Instrumentation Technology

An Overview
The word automation has become a familiar phrase to the average Indian. In the process industries, the somewhat synonymous term instrumentation is no less familiar. It is ironic that in a day of automation (or Instrumentation) there still exists a partial void in efforts to train people engaged in a field that involves both art and science. Formal education in the field has been nil; practitioners have come from other disciplines, primarily electrical, mechanical, and chemical. The training offered to those entering the profession has come through formal and informal communication within the small but closely-knit group. Trainees are often bewildered by the slow rate at which they grasp the entire field and achieve the level of competence and confidence of a professional.

Introduction
Necessity has dictated many of the advances of technology. In no other field is this more apparent than the discipline known as Instrumentation, a word unknown 50 years ago.
In this 50 year development period, instrumentation has evolved from a series of devices, developed to fill specific needs of measurement and control, to a science in itself, where the premises and economics of entire plants and processes are based on suitable control strategies and Instrumentation systems.

Instrumentation Today
Instrumentation is now in a state of flux. There exist today plants with old but operable control systems, just as there exists processes, which are old but still profitable. If they were being built today, changes would be made, but a time for change has not been deemed appropriate in the plants. Today, plants are being built using the latest available electronic hardware, computer controls and advanced control concepts; others are built with appropriate hardware, future conversion to computer control; and still others built with conventional hardware (pneumatic or electronic) that would require major, expensive modifications to convert to computer control.
In the last two decades, there has been much debate among those involved in instrumentation and control system technology, about the relative merits of local central control, pneumatic versus electronic instrumentation, computer versus conventional control systems and direct digital control versus supervisory control. A rational has emerged from these seemingly conflicting approaches, which dictates that the application engineer must judiciously select from among these alternatives system(s), which best fits the criteria under which he is working. Each system has its own merits. Yet none has been demonstrated universally superior in all applications.
A dominant factor in current instrumentation is the impact of computer applications. Computers are being used to control directly, to perform economic optimisation calculations, to make heat and material balance calculations or simply to perform the conventional monitoring, logging and alarm functions, so essential in today's industrial processes. Computer application has penetrated all the major industries as well as specialised applications in many smaller industries.
Large computer systems are being designed and having fully redundant computers, with complete, full automatic transfer of data and controls in the event, of the on-line computer failing. These systems include sophisticated display features and require complex interface hardware and software techniques. Dedicated microprocessors have been immediately recognised for their ability to solve myriad of OEM control problems. They have caused a wave of industrial interest, ranging from children's toys to washing machines, automatic machine tool programmers, automobile fuel optimisation, industrial lab equipment, process data scanners, local mass flow calculation hardware and basic control room instrumentation.
Programmable logic controllers now provide versatile alternatives to relay-type motor control systems. Allowing easy reprogramming in the field, entire control schemes can be recorded without costly rewiring.
Bump-less transfer when switching from automatic to manual control and vice versa, anti-reset windup and plug-in capability for adding alarm functions, output limiters and feed forward units are features that are offered by various controller manufacturers.

Department of Instrumentation Technology at DSCE:

ISO 9001-2000 CERTIFIED BY BSI - UK.
The department of instrumentation technology started functioning from the academic year 1992 - 1993 with a sanctioned intake of 30 students.
Six batches of students have successfully passed out under the Bangalore University and three batches passed out under the Visvesvaraya Technological University.

INSTRUMENTATION TODAY
The IT department has well equipped laboratories and classrooms in the DSI campus.
Each classroom is well furnished with modern projection systems. The staff use the digital classrooms based on needs. Full-fledged seminar hall complexes with three halls accommodate 160, 80 and 60 capacities respectively. Guest lectures are arranged in the department inviting industry experts.
Computing facility with printers is available in the department for use by faculty & students. The departmental library has more than 650 books, 19 project reports (hard copy) &17 project reports (in CD form) to cater to the needs of faculty as well as students. Computer based utilities like Internet with SIS, networking, Delnet, Edusat, and J-GATE, are extended both for staff & students.

LABORATORY FACILITIES
The Instrumentation Technology department of Dayananda Sagar College of Engineering, Bangalore, is well equipped with all the components and instruments required for experiments to do at all times and is assured of a generator backup in case of power failure. All equipments are tested and calibrated according to Quality Standards. Following laboratories support the academic activity of the department,
a) Analog Electronics Lab
b) Digital Electronics Lab
c) Microprocessors Lab
d) Power Electronics Lab
e) Microprocessor Lab
f) Instrumentation Lab
g) Data Converters and Control Systems Lab
h) Microcontroller Lab
i) DSP Lab
j) Process Control System Lab
k) Project Lab

Faculty profile
Consists of research oriented, dynamic, faculty members specialised in the field of instrumentation technology, with experience in industry and teaching. Faculties interact closely with students, help them in getting projects from industry, and encourage them to take up research projects.

DEPARTMENTAL ACTIVITIES

· Departmental and inter-departmental student seminars.

· Guest lectures by eminent scientists/technocrats from R&D organisations and industry.

· Co-curricular and extra-curricular activities for students through the IT Students' Forum.

· Sponsoring staff and students for short-term courses/seminars/ workshops conducted by other institutions.

· Encouraging students for participation in the inter-collegiate athletics and sports organised by the university.

· Augmentation courses to match industry and market needs.

OPPURTUNITIES FOR GRADUATES IN INSTRUMENTATION TECHNOLOG
Process Industry

· Petro Chemical Industry

· Large Scale manufacturing industries

· IT Companies

· R&D Organisations

· Educational Institutions

SPONSORED R&D

PROJECTS AND IT'S SUCCESSFULL COMPLETION

PROJECT PRINCIPAL

THERMAL IMAGING

TOTAL GRANTS RECEIVED

Rs. 4 LAK

SPONSORING AGENCY

AICTE

INVESTIGATOR

FUTURE PLANS: (R&D)

Develop focused research and development strategy.
An R&D strategy linked to instrumentation technology strategy will bring an "added-value" focus to the graduate studies program. Full time and part time students will see the relevance and importance of their project and thesis work and be direct contributors to the added-value process.

Establish and maintain network of experts and derive excellence.
Establish expert network in key instrumentation engineering disciplines with the purpose of bringing focus to research activities, graduate training, world's instrumentation engineering specialisation requirements, initiatives, and maintaining the appropriate levels of discipline knowledge and mastery.

Establish part-time and full-time graduate studies programs with research projects and thesis.
Graduate study program will be focused on substantially enhancing the knowledge and problem solving skills of students with outstanding academic records and excellent job experience and performance. Programs will be offered both full-time and part-time to suit individual needs.