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Analogue Control Systems

1. DDC (Direct Digital Control) systems replace many of the analogue components of traditional control systems with a digital computer running a real-time operating system. This allows for more sophisticated control strategies and easier modification compared to analogue systems. 2. Key components replaced include analogue controllers, display instruments, and setpoint dials. Transducers and process interfaces cannot be fully replaced. Additional components like multiplexors, ADCs, and DACs are required. 3. A DDC system provides advantages like flexible control, lower equipment costs, and improved reliability over analogue systems. However, programming costs can be high and backup systems are needed due to the risk of complete failure.

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Junejo Zeeshan
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117 views4 pages

Analogue Control Systems

1. DDC (Direct Digital Control) systems replace many of the analogue components of traditional control systems with a digital computer running a real-time operating system. This allows for more sophisticated control strategies and easier modification compared to analogue systems. 2. Key components replaced include analogue controllers, display instruments, and setpoint dials. Transducers and process interfaces cannot be fully replaced. Additional components like multiplexors, ADCs, and DACs are required. 3. A DDC system provides advantages like flexible control, lower equipment costs, and improved reliability over analogue systems. However, programming costs can be high and backup systems are needed due to the risk of complete failure.

Uploaded by

Junejo Zeeshan
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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DDC (Direct Digital Control)

Analogue Control Systems


Consider the following diagram showing analogue components for a control system:

This shows a process that may have many input parameters and many output parameters so there
may be a large number of control loops of which one is shown. The components are:
 transducer: converts the process parameter (temperature, pressure, flow) into a voltage
suitable to drive a voltmeter and electrical circuits
 Display instrument: in many applications it is usual to have a visual display of
parameters on a meter of some kind. This enables operators to examine the state of parts of the
process
 Set point dial: there is some means for the operator to set the desired value. This may be
a dial marked in degrees or may even be attached to the display instrument. This enables the
operators to see the set point and the actual output value at a glance. There may be additional
dials to enable emergency action to be taken if the output departs too far from the set point.
 analogue controller: this has the electric (or mechanical) components to implement the
control equation (PID or two state)
 amplifier to amplify the controller output so drive the :
 Process interface: this may be heaters, valves, etc. to affect the process to reduce the
error.
In a typical system:
1. there may be many control loops as above
2. for each loop a set of hardware components similar to above must be provided
3. the analogue control elements tend to be limited in the mathematical operations that can be
performed
4. The controller is hardwired’ making modification difficult. The K gain factors can be ‘tuned’
but the basic operation cannot be altered except by rewiring.
DDC (Direct Digital Control)
The idea behind DDC is to replace many of the components of the analogue control system with
a digital computer running a real time operating system. Each control loop, possible many
hundreds, would be serviced by the same digital computer: the maximum number of loops would
be a function of computer processing speed, A to D conversion time, complexity of control
equations, etc. Not all of the analogue components can be replaced by a digital equivalent and
indeed some of the control loops may be more appropriate for total analogue control.
Components of the DDC system
The components of the analogue system that would no longer be required are:
 Analogue controller: instead of performing the computations with analogue 'hardwired’
circuits the digital computer would be programmed to simulate the required control action. In
addition the digital computer could be programmed to perform far more complex control actions
than the typical PID equation and the control action would be easy to modify. Many analogue
controllers could be replaced by a single digital computer.
 Display instruments: all information could be displayed on a display screen.
 Set-point dial: the set-point could be defined in the program and modified from the
operators console or terminal.
 Comparator: the comparison between the set-point and the actual value would be done
by the digital computer.
The components that could not be replaced are:
 transducers and associated equipment
 process interface devices
In addition some new equipment is required in the DDC system:
 Multiplexors to scan the transducers, i.e. an electrical switch that can be set under
program control to sample at a particular time
 analogue to digital converters to convert the analogue signal from the transducers to a
digital representation for processing
 Digital to analogue converters to convert the digital signals from the computer to
analogue form to drive the process interface equipment. Certain signals to the process could be in
digital form, e.g. open/close a valve, others would be in a continuous analogue form, e.g. a valve
to control variable flow.
A typical DDC system may appear:

This diagram shows a number of transducers being scanned by the multiplexer, the signals
converted into digital representation and processed by the DDC computer. The computer outputs
are either a simple binary on/off signal that can go directly to the process control interfaces or a
value that has to be converted into analogue form first. The operators can examine each loop
from the console, e.g. error values, modify set-point, etc., or get a global view of the whole of the
process, e.g. the interaction of various loops.

Advantages and Disadvantages of DDC


The advantages would be:
1. More sophisticated control: it is easier to program a complex control strategy with
DDC than analogue ‘hardwired’ elements. In addition extra facilities such as safety checks, trend
analyses, etc. could be programmed into the system.
2. Control flexibility: it is much easier to modify the control strategy that is programmed
with DDC than to alter the ‘hardwired’ analogue circuits.
3. Equipment cost: seeing as the DDC computer can look after many control loops it
would save the cost of analogue controllers and associated equipment. In fact there would be
some break-even point in the number of control loops to justify DDC. With microprocessors this
is getting less and less.
4. Reliability: digital equipment tends to be more reliable than analogue. It is also easier to
build in ‘backup’ systems.
Disadvantages are:
1. Requirements for a backup system: seeing as the computer looks after many control
loops a system failure could be catastrophic. Hence many DDC systems have built in backup
(second and even a third processor).
2. Programming costs: the programming cost for a complex DDC system could be a very
high proportion of the total system cost (50% or even higher). In fact such costs are often
underestimated.
In the analogue control of a complex plant one of the major problems was to get an overall feel
for the plant operation. Although each loop could be examined on an instrument, of which there
may be many hundreds, it was difficult to ‘step back’ to get a global view. In a DDC system the
operators console could look at the plant from many levels. Initially it could display the overall
plant operation. The next level down would be to examine subsections of the plant then a
particular process then the individual loops within the process. A loop could be modified and its
effect on process and then plant be assessed.
Supervisory Computer Control
It was soon realized that the computer could do far more than simply replace analogue control
systems with DDC systems. The computer could 'remember' far more data for trend analysis and
from this modify the performance of the process. Control of the overall process is by control of
the individual feedback loops by changing the set-point values.
‘Supervisory computer control' denotes a computer process control application in which the
computer determines the appropriate set-point values for each control loop in order to optimize
some performance objective of the entire process. The object may be maximum production rate,
minimum unit cost, or some other objective that pertains to the process. The computer has a
mathematics model of the process that is used to calculate the set-point values to optimize the
objective. In addition it could look after any 'sequence control' required by the process. A typical
system may have a number of DDC systems being controlled by a Supervisory computer so:
The supervisory computer can take much of the load off operators giving summary reports on
operator’s consoles. In addition an emergency action to be taken in case of plant failure could be
built into the system.
Computers in Process Control: Summary
DDC has been used for many years in the process control of large complex systems. Computers
and programming were expensive so the ‘break even’ point to replace analogue systems with DX
was high. However, with microprocessors the hardware is now very cheap and by sharing the
software cost over a large number of systems this unit cost could be low. Thus even in domestic
control systems, e.g. central heating, washing machines, etc. where the norm was analogue
control, digital control systems are now available. Such digital control systems should be
cheaper, able to carry out a wider range of more complex tasks and be far more faulting free than
the analogue equivalents.
 

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