INSTRUMENTATION TOOLS

What is Process Control ?

Basics June16,2015

Firstweneedtounderstandwhatprocesscontrolisandwhataretheimportanttechnicalterms
and parameters involve in this process. Process control is a statistics and engineering
disciplinethatdealswitharchitectures,mechanismsandalgorithmsformaintainingtheoutput
ofaspecificprocesswithinadesiredrange.
AlsoRead:ProcessControlTermsGlossary
Anexampleaboutheatingupofaroomtemperaturewhichisaprocessthathasthespecific,
desiredoutcometoreachandmaintainatemperature(e.g.20C)definedbyyouoraperson
inside the room and should be kept constant over time. You can always change the setting
fromtimetotimedependingonwhatyourbodywants.Gettheremotecontrolandadjustthe
settingtoyourdesiredtemperature.
Intheexampleabove,thetemperatureistheprocessvariable(PV).At
the same time, it is the input variable since it is measured by a
thermometer and used to decide whether to heat or not to heat up the
roomasyouprefer.Thedesiredtemperature(20C)isthesetpoint(SP).
Thestateoftheheater,forexamplethesettingofthevalveallowinghot
watertoflowthroughitorinthecaseofsimpleonoffcontrol,turningthe
heater off and on is called the manipulated variable (MV) since it is
subject to control actions. The first instant is an example of a
Proportionalcontrolsincetheopeningofthevalveisproportionaltothe
needsoftheusersoftheroom.Thereareothertypesofcontrolsuchas
Derivative and Integral or a combination of the two incorporated with
Proportional or what we call PID. This are all common in controlling
otherparameterssuchaspressure,flowandlevelofamaterial(liquidor
solid).
Acommonlyusedcontroldevicecalledaprogrammablelogiccontroller,
oraPLC,isusedtoreadasetofdigitalandanaloginputs,applyasetof
logicstatements,andgenerateasetofanaloganddigitaloutputs.

ProcessControl

Usingtheexampleinthepreviousparagraph,theroomtemperaturewouldbeaninputtothe
PLC. The logical statements would compare the setpoint to the input temperature and
determine whether more or less heating was necessary to keep the temperature constant. A

PLC output would then either open or close the hot water valve, an incremental amount,
depending on whether more or less hot water was needed or just simply turn the heater off
when the desired temperature is reached and turn it back on when a specified hysteresis is
meet.LargermorecomplexsystemscanbecontrolledbyaDistributedControlSystem(DCS)
orSCADAsystem.Clickheretoknowmoreaboutthegeneralprocesscontrolloop.
AsaInstrumentationEngineer,Ifindallthisstuffcoolandinteresting.AlthoughIalreadymeet
thistermsduringmycollegedays,Ifailedtoappreciate.NowthatImfinallygiventhechance
to pursue what I have studied for and given all the resources and tools on the web. Id say
goodbye to papers and reports and say hello to the world of Automation and the world wide
web.
AlsoRead:UnderstandingaProcessControlLoop

POSTED BY S BHARADWAJ REDDY