Hardware of a Process Control

System
Chapter Three of Stephanopoulos

Hardware Elements for a Control System

Chemical Process
Measuring Device
Transducers
Transmission Lines
Controller
Final Control Element
Recording Elements

Hardware Elements for a Control System

Chemical Process
Represents the material equipment together with
the physical or chemical operations that occur there

Measuring Sensor
Used to measure the Disturbances, controlled output
variables or secondary output variables
Are the main source of information about what is
going on in the process
E.g. thermocouples, bellows, gas chromatographs etc

Hardware Elements for a Control System

Transducers
Many measurements cannot be used for control until
they are converted to physical quantities like electric
or pneumatic signal which can be transmitted easily
Transducers are the devices which convert the
measurement into some sort of signal which can be
transmitted
E.g. strain gauge change their electric resistance
when they are subjected to mechanical strain, so
they can be used to convert a pressure signal to an
electric signal

Hardware Elements for a Control System

Transmission Lines
Used to carry the measurement signal from the
measuring signal from the measuring device to
the controller
In past Pneumatic lines were used
Now transmission lines carry electric signals
Transmission lines are equipped with Amplifiers
which raise the level of signal. E.g. reading from
the thermocouple is in milli volts, it is amplified
to few volts before it is transmitted to controller

Hardware Elements for a Control System

Controller
This hardware element has intelligence
It receives information from the measuring
device and decides what action should be taken
In past simple control laws could be
implemented by controller but now with digital
computers and enhanced machine intelligence,
very complicated control laws can be
implemented

Hardware Elements for a Control System

Final Control Element
This is the hardware element which implements
in real life the decision taken by the controller
If the controller decides to increase the flow rate
of a stream in order to keep the level at set
point, it is the Control valve (final control
element) on the stream which is opened
The final control element is usually a Valve

Hardware Elements for a Control System

Recording Elements
Used to provide a visual demonstration of how a chemical process
behaves
Various types of recording element can be seen in the control room
for various variables

Generalized Process Control System

Example: Water Heating System

Example: Water Heating System

Types of Computer Control

Rapid technological development of digital
computers coupled with reduced cost has made
these computers the central piece for the
development of a control system for a chemical
process
Some types of Computer Control are:
Direct Digital Control (DDC)
Supervisory Computer Control
Scheduling Computer Control

Advantages of Computer Control

All plant data is available at a central point
Alarm conditions are detected and reported quickly
Plant is run according to the plan set by
management, which may not be the case where
there is a lot of manual intervention
Displays and printouts of information are available
readily
Changes to the operating conditions or recipes are
made in smooth, repeatable and closely controlled
manner

Advantages of Computer Control

Written records of all alarms and operator
actions are available for post-incident or routine
analysis
Control room and control panel size is reduced
All batches of material are treated identically
Complex start-up and shut-down procedure can
be automated
Safety interlocks can be programmed into the
system

Parts of a Computer Control

Computer Control System

Computer Monitoring System

Direct Digital Control

Today, chemical industry is moving more and more
towards DDC due to ease of control of complex
processes which have hundreds of control loops
In this control the computer directly receives the
measurements form the process and based on the
control law which is already programmed in its
memory calculates the values for manipulated
variables
These decisions are directly implemented on the
process by computer through proper adjustment of
the final control element

Direct Digital Control

Supervisory Computer Control

One of the incentives of process control is to
optimize the economic performance of plant
Due to complexity of process, many times the
human operator cannot find the best operating
policy for a plant which will minimize the operating
cost
In such cases the speed and programmed
intelligence of a digital computer is used to analyze
the process and suggest the best policy
This is done by coordination of computer with basic
DDC loops

Supervisory Computer Control

Scheduling Computer Control

Computer can used to schedule the operation of a
plant
This can be to increase the production rate to meet
market demands or decrease the production rate to
avoid overstocking
Digital computers can make these changes easily
and communicate them to Supervisory Controllers