Controls Engineer Training Path

What a PLC is, the scan cycle, normally closed stop buttons and the first scored labs: a switch and a light, AND logic, a stop button and a latched start/stop. Every unit is free.

• FreeWhat is a PLC? (3 min)
• FreeThe scan cycle (5 min)
• FreeLadder logic = relay logic (4 min)
• FreeNC contacts and stop buttons (4 min)
• FreeBeginner 01 — Switch turns on Light (3 min)
• FreeBeginner 02 — Two switches (AND) (4 min)
• FreeBeginner 04 — Stop button (NC contact) (4 min)
• FreeBeginner 07 — Latched Start/Stop (SET/RESET) (5 min)

Timers and counters in practice, a full motor starter with fault monitoring, a three-step sequence, state machines in ladder and a first look at structured text.

• FreeTimers (TON) (5 min)
• FreeBeginner 11 — Count five boxes and stop (CTU) (15 min)
• FreeMotor Start/Stop & Fault Monitoring (30 min)
• ProState Machines in Ladder Logic (30 min)
• ProSeq 01 — Fill, mix, drain (15 min)
• ProIntroduction to Structured Text (30 min)

A repeatable debugging method, five repair labs (held motor, ignored stop, stuck counter, double coil, latched fault), the scan-order race and the scan cycle seen from the debugger.

• FreeThe half-split troubleshooting method (15 min)
• FreeFix 01: Motor won’t hold (4 min)
• ProFix 04: Counter won’t reset (8 min)
• ProFix 05: Two rungs, one output (8 min)
• ProFix 06: Latch won’t release (10 min)
• ProDebugging and the Scan Cycle (25 min)
• ProFault 05 — Scan-Order Race (15 min)

Scaling raw counts and 4-20 mA signals, driving a conveyor from a VFD, and closed-loop control from first principles through graded PID tuning runs.

• ProAnalog I/O and Scaling (30 min)
• ProAnalog 00 — Raw reading to percent (8 min)
• FreeInstrumentation lab: scale a 4-20 mA signal (12 min)
• FreeVFDs for PLC programmers (6 min)
• ProVFD Conveyor Speed Control (20 min)
• ProPID Control Fundamentals (35 min)
• FreePID lab: tune a delayed temperature loop (15 min)
• ProPID lab: recover from a load disturbance (15 min)
• ProChemical Dosing Control (20 min)

Principles of an operator screen, then hands-on exercises in the HMI Builder: a start/stop panel bound to a running PLC, alarm display and colour use, and repairing a bad screen.

• FreeHMI Principles — Screens Operators Can Actually Use (10 min)
• FreeMotor Start/Stop HMI (15 min)
• ProAlarm & Colour Design (ISA-101-lite) (12 min)
• ProAlarm Management HMI (25 min)
• ProFix This Bad HMI Screen (20 min)

The plant-floor stack, fieldbus against Ethernet, Modbus, EtherNet/IP and OPC UA, security zones, SCADA architecture, an alarm flood to triage and a graded knowledge check.

• FreeThe plant-floor network stack (12 min)
• FreeFieldbus versus industrial Ethernet (14 min)
• FreeModbus RTU and TCP refresher (12 min)
• ProEtherNet/IP and CIP (14 min)
• ProOPC UA: servers, nodes and subscriptions (16 min)
• ProLab: network zones and conduits (20 min)
• ProSCADA architecture: layers, tags and scan classes (14 min)
• FreeLab: alarm flood triage (15 min)
• ProNetworking and SCADA knowledge check (15 min)

From P&ID tag to PLC address to terminal, documenting program structure with names and comments, FAT and SAT paperwork, and finding a fault from the drawings.

• ProFrom P&ID tag to PLC address to terminal (18 min)
• ProDocumenting the PLC program: names, comments, structure (16 min)
• ProCommissioning documents: FAT, SAT, punch lists and as-built drawings (14 min)
• ProTroubleshooting from drawings: where do you measure? (18 min)

One carton sorter cell, five graded steps: size the drive and the pusher, power and safeguard them, write the PLC cycle against a cell model and commission it.

• FreeCapstone 1: size the conveyor drive (15 min)
• ProCapstone 2: size the pusher and the electrical supply (20 min)
• ProCapstone 3: safeguard the pusher station (18 min)
• ProCapstone 4: write and test the PLC cycle (25 min)
• ProCapstone 5: commission and document the cell (20 min)