Medical Device Design and Entrepreneurship

Over the years, professional automation, instrumentation and control systems have become essential in the chemical and process industries. Today, it is inconceivable that anybody would contemplate building a new plant or designing a new process a without installing comprehensive instrumentation and control systems.

 Dr Daryl Williams and Professor Nina Thornhill, Programme Co-directors

That growth has been partly driven by developments in control and instrumentation technology because the systems themselves have evolved in both flexibility and functionality. However, the primary driver has been economic, recognising that this technology can deliver substantial benefits in all areas of our industry.

Process automation includes the immediate objectives of process control but also addresses the wider issues of enterprise management. It is an interdisciplinary subject, standing at the interfaces between chemical and electrical engineering, instrumentation and control, mathematics and computing, business and management as well as safety and security.

In many respects the development of automation, instrumentation and control systems can be more complex than the design of the plant itself. Unfortunately, there is a chronic international shortage of personnel with the depth of knowledge and experience necessary to apply the technology and techniques required.

The structure of the programme is:
   •    MSc in Process Automation, Instrumentation and Control, (part-time);
   •   Postgraduate Diploma in Process Automation, Instrumentation and Control, (part-time);
   •   Postgraduate Certificate in Process Automation, Instrumentation and Control, (part-time); and,
   •   16 Continuing Professional Development (CPD) modules.

Featuring a common entry point, the structure of the programme gives a range of academic options, depending on the student’s desire for academic advancement, their availability of time to study, their career goals and ambition.

All students will be initially enrolled on the Certificate, and will then progress on to the Diploma, and then the MSc degree as they successfully complete each stage of the programme.

The programme contains a common suite of 16 modules – both core and elective, with some having prerequisites. The number of core versus elective modules per award will depend on the pathway and previous experience of each student. Students will be advised by our staff of their possible individual programme of study at the onset of their studies.

Postgraduate Certificate

The programme for the Postgraduate Certificate comprises four modules which normally would include the relevant core modules. On attaining the Certificate students may progress to commence the Diploma programme and study four more modules.

Postgraduate Diploma

The programme for the Postgraduate Diploma is that of the MSc degree but without the industrial project.

MSc Degree

MSc students will have typically taken two to three taught modules per year with completion of eight modules in three to four years. Allowing an extra one year for the industrial project, the expectation is of completion of the programme within four to five years.

The Industrial Project

The MSc requires completion of an industrial project and it is the culmination of the programme. It represents a major piece of design, development or research work done in-company. Supervision is carried out on a joint academic/industrial basis. The expectation is that it will take a total of 780 hours, equivalent to four months full-time work plus time to write the dissertation.

The Programme Modules

The 16 modules within the programme are all delivered with the following essential characteristics:
   •   organised for delivery at Imperial in one week blocks;
   •   attended by students typically aged 25 to 50, some sponsored by their companies;
   •   all students are treated equally, irrespective of their professional or academic background;
   •   a strong applications emphasis – many lectures taught by industrialists;
   •   a balance between breadth and depth, technique and technology, conventional and modern, theory and practice, information and understanding;
   •   intensive tuition in small student groups with similar interests but differing backgrounds; and,
   •   every module taken as part of the programme is assessed through a written examination and an assignment.

The modules are organised in one-week blocks of intensive tuition which enables students to balance their studies alongside work and domestic commitments. At the completion of each module is an assignment equivalent to another week’s full-time study, carried out in the student’s own time.

Students typically complete two or three modules per year although if they have satisfactorily progressed to the Postgraduate Diploma they may complete their eight modules in 12 months if they wish.
A rich variety of elective modules caters for the students’ differing backgrounds (chemical, instrumentation etc) and enables them to select a path through the programme according to their interests, needs and future career direction.

Some modules are of a foundation nature, the emphasis being on breadth rather than depth. Their purpose is to fill in gaps in students’ background knowledge. The emphasis of the other modules is on depth of understanding – theoretical, technological and applied. These modules are taken according to students’ interests and requirements.

Modules

Advanced Process Automation 
   •   Computer integrated manufacturing
   •   Materials resource planning
   •   Open systems
   •   Relational databases and SQL
   •   Multivariate statistics
   •   Multiple linear regression
   •   Principal component analysis
   •   Statistical process control

Advanced Process Control 
   •   Identification and estimation
   •   Least squares methods
   •   Kalman filtering
   •   Adaptive and self-tuning control
   •   Minimum variance
   •   Extended horizons
   •   Model predictive control
   •   Recursive implementation
   •   Integration with optimisers
   •   Non-linear control

Batch Processing and Automation
   •   Structure of batch plant
   •   Sequence control
   •   Structured text
   •   Sequential function charts
   •   S88 physical and procedural models and constraints
   •   Recipe and activity models
   •   Complex batch
   •   Requirements and specifications
   •   Batch project management
   •   Software QA

Chemical Engineering Principles 
   •   Survey of unit operations
   •   Mass and energy balances
   •   Use of steam
   •   Stoichiometry 
   •   Recycle processes
   •   Fluid flow pumps and piping
   •   Heat transfer and exchangers

Classical Control Systems Design 
   •   Transfer functions
   •   Block diagram algebra
   •   Characteristic equation
   •   Frequency response
   •   Bode stability criterion
   •   Root locus
   •   Significance of poles and zeros 

Control Schemes and Strategies 
   •   Feedback control
   •   Effect of PID settings
   •   Controller tuning
   •   Cascade, ratio and feedforward control strategies
   •   Translation of P&I diagrams into block diagrams
   •   Process of determination
   •   Schemes for the control of unit operations

Control Systems Technology 
   •   Overview of systems architecture and software
   •   Communications
   •   Open systems security
   •   Operator interface and human factors
   •   I/O channels and signals
   •   Configuration
   •   Hazard analysis
   •   Layers of safety
   •   Reliability
   •   Protection system design

Dynamics and Control of Distillation Columns 
   •   Process design of columns
   •   Operational characteristics
   •   Mass and energy balance schemes
   •   Composition control
   •   Reboiler and reflux controls
   •   Pressure control
   •   Dynamics: vapour, liquid and composition lags
   •   Interactions

Fuzzy, Neural and Expert Systems 
   •   Membership functions
   •   Production rules
   •   Multi-layer perceptrons
   •   Radial basis function networks
   •   Training
   •   Knowledge – based systems
   •   Inheritance
   •   Inferencing
   •   Functionality, benefits and applications 

Instrumentation and Measurement
   •   Use of differential pressure cells
   •   Measurement of flow, level, weight, pressure and temperature
   •   Valve characteristics and sizing
   •   Fieldbus
   •   Intrinsic safety
   •   System layout

Management of Automation Projects
   •   Project lifecycle overview
   •   Cost s and benefits analysis
   •   Requirements specifications
   •   Model forms of contract
   •   Project and system management
   •   Quality and TQM

Mathematics and MATLAB 
   •   Use of Laplace transforms
   •   Numerical methods
   •   Statistics
   •   Vectors, matrices and matrix algebra
   •   Eigenvalues and eigenvectors
   •   Introduction to MATLAB and Simulink

Modelling and Simulation
   •   First principles model development
   •   Linearisation and deviation variables
   •   Assumptions and approximations
   •   Process and plant models
   •   Transfer function and state-space models
   •   Input-output relationships
   •   Dynamic simulation

Modern Control Systems Design
   •   Sampled data systems
   •   Pulse transfer functions
   •   Impulse compensator design
   •   Pole cancellation
   •   State space models
   •   State feeedback and observers
   •   Multivariable controllers
   •   Introduction to model reference control and adaptive control

Optimisation and Scheduling
   •   Linear programming
   •   Simplex method
   •   Steepest descent
   •   Lagrangian functions
   •   Constraint handling
   •   Quadratic programming
   •   Real time optimisers
   •   Integration with predictive controllers
   •   Branch and bound
   •   Genetic algorithms

Process and Analytical Technology
   •   Chromatography
   •   Infrared spectroscopy
   •   Online analysers
   •   Manual and automated sampling
   •   Calibration, validation and operation
   •   Analyser technology
   •   Electrochemical measurements
   •   Sensors for gas species
   •   Emissions monitoring
   •   Pharma applications
   •   Oil and gas applications
   •   Introduction to chemometrics

The normal College entry requirement is at least a Lower Second Class Honours degree from a UK university in science or engineering or an overseas qualification of equivalent standard.

Want to improve your English level for admission?

Prepare for the program requirements with English Online by the British Council.

• ✔️ Flexible study schedule
• ✔️ Experienced teachers
• ✔️ Certificate upon completion

📘 Recommended for students with an IELTS level of 6.0 or below.

Enroll in the course

PG Certificate (4 modules)
UK/EU: £9,200
Overseas: £10,600

PG Diploma (4 modules)
UK/EU: £9,200
Overseas: £10,600

MSc (industrial project)
UK/EU: £4,600
Overseas: £5,300

Individual modules
Students meeting admission criteria may apply to study single examined modules, applying firstly for the PG Certificate programme.
UK/EU: £2,300
Overseas: £2,650