f Progress i

ontro rocesses
W. Gerald Wilbanks
ooking back at measurement and igned and expanded to boost productivity. control technologies during the past In 1940 the average production was 50 years, we have seen the field change 30,000 barrels per day; by the end of the dramatically. Weve witnessed the transi- war, that figure had risen to 580,000 bartion from manual and mechanical technol- rels per day. ogy to pneumatic, electromechanical, The U.S. process industries, particuelectronic, and todays digital and infor- larly the chemical industry, played a mamation-based world. jor role in winning World War 11. Along the way, the tools we use to do Temporarily halting most consumer-oriour jobs have changed just as dramati- ented chemical development, competing cally, and thus the training and education chemical and equipment suppliers joined we need to perform our work successfully. forces to design, construct, and operate Weve gone from drawing boards to com- chemical plants crucial to the war effort. puter graphics; from rotary telephones to Four projects, in particular, were of digital fax machines; from slide rules to unprecedented scope: the Manhattan Procalculators; and, of course, from room- ject, which produced the atomic bomb, size computers to laptops. and the development of high-octane aviaDriving these changes are the de- tion gasoline, synthetic rubber, and penimands of a changing world: the need to cillin. Also, newly-developed lead sulfide increase productivity and quality, global infrared detectors were able to detect pascompetition, and the need to more safely sive radiation emitted by military targets, manufacture products that are environ- such as aircraft. mentally friendly. Control technology not only helped During the past half-century, measure- aid American efforts during the war, it ment and control professionals and tech- also played a significant role in ending the nicians have made manufacturing history, war. In 1943, a group of US. Army Corps while theyve helped win wars and grow Engineers working on the Manhattan Proeconomies. From my perspective, heres ject approached Taylor Instruments about a snapshot look at some significant meas- a new method to control the flow of a urement and control highlights and mile- highly explosive gas called uranium stones over the past 50 years. hexafluoride. The demands of the K-25 project-involving more than 200,000 instruments-helped spur Taylors invenWorld War I1 World War I1 had a dramatic impact tion of the first pressure transmitters. K-25 on the pace of technological development contained several miles of instrument in the United States, including procedures panels and helped produce U-235, which and instruments used in the control indus- went into the making of bombs. Computer technology also was protries. With increased demand for aviation fuel, for example, refineries were redes- gressing. In 1946, the Moore School of
I

differential equations.

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had grown to about 4,000 members distributtid among 50 sections.

Transistor and Seeds of Digital Control

The device that changed everyones life in industrialized society-including the process control industry-was the transistor, invented in 1947 by scientists at AT&Ts Bell Laboratories. Arguably the most important invention of this century, the transistor opened the electronics age, eventually driving out many pneumatic or air-based controllers of the 1920s and 1930s. Meanwhile, in 1948, Foxboro introduced the first pneumatic differential pressure transmitter, commonly known as the d/p cell, which still is in use today in some applications. In 1949, the National Bureau of Standards (NBS) developed a differential manometer to compare pressures of gases, organic vapors, and noncorrosive liquids. Greater transmission distances during the 1950s helped move control rooms further from the actual processes. Typical control rooms in the 1950s contained large control panels, run by several operators handling several hundred controllers and instruments, mounted and categorized by plant unit and area. Large annunciator panels alerted the operators to unusual process conditions. The UNIVAC (universal automatic computer) began to be installed commercially in about 1951. It was the second commercially available computer, after Mark I. Its ability to process large amounts of raw data did not escape the notice of control engineers, although it would be a few years before its potential would be properly explored and applied.

man Instruments was marketing the fiist gas chromatograph. During this period, flowmeters also came into their own. In 1954, Foxboro began marketing an electromagnetic flowmeter in the U.S. The next year, ultrasonic flowmeters hit the market, and by 1957, ultrasonic level sensors were developed. The first computer system applied to process control is believed to be the DIGITAC machine developed in 1954 by Hughes Aircraft Co., which generated the first major patent in that field. In 1956, ISA leaders testified on the subject of automation before the Congressional Subcommittee on Economic Stabilization. T h e y c o n t e n d e d that measurement and control practices were necessary if the available labor was to increase productivity 37 percent by 1965, as forecast. Vendors demonstrated electronic controllers at ISAs 13th annual show in Philadelphia in 1958. Meanwhile, in 1959, Honeywell introduced the 4-20m analog signal, which became an industry standard a few years later for calibrating transmitters. At ISAs 14th annual show in Chicago, Bailey Meter Co. introduced its all-solid-state controller, using transistors and magnetic amplifiers. The systems most notable feature was its automatic transfer from manual to automatic control-a predecessor to todays bumpless transfer. Westinghouse research in the late 1950s led to the discovery of superconductors, which permitted an electrical current, once started in them, to flow forever with no degradation of strength.

large and had many functians crammed into them to justify the huge monetary outlay by vendor and user alike. In 1 9 6 4 , IBM b e t t h e company-and won big-time-with the introduction of System/360, the first computer line to offer upward and downward compatibility from the smallest to the largest models. It set an industry standard that has lasted to this day. With the introduction of the PDP-8 in 1965, the worlds first mass-produced minicomputer, Digital Equipment Corp. revolutionized computer design. Smaller, less expensive, easier to program, and fitting into a compact equipment cabinet, it was the first machine with random access core memory to sell for under $100,000. The PDP series became an industry standard. At the end of the 1960s, Honeywell introduced its Vutronik process control line, allowing operators to make step changes in set point by manipulating the PID algorithm, without incurring process upsets. In 1965,Moore Products marketed the Syncro Station, a self-synchronizing controller that allowed simple, bumpless transfer from automatic to manual control. The product represented the final, significant achievement in pneumatic controls.

The Hardware Era: Auto Makers Spur PLCs

In the late 1960s, General Motors prepared specs on what was ultimately to become the first programmable logic controller (PLC). Requirements for the asyet-undesigned product included the ability to replace electromechanical relays, which failed frequently, and also to establish a system to easily identify where the failures occurred. The result was a solid-state, sequential logic solver, designed for factory automation and continuous processing applications. The advantages of the PLC were the ability to program the system faster and much more easily with a much smaller footprint. In contrast, electromagnetic relay panels had to be rewired when control schemes changed. In 1969, the first astronauts walked on the moon, bearing Rosemount sensors to monitor suit pressure, temperature, and oxygen. That same year, Honeywell began R&D on a new distributed control system (DCS). The impetus for such a system came from the uumanageability and unreliability of the large, centralized

Digital Control Arrives, Computers Hit It Big

Just as World Wars I and 1 spurred 1 R&D and manufacturing in control applications, the rapidly advancing space program helped advance digital control applications throughout the 1960s. Pneumatic controls were now being replaced by electronic and some digital controls. Direct digital control (DDC), in which the computer is responsible for moving control elements, bypassed the early analog controllers. Chemical companies in the U.K. and U.S. used computers in the 60s to perform direct digital control. Despite the growing number of installations, computer systems were extremely expensive and lacked backup when a failure occurred. The systems typically were

ISA Grows, Gas Chromatography

In 1952, ISA established its national headquarters in Pittsburgh. The first issue of ISA Journal was published in January 1954. ISA activities grew rapidly. The 11th Annual Conference and Exhibit in New York, in 1956, drew a record 36,000 registrants. In 1952, A.T. James and A.J.P. Martin developed the process of gas-liquid chromatography, a technique for separating and analyzing a mixture, for which they later received the Nobel Prize. This technique dramatically improved the speed, accuracy, and sensitivity of previous chromatographic procedures. By 1956, Beck-

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computer control devices. The product, however, would not be unveiled for another six years. Following the success of minicomputers and PLCs in the 60s, the 70s brought an era of more advanced instrumentation, including computer control hardware and software. Distributed process control over several computers, interconnected in networks, became a goal for many industrial plants. On the process front, in 1970, Technicon Corp. introduced a water pollution monitor for multiple analysis, capable of measuring up to six water pollutants continuously and simultaneously. A few years later, sensor technology advanced as NASA launched a satellite to demonstrate the usefulness of remotely sensing conditions on and above earths surface. In the early O OS, IBM developed the first RAM (random access memory) computer chip. The development accelerated access times and helped pave the way for the microprocessor revolution of the 70s. Communications technology charged ahead, with scientists at Coming Glass Works successfully manufacturing glass fibers, providing the foundation for future fiber optic cables.

change in the way that control systems would be configured and applied. In 1977, Honeywell introduced the first redundant process controller. It allowed a single on-line spare controller to provide complete redundancy for any one of up to eight other controllers. For the first time, operators could view data in the control room, even though the process itself was located remotely. Distributed control truly revolutionized the process industries, initiating a series of similar hardware introductions over the next 10 years. Another significant development in 1975 was optical fibers, from AT&Ts Bell Laboratories. Also at Bell Labs, David Auston invented the fastest electronic switch devised to date by using laser light beams to start and stop an electrical signal.

ments introduced the first automated dichotomous particulate sampler to collect and separate aerosols into respirable and non-respirable fractions, spurring a 100unit order from the Environmental Protection Agency.

The Software Era

The hardware focus of the 1970s continued into the early %Os, with IBMs introduction of the personal computer in 1981. Lines between DCSs, PLCs, and PCs were blurring as each began to incorporate features of the other platforms. Vendors now distinguished themselves through software. Neural networks and artificial intelligence (AI) applications, while not exactly exploding in popularity, began to emerge. Neural networks, designed to reflect or imitate the neural process of the brain, were used in control systems dealing with reactors, modeling, vision, and voice recognition. Expert systems were developed to help capture the expertise of long-term operators, train new operators, and shorten the learning curve. The use of fuzzy logic, a theory developed in 1965, also increased in the %Os, allowing control engineers to use words such as sort of hot or very slow, instead of precise numbers. DCS applications for batch control continued to grow in the 1980s as the cost of hardware came down, making the investment more manageable for frequently changing applications. Smart transmitters were launched in 1983, eliminating the need for digital-to-analog and analog-todigital conversions to improve system and loop accuracy. Meanwhile, ISAs reputation as an international standards-setting body was bolstered in 1982 when the U.S. Technical Advisory Group for the International Electrotechnical Commission selected ISA as administrative secretariat. The next year, ISAs Training Center opened in Raleigh, N.C. Since then, ISA has trained more than 40,000 measurement and control professionals in numerous aspects of instrumentation. The terms MAP (Manufacturing Automation Protocol) and CIM (Computer Integrated Manufacturing) became buzzwords in the 1980s-but languished into the 90s.

ISA Accredited by ANSI

In 1976, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) approved ISA as an ANSI-accredited standards-writing organization, making ISA only the fourth such organization to receive that recognition. In 1980, ISA relocated its headquarters to Research Triangle Park, N.C. Developments in 1976 included the first packaged digital implementation of conventional PI and PID control algorithms: an advanced analog control and interactive digital display system especially designed for process plant operators; panel-mounted instrument modules for split architecture control systems: and a sensitive monitor to detect the amount of mercury to which a worker is exposed during a workday. In 1977, Johnson Space Center in Houston constructed a facility that could simulate an entire space shuttle mission, testing avionics and astronaut response under virtually all possible operating conditions. Also that year, Honeywell invented the first microprocessor instrumentation to combine variable set point versus time programming with integral, three-mode control. On the computer front in 1977, IBM announced development of a 64-bit dynamic random access (DRAM) array, which achieved a storage element the size of one ten-millionth of a square inch. USDATA, in 1978, introduced the industrys

PLCs Advance, DCS Born

Throughout the industry, 1974 was a boom year, with instrument makers reporting record sales, earnings, and backlogs. Shortages and escalating prices for energy and materials drove their manufacturing customers to step up the use of cost-saving control equipment. Electronic innovations continued, including the introduction of MOS (metal oxide semiconductor) technology by RCA for the fabrication of integrated circuits. This invention helped make circuits cheaper to produce and facilitated greater miniaturization. Other significant developments in the mid-1970s included the first fully engineered microprocessor system for dedicated control and d a t a handling; developments in gas chromatography which improved flexibility, maintainability, reliability and data handling in industrial process control: laser-based, non-contacting flowmeters; and the first vortex flowmeter. About the same time, Yokogawa, in Japan, and Honeywell, in the U.S., introduced the first distributed control systems, marking a significant and far-reaching
February 1996

first microprocessor-based, user-configurable, interactive color graphic workstation for use with PLCs and industrial computers.Meanwhile, Beckman Instru-

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In 1987, Foxboro introduced the first controllers to use artificial intelligence technology, while Texas Instruments introduced an AI-based system for instrumentation training and maintenance. That same year, NBS developed an ultrasonic sensor for measuring depth and proportion of treated surfaces of steel and metal alloys. Fieldbus became the talk of the industry in the late 1980s,with standards developments having been underway since the mid-1980s by ISA and the International Electrotechnical Commission. In the late 1980s, DCS, PLC, and PC software packages increased significantly. With industry standards coming into play, companies began to consider partnerships and strategic agreements with vendors whose products and expertise supplemented their own, increasing business for everyone involved. For example, in 1989, Johnson Controls and Yokogawa Electric Corp. formed a joint venture to strengthen their penetration of North America. AllenBradley in alliance with Digital Equipment developed a new generation of industrial control systems to unite communications between the plant floor and management offices. The same year, Hewlett-Packard, Fisher Controls, and Coopers & Lybrand opened a technology center that offered a real-world look at a fully integrated CIM production system geared to the process industry.

plication generator which allows operators to manage many computer-controlled processes from their PCs. The value of open system architecture has been debated for some time, with both vendors and users fearful of degrading security and reliability. However, many control vendors today are spending R&D dollars on open architectures and ensuring connectivity with other systems. Just as MAP and CIM were buzzwords of the %Os, MES (Manufacturing Execution Systems) is a buzzword for the 90s. It is an approach to integrating a business from operations data to the business managemenvmanagement information systems (MIS) level-areas that previously were separate. With MES, process and business data can be accessed andor manipulated to better schedule resources and produce higher quality documentation. Hardware independence is key to MES success so that information can be transmitted throughout the plant. New chips, such as the RISC-based Alpha chip, Pentium, and PowerPC lines, execute more instructions than previous processors, while the client-server architecture is now coming into its own in the process world. In this architecture, information is shared and distributed equally throughout a network. Other significant technical developments and trends in the 1990s include the rapid evolution of graphical user interfaces; I S 0 9000 certification of process control suppliers; increased popularity of auto-tuning; continued development of Communications and Open batch standardization; more neural netSystems work activity; and increased use of fuzzy While the 70s and 80s were domi- logic. nated by proprietary systems and software, the current decade has witnessed a Batch, ISA Grow revolution in hardware-independent In 1993, more than 30,000 people packages, leading the way to open sysattended ISM93 Chicago. Today, ISAs tems. Kicking off the 1990s, Wonderware nearly 50,000 members represent virtuintroduced InTouch, a Microsoft Win- ally every major industry in more than 80 dows-based human-machine interface ap- countries.

Smart Devices, Fieldbus

In 1995, long-awaited batch control standards have given batch users common definitions of terminology, as well as organizational and equipment models. In 1994, in the largest single contract in Rosemounts history-with a $50 million potential-Dow Chemical agreed to a global alliance, standardizing on Rosemount pressure transmitters. This global alliance helped set a purchasing pattern which an increasing number of users and vendors have adopted today. ISA continues to be the wellspring for instrumentation and control, serving the interests of those who work in this vitally important area of industrial technology. As ISA moves onto its next 50 years, it will continue to foster advancement in the theory, design, manufacture, and use of instruments, computers, and systems for measurement and control. And along the way, manufacturing history will continue to be made.

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