wiring, area classification,
boiler control, safety shutdown systems, alarms and interlocks and P&ID's.
Understand several methods of tuning a loop and evaluating loop stability.
Learn all that you can about communications, wiring methods, transmitters,
flow meters and final control elements. Gain an understanding of PLC
ladder logic and sequential function charts (try to at least look at the
PLC's from one or more manufacturers). BUT by all
means give yourself enough time to prepare.
Keep in mind that the state boards you will be dealing with may or may not
be customer oriented. It is your responsibility to make sure that
there is adequate time to prepare and process all of the paper work for your
exam. Be courteous to your references - give them sufficient time to
complete and return the paperwork. Remember: A lack of
planning on your part will not constitute and emergency on their part
(unless they're really good friends).
Helpful Hardware and Software
If you've been out of school more than ten years, there's been a lot of
neat tools developed to simplify the number crunching associated with
control theory. TI has a family of graphing calculators that will
solve standard and differential equations, do Laplace transforms and do
engineering economics. Also, these calculators have a BASIC
interpreter as well as assembly language programming ability. Be
careful though when you make you're purchase. Some states might not
allow such powerful calculators (alpha-numeric abilities may be prohibited)
and most will not allow calculators having QWERTY keyboards (Palm type
devices are also usally prohibited). I bought a TI-89 and used the
solving functions as well as the control systems applications posted below
during my test preparation. (Note: The NCEES has now banned the
use of the TI-89 and all other calculators that can store text strings or
communicate in any way. See the NCEES calculator policy at
http://www.ncees.org/exams/calculators/) DISCLAIMER: These
TI-89 applications are
offered for educational purposes only are are not suitable for actual
process controls work. The applications appear to have been developed
by college student interested in making their lives easier and are on other
sites. If the links are dead, please contact me and I may be able to
supply a version of the program in question.
The Day Of The Test
If you'll have to drive more than an hour to the test location, I
recommend you spend the night within walking distance if possible.
That way you won't have to hassle with traffic and parking prior to taking
the test. The extra hour of sleep you'll get will also help you feel
more rested and ready to sit in a chair for eight hours.
If you're like me, you're going to be taking a lot of books into the testing
center. I bought a Rubbermaid Roughtote Wheeled
Container and got everything there in one trip. It was
drizzling the morning of the test and the container kept my books dry.
I had to walk about two blocks from the hotel and the wheels made the going
easy. If you're going to spend the money required to get this
far, do yourself a favor and invest in something like this.
Bring bottled water, snacks and lunch. You're not going to have time
to go out for lunch and you don't want to be taking breaks while the test is
in progress. Don't forget a spare calculator and extra batteries for
your primary calculator. The room might be too hot OR too cold.
Dress comfortably so you can peel a layer off if needed, but bring a light
jacket just in case.
All of this may seem like common sense, but you would be surprised at what
some of the other test takers were doing.
Books That I Took Into The Test With Me In Rough Order Of My
Preference and Recommendation
|
Auburn University's
Control Systems Engineering P.E. Exam Review Course notes |
Auburn didn't offer
the course in 2000, but I was fortunate enough to get a copy of this
material from a friend. All of the material in the course is
available in other sources and I will note those items separately below. |
| Fundamentals Of
Process Control Theory - Paul W. Murrill |
Begin your studying
with this book. If you should be taking the test, most of it
will be a review. Murrill's open loop tuning method is a little
different than what I've been exposed to, but it's well explained and
gives similar results. |
| Schaum's Outlines
Laplace Transforms - Murray R. Spiegel |
If you can't remember
that L{t}=1/s, get this book and review the basics of Laplace
Transforms. |
| Schaum's Outlines
Feedback and Control Systems - Di Stefano III, Stubberud, Williams |
Work as much of this
book as you can with an eye to the concepts and theory. Use the
control systems packages for the TI-89 to do the number crunching, but
make sure you understand the theory and analysis of control systems. |
| Flow Measurement
Engineering Handbook - Richard W. Miller |
If you want to call
yourself an instrumentation or controls engineer, this is another of
those books that you shouldn't be without. Don't try to read it,
but make an attempt at understanding it's layout and ordering. |
| ISA's Control
Systems Engineering Study Guide - 2nd and 3rd Editions |
Get these books and
work through them. The 3rd edition is better and has less
ambiguous questions than the 2nd edition, but the 2nd edition is
valuable because I think the questions are harder. |
| Bela Liptak's
Instrument Engineer's Handbook on Process Control |
A must have book if
you're involved in process control. |
| Flow of Fluid -
Crane |
This is Crane's orange
notebook of pipe, fluid and steam information. |
| ISA's Standard
Library For Measurement and Control - Volume 1 |
A sixth of the
material in Auburn's review manual came from here. |
| Fisher's Control
Valve Handbook |
I recommend you read
this book and have it on hand as a reference on valves. |
| Technical Bulletin
T150-1 Engineering Handbook for Neles-Jamesbury Control Valves |
This is Jamesbury's
take on valve sizing. It's very easy to understand. This
material served as the basis for Auburn's review of valve sizing. |
| Omega Engineering,
Inc.'s The Temperature Handbook |
While not the
definitive work on temperature, it's got a lot of good reference
material about temperature measurement. It's well organized
and easy to understand. |
| Fisher's Regulator
Handbook |
My knowledge of
regulators is weak. I haven't spec'ed very many except for
instrument air use. This book explains the concepts and
applications very well. |
| ABB Kent-Taylor
Flow Data Reference Book |
Orifice sizing made
easy. Not as in depth as the Miller flow handbook (it weighs a
heck of a lot less), but it's got a lot of the more frequently sought
reference material. |
| Grinnell's Pipe
Fitter's Handbook |
Information on pipe
id's and od's. |
| Ugly's Electrical
Reference |
Motor control
schematics. |
| Purdy's Instrument
Handbook |
Practical calibration
and installation data. |
| ISA Handbook of
Measurement Equations and Tables |
This book was not the
definitive source for equations and conversion factors that I had hoped
but it is useful. |
| Safety Shutdown
Systems: Design, Analysis and Justification - Gruhn and Cheddie |
This is the textbook
for ISA's S84 course and should be read by everyone doing control
systems work anyway. |
| Electrical
Instruments In Hazardous Locations - Earnest Magison |
A good text on the
subject and something we all need to know about. |
| Cameron Hydraulic
Data - Ingersoll-Rand |
Another good reference
book. |
| NFPA 497, 493, 8501
and 8502 |
This is NFPA's
information on area classification, intrinsic safety and boilers. |
| A Crouse-Hinds (or
Appleton) catalog and Code Digest |
These guys know the
codes better than we ever could and what thay've produced is the NFPA
codes in plain English. |
| ISA's Fundamentals
Of Industrial Control |
While not as good a
Bela Liptak's book, this volume has good information on process control
theory and should be part of your library. |
| Electrical Engineer
Review Manual - Raymond B. Yarbrough |
A good resource for
control systems and engineering economics questions. |
| Instrumentation for
Process Measurement and Control - Norman A. Anderson |
Read this if you have
time after you've read Murrill's book. |
| Process
Instrumentation Applications Manual - Bob Connell |
Connell's book is full
of anecdotal advice and I found it an interesting read. His tuning
methods are a little bit different from everyone else's, but having used
them, I found them to work and they're easy to understand.
|
| Process/Industrial
Instruments and Controls Handbook - Gregory K. McMillan |
This book has got a
lot of good information if you're new to the field. The process
safety material is very good and might do in a pinch as a substitute for
Liptak's Instrument Engineer's Handbook on Process Measurement and
Analysis. However, I can't recommend this book for the test
(because of the price) if you have the Liptak or ISA Handbooks noted. |
| Control Valve
Primer -A User's Guide - Hans D. Baumann |
A good review text on
control valve theory and installation. |
| Protecoseal's
Handbook on Flame and Detonation Arresters and Protecoseal's
Technical Manual on Vapor Control and Fire Prevention |
It's been years since
I've sized a flame arrester and I needed to review the methods. |
| Modern Control
Systems - Richard C. Dorf |
This was my control
systems textbook from college. It was helpful to work through the
problems after working through the Schaum's controls outline.
Your textbook from school will provide the same value. |
| Process Control
Strategy and Profitability - Page S. Buckley |
If you've never worked
for an operating company and your experience is limited to systems
integrators/consulting firms, this book is a good overview of process
control design principles. |
| The Control Of
Boilers - Sam G. Dulelow |
A good book on the
subject. |
