Certified Automation Professional (CAP) Associate Exam Review Course (EC01)

• Recognize the benefits of earning CAP Associate certification
• Explain the scope of CAP Associate certification
• Recognize the six domains of CAP Associate and that each domain includes specific tasks
• Explain characteristics of the CAP Associate exam

• Discuss measurement concepts in relation to process instrumentation
• Discuss pressure measurement concepts, methods and considerations
• Discuss level measurement concepts, methods and considerations
• Discuss temperature measurement concepts, methods and considerations
• Discuss flow measurement concepts, methods and considerations
• Compare multivariable and smart transmitters

Describe concepts, methods and considerations of analytical measurements including:

• pH
• ORP
• Specific ion
• dissolved oxygen
• moisture
• gas analyzers

• Discuss important process dynamic characteristics that influence control loop behavior
• Discuss the purpose and behavior of the various modes of a PID controller
• Configure a controller for direct or reverse acting
• Discuss controller tuning techniques and recognize the strong and weak points of each
• Explain why feedback control, if used alone, will permit more variability in the process than will feedback control combined with the use of some advanced regulatory control technique
• Discuss advanced regulatory control strategies, including ratio, cascade, feedforward, decoupling, and selector control

Part A

• Explain the role of a control valve
• Discuss the fundamentals of valve selection
• Discuss the problems associated with cavitation, flashing, and sonic velocity
• Explain the effects of hysteresis, deadband, and friction on the precision of a control valve
• Describe the types of actuators and their advantages
• Discuss the added functionality of smart valves

Part B

• Define analog signal
• Discuss sources of analog signals
• Explain analog signal scaling
• Describe the types of signaling standards
• Explain why signaling is necessary
• Explain analog-to-digital conversion

Part A

• Identify the documents typically used to define the control system of a continuous process
• Explain the sequence of document development for the control system of a continuous process
• Understand the purpose and contents of a process P&ID
• Explain the meaning of the symbols used to define control system components
• Recognize the differences in how a loop is depicted on a P&ID and a loop diagram
• Recognize the difference between mandatory and consensus standards
• Explain the use of and the importance of instrument numbers

Part B

• Explain the existence and purpose of control equipment
• Describe the evolution of control systems
• Describe the advantages of PLC control
• Describe the purpose and application of SCADA systems, distributed control, and hybrid control
• Explain the advantages of digital fieldbus communications

Part A:

• Describe actuation technologies and their control
• Describe output interfacing techniques
• Describe sensing technologies
• Discuss remote and networked input and output technologies used in automation control

Part B:

• Explain and understand concepts of discrete and sequential control
• Understand the basic operational principles of PLCs
• Explain interlocking and its uses
• Explain the need for sequencing and its uses
• Describe use of IEC 61131 programming languages
• Explain basic selection criteria for PLC

• Describe DC motor principles of operation and explain the differences between four major DC motor types
• Describe AC motor principles of operation and explain the functions of key AC motor components
• Compare and contrast AC versus DC motor advantages in variable speed applications
• Identify DC drive principles of operation and typical motor stopping methods
• Identify AC drive principles of operation with speed, torque and stopping control
• Identify key VFD design features used in automation environments

• Discuss the functions of motion control
• Explain the difference between an absolute encoder and an incremental encoder
• Explain what causes the device being controlled to not be at the correct position when the servo control shows zero error
• Identify the control element and the measurement element in a motion control loop
• Describe the difference between stepper motors and servo motors
• Discuss how servo motors are controlled

• Explain how batch control differs from traditional continuous process control
• Describe batch control functionality
• Identify the four levels of modules that make up key equipment entities and the functionality of each
• Explain the concept of control as a function
• Identify the principles of ANSI/ISA 88
• Explain the importance of the recipe in batch processing

Part A

• Identify the main problems of alarm management
• Explain the purpose and list some of the key components of an alarm philosophy
• Explain the purpose and list some of the products of alarm rationalization
• Identify the key elements of HMI design for alarm systems
• Identify the typical performance metrics for alarm systems
• Explain the purpose and components of an alarm management system

Part B

• Explain the basics of MTTR, MTTF, MTBF
• Discuss safe and dangerous failure modes
• Identify the different types of redundancy and how they impact dangerous and safe failure modes
• Identify the key elements of HMI design for alarm systems
• Identify common cause and its impact on reliability
• Determine testing intervals and its impact on availability

• Explain the concept of SIS as a layer of protection and how the need is determined
• Discuss the significance of SIL levels
• Explain the steps in the safety instrumented system design lifecycle
• Describe the two basic failure modes of safety systems
• Compare and contrast technology logic systems used for safety systems
• Identify common failures in field devices such as sensors and final elements
• Explain the need for testing safety systems
• Explain the need for management of change
• Identify which systems are necessary to meet Safety Integrity Level requirements

Part A

• Ensure that automation processes do not fail due to faulty electrical installation practices
• Explain the basics of grounding
  Discuss the use of electrical circuit protection and enclosures
  Recognize the importance of adherence to PE manufacturers’ installation requirements

Part B:

• Select electrical equipment with appropriate protection from fire and shock hazards
• Define the salient features of the most common types of protection against electrically initiated explosions and understand characteristics, design, and operation of each
• Select electrical apparatus appropriate for use in a specific potentially hazardous location, and the materials to which it may be exposed
• Identify intrinsic safety as a system-oriented protection concept rather than a device characteristic
• Explain the differences between a dynamic model and a steady state model
• Explain the classification of locations where combustible materials may be present

• Explain the difference in model fidelity requirements
• Recognize the need for field or lab measurements to correct models
• Compare and contrast experimental and first principal models
• Explain the risks of relying on historical data to build models
• Explain the differences between a dynamic model and a steady state model

Part A:

• Identify the level of activities in a typical manufacturing company
• Explain the information that is exchanged between business processes and manufacturing processes
• Identify work centers and work units and their relationship to manufacturing operations management activities
• Compare and contrast different MES systems based on the functions they support
• Identify maintenance, quality, and inventory operations management functions in your organization
• Explain the criteria used to define the specific boundary between business process functions and manufacturing operations management functions

Part B:

• Discuss the need for security and the general approaches that are used to achieve it
• Explain the steps in developing a security program including risk assessment and developing an audit program
• Describe the security approaches of authentication/ authorization, filtering/blocking, and encryption

• Describe the structure of a typical process database
• Design a database structure to support desired uses of the data
• Recognize the special requirements of real-time process databases
• Estimate database storage requirements
• Perform database sorts and searches effectively
• Generate complete, useful documentation for a process database

• Explain the importance of safety considerations during startup
• Explain the areas for instrument commissioning
• Explain the use of Factory Acceptance Testing (FAT)
• Explain the use of Site Acceptance Testing (SAT)

Part A:

• Explain the logical framework that underlies troubleshooting
• Explain safety aspects of troubleshooting
• Explain the seven-step troubleshooting procedure
• Discuss various troubleshooting techniques
• Explain how “out-of-the-box” thinking applies to troubleshooting

Part B:

• Discuss the importance of maintenance to optimize life cycle costs and profits
• Establish metric to measure your organization’s performance for comparison to benchmarks and for continuous improvement
• Discuss guidelines for evaluating and supporting equipment
• Recognize reliability and availability as the most important goals of maintenance
• Identify different approaches to maintenance