ARCHITECTURE OF INDUSTRIAL

AUTOMATION SYSTEMS
 Architecture of Industrial Automation Systems
The Functional Elements of Industrial Automation
An Industrial Automation System consists of numerous elements that perform a
variety of functions related to Instrumentation, Control, Supervision and
Operations Management related to the industrial process. These elements may
also communicate with one another to exchange information necessary for overall
coordination and optimized operation of the plant/factory/process. Below, we
classify the major functional elements typically found in IA systems and also
describe the nature of technologies that are employed to realize the functions.
Sensing and Actuation Elements
These elements interface directly and physically to the process equipment and
machines. The sensing elements translate the physical process signals such as
temperature, pressure or displacement to convenient electrical or pneumatic
forms of information, so that these signals can be used for analysis, decisions
and finally, computation of control inputs. These computed control inputs,
which again are in convenient electrical or pneumatic forms of information, need
to be converted to physical process inputs such as, heat, force or flow-rate, before
they can be applied to effect the desired changes in the process outputs. Such
physical control inputs are provided by the actuation elements.
Industrial Sensors and Instrument Systems
Scientific and engineering sensors and instrument systems of an impressive
variety of size, weight, cost, complexity and technology are used in the modern
industry. However, a close look would reveal that all of them are composed of a set
of typical functional elements connected in a specified way to provide signal in a
form necessary. The various tasks involved in the automation systems. Fig 2.1
below shows the configuration of a typical sensor system.

Fig. 2.1 Functional configuration of a typical sensor system

In Fig. 2.1 a sensor system is shown decomposed into three of its major functional
components, along with the medium in which the measurement takes place. These
are described below.

A. The physical medium refers to the object where a physical phenomenon is

taking place and we are interested in the measurement of some physical variable
associated with the phenomenon. Thus, for example, the physical medium may
stand for the hot gas in a furnace in the case of temperature measurement or
the fluid in a pipe section in the case of measurement of liquid flow rate.

B. The sensing element is affected by the phenomenon in the physical medium

either through direct or physical contact or through indirect interaction of the
phenomenon in the medium with some component of the sensing element. Again,
considering the case of temperature measurement, one may use a thermocouple
probe as the sensing element that often comes in physical contact with the hot
object such as the flue gas out of a boiler-furnace or an optical pyrometer which
compares the brightness of a hot body in the furnace with that of a lamp from a
distance through some window and does not come in direct contact with the
furnace. In the more common case where the sensing element comes in contact

Downloaded by Jemima Christy

 with the medium, often some physical or chemical property of the sensor changes
in response to the measurement variable. This change then becomes a measure of
the physical variable of interest. A typical example is the change in resistivity due
to heat in a resistance thermometer wire. Alternatively, in some other sensors a
signal is directly generated in the sensing element, as is the case of a
thermocouple that generates a voltage in response to a difference in temperature
between its two ends.

C. The signal-conditioning element serves the function of altering the nature

of the signal generated by the sensing element. Since the method of converting
the nature of the signal generated in the sensor to another suitable signal form
(usually electrical) depends essentially on the sensor, individual signal
conditioning modules are characteristic of a group of sensing elements. As an
example considers a resistance Temperature Detector (RTD) whose output
response is a change in its resistance due to change in temperature of its
environment. This change in resistance can easily be converted to a voltage
signal by incorporating the RTD in one arm of a Wheat stone's bridge. The bridge
therefore serves as a signal-conditioning module. Signal conditioning modules
are also used for special purpose functions relating to specific sensors but not
related to variable conversion such as `ambient referencing' of thermocouples.
These typically involve analog electronic circuits that finally produce electrical
signals in the form of voltage or current in specific ranges.

D. The signal processing element is used to process the signal generated by

the first stage for a variety of purposes such as, filtering (to remove noise),
diagnostics (to assess the health of the sensor), and linearisation (to obtain an

Downloaded by Jemima Christy

 output which is linearly related with the physical measurand etc. Signal
processing systems are therefore usually more general purpose in nature.

E. The target signal-handling element may perform a variety of functions

depending on the target application. It may therefore contain data/signal display
modules, recording or/storage modules, or simply a feedback to a process control
system. Examples include a temperature chart recorder, an instrumentation tape
recorder, a digital display or an Analog to Digital Converter (ADC) followed by
an interface to a process control computer.
While the above description fits in most cases, it may be possible to discover some
variations in some cases. The above separation into subsystems is not only from a
functional point of view, more often than not, these subsystems are clearly
distinguishable physically in a measurement system.
Modern sensors often have the additional capability of digital communication
using serial, parallel or network communication protocols. Such sensors are called
“smart” and contain embedded digital electronic processing systems.

Industrial Actuator Systems

Actuation systems convert the input signals computed by the control systems into
forms that can be applied to the actual process and would produce the desired
variations in the process physical variables. In the same way as in sensors but in a
reverse sense, these systems convert the controller output, which is essentially
information without the power, and in the form of electrical voltages (or at times
pneumatic pressure) in two ways. Firstly it converts the form of the variable into
the appropriate physical variable, such as torque, heat or flow. Secondly it
amplifies the energy level of the signal manifold to be able to causes changes in the
process variables. Thus, while both sensors and actuators cause variable

Downloaded by Jemima Christy

conversions, actuators are high power devices while sensors are not. It turns out
that in most cases, actuators are devices that first produce motion from electrical
signal, which is then further converted to other forms. Based on the above
requirement of energy and variable conversion most actuation systems are are
structured as shown in Fig. 2.2.

Fig. 2.2 Functional configuration of a typical actuator system

In Fig.2.2 an actuator system is shown decomposed into its major functional

components, The salient points about the structure are described below.

A. The electronic signal-processing element accepts the command from the

control system in electrical form. The command is processed in various ways.
For example it may be filtered to avoid applying input signals of certain
frequencies that may cause resonance. Many actuators are themselves closed
feedback controlled units for precision of the actuation operation. Therefore the
electronic signal-processing unit often contains the control system for the
actuator itself.

B. The electronic power amplification element sometimes contains linear

power amplification stages called servo-amplifiers. In other cases, it may
comprise power electronic drive circuits such as for motor driven actuators.

C. The variable conversion element serves the function of altering the nature
of the signal generated by the electronic power amplification element from

Downloaded by Jemima Christy

 electrical to non-electrical form, generally in the form of motion. Examples
include electrohydraulic servo valve, stepper/servo motors, Current to Pneumatic
Pressure converters etc.

D. The non-electrical power conversion elements are used to amplify

power further, if necessary, typically using hydraulic or pneumatic mechanisms.

E. The non-electrical variable conversion elements may be used further to

tranform the actuated variable in desired forms, often in several stages. Typical
examples include motion-to-flow rate conversion in flow-valves, rotary to linear
motion converters using mechanisms, flow-rate to heat conversion using steam or
other hot fluids etc.

F. Other Miscellaneous Elements such as Auxiliaries for Lubrication /

Cooling / Filtering, Reservoirs, Prime Movers etc., sensors for feedback,
components for display, remote operations, as well as safety mechanisms since the
power handling level is significantly high.

Downloaded by Jemima Christy

 Lecture 03

Industrial Control Systems

By industrial control systems, we denote the sensors systems, actuator systems as a
controller. Controllers are essentially (predominantly electronic, at times
pneumatic/hydraulic) elements that accept command signals from human operators
or Supervisory Systems, as well as feedback from the process sensors and produce
or compute signals that are fed to the actuators. Control Systems can be classified
into two kinds.
Continuous Control
This is also often termed as Automatic Control, Process Control, Feedback Control
etc. Here the controller objective is to provide such inputs to the plant such that the
output y(t) follows the input r(t) as closely as possible, in value and over time. The
structure of the common control loop with its constituent elements, namely the
Controller, the Actuator, the Sensor and the Process itself is shown. In addition the
signals that exist at various points of the

Downloaded by Jemima Christy

system are also marked. These include the command (alternatively termed the set
point or the reference signal), the exogenous inputs (disturbances, noise).
The difficulties in achieving the performance objective is mainly due to the
unavoidable disturbances due to load variation and other external factors, as well
as sensor noise, the complexity, possible instability, uncertainty and variability in
the plant dynamics, as well as limitations in actuator capabilities.
Most industrial control loop command signals are piecewise constant signals that
indicate desirable levels of process variables, such as temperature, pressure, flow,
level etc., which ensure the quality of the product in Continuous Processes. In
some cases, such as in case of motion control for machining, the command signal
may be continuously varying according to the dimensions of the product.
Therefore, here deviation of the output from the command signal results in
degradation of product quality. It is for this reason that the choice of the feedback
signals, that of the controller algorithm (such as, P, PI pr PID), the choice of the
control loop structure (normal feedback loop, cascade loop or feed forward) as well
as choice of the controller gains is extremely important for industrial machines and
processes. Typically the control configurations are well known for a given class of
process, however, the choice of controller gains have to be made from time to time,
since the plant operating characteristics changes with time. This is generally called
controller tuning.
A single physical device may act as the controller for one or more control loops
(single-loop/multi-loop controller). Today, many loop controllers supplement
typical control laws such as PID control by offering adaptive control and fuzzy
logic algorithms to enhance controller response and operation. PID and startup
self-tuning are among the most important features. Among other desired and
commonly found characteristics are, ability to communicate upward with
supervisory systems, as well as on peer-to-peer networks (such as Fieldbus or

Downloaded by Jemima Christy

Device Net), support for manual control in the event of a failure in the automation.
Software is an important factor in loop controllers. Set-up, monitoring and auto-
tuning and alarm software for loop controllers is now a common feature. The
controllers also accept direct interfacing of process sensors and signals. Choice of
inputs includes various types of thermocouples, RTDs, voltage to 10 V dc, or
current to 20 mA. While most sophisticated controllers today are electronic,
pneumatic controllers are still being used. Pneumatic controllers are easy to use,
easy to maintain, and virtually indestructible.

Sequence / Logic Control

Many control applications do not involve analog process variables, that is, the ones
which can assume a continuous range of values, but instead variables that are set
valued, that is they only assume values belonging to a finite set. The simplest
examples of such variables are binary variables, that can have either of two
possible values, (such as 1 or 0, on or off, open or closed etc.). These control
systems operate by turning on and off switches, motors, valves, and other devices
in response to operating conditions and as a function of time. Such systems are
referred to as sequence/logic control systems. For example, in the operation of
transfer lines and automated assembly machines, sequence control is used to
coordinate the various actions of the production system (e.g., transfer of parts,
changing of the tool, feeding of the metal cutting tool, etc.).
There are many industrial actuators which have set of command inputs. The
control inputs to these devices only belong to a specific discrete set. For example
in the control of a conveyor system, analog motor control is not applied. Simple
on-off control is adequate. Therefore for this application, the motor-starter
actuation system may be considered as discrete having three modes, namely, start,

Downloaded by Jemima Christy

stop and run. Other examples of such actuators are solenoid valves, discussed in a
subsequent lesson.
Similarly, there are many industrial sensors (such as, Limit Switch / Pressure
Switch/ Photo Switch etc.) which provide discrete outputs which may be
interpreted as the presence/absence of an object in close proximity, passing of parts
on a conveyor, or a given pressure value being higher or lower than a set value.
These sensors thus indicate, not the value of a process variable, but the particular
range of values to which the process variable belongs.
A modern controller device used extensively for sequence control today in transfer
lines, robotics, process control, and many other automated systems is the
Programmable Logic Controller (PLC). In essence, a PLC is a special purpose
industrial microprocessor based real-time computing system, which performs the
following functions in the context of industrial operations.

Supervisory Control
Supervisory control performs at a hierarchically higher level over the automatic
controllers, which controls smaller subsystems.
Supervisory control systems perform, typically the following functions:

♦ Set point computation: Set points for important process variables are
computed depending on factors such as nature of the product, production
volume, mode of processing. This function has a lot of impact on production
volume, energy and quality and efficiency.

♦ Performance Monitoring / Diagnostics: Process variables are monitored to

check for possible system component failure, control loop detuning, actuator

Downloaded by Jemima Christy

 saturation, process parameter change etc. The results are displayed and
possibly archived for subsequent analysis.

♦ Start up / Shut down / Emergency Operations : Special discrete and

continuous control modes are initiated to carry out the intended operation,
either in response to operator commands or in response to diagnostic events
such as detected failure modes.

♦ Control Reconfiguration / Tuning: Structural or Parametric redesign of

control loops are carried out, either in response to operator commands or in
response to diagnostic events such as detected failure modes. Control
reconfigurations may also be necessary to accommodate variation of
feedback or energy input e.g. gas fired to oil fired.

♦ Operator Interface: Graphical interfaces for supervisory operators are

provided, for manual supervision and intervention.

Naturally, these systems are dependent on specific application processes, in

contrast with automatic control algorithms, which are usually generic (e.g. PID).
Computationally these are a mixture of hard and soft real time algorithms. These
are also often very expensive and based on proprietary knowledge of automating
specific classes of industrial plants.

Downloaded by Jemima Christy

Production Control
Production control performs at a hierarchically higher level over the supervisory
controllers. Typical functions they perform are:

♦ Process Scheduling: Depending on the sequence of operations to be

carried on the existing batches of products, processing resource
availability for optimal resource utilization.

♦ Maintenance Management: Decision processes related to detection and

deployment of maintenance operations.

♦ Inventory Management: Decision processes related to monitoring of

inventory status of raw material, finished goods etc. and deployment of
operations related to their management.

♦ Quality Management: Assessment, Documentation and Management of

Quality
Typically, the algorithms make use of Resource Optimization Technology and are
non-real-time although they may be using production data on-line.

Downloaded by Jemima Christy

 Lecture 04

The Architecture of Elements: The Automation Pyramid

Industrial automation systems are very complex having large number of devices
with confluence of technologies working in synchronization. In order to know the
performance of the system we need to understand the various parts of the system.
Industrial automation systems are organized hierarchically as shown in the
following figure.

Various components in an industrial automation system can be explained using the

automation pyramid as shown above. Here, various layers represent the wideness
( in the sense of no. of devices ), and fastness of components on the time-scale.

Downloaded by Jemima Christy

Sensors and Acuators Layer: This layer is closest to the proceses and machines,
used to translate signals sothat signals can be derived from processes for analysis
and decisions and hence control signals can be applied to the processes. This forms
the base layer of the pyramid also called „level 0‟ layer.
Automatic Control Layer: This layer consists of automatic control and monitoring
systems, which drive the actuators using the process information given by sensors.
This is called as „level 1‟ layer.
Supervisory Control Layer: This layer drives the automatic control system by
setting target/goal to the controller. Supervisory Control looks after the equipment,
which may consis of several control loops. This is called as „level 2‟ layer.
Production Control Layer: This solves the decision problems like production
targets, resource allocation, task allocation to machines, maintenance management
etc. This is called „level 3‟ layer.
Enterprise control layer: This deals less technical and more commercial activities
like supply, demand, cash flow, product marketing etc. This is called as the „level
4‟ layer.
The spatial scale increases as the level is increased e.g. at lowest level a sensor
works in a single loop, but there exists many sensors in an automation system
which will be visible as the level is increased. The lowest level is faster in the time
scale and the higher levels are slower. The aggregation of information over some
time interval is taken at higher levels.
All the above layers are connected by various types of communication systems.
For example the sensors and actuators may be connected to the automatic
controllers using a point-to-point digital communication, while the automatic
controllers themselves may be connected with the supervisory and production
control systems using computer networks. Some of these networks may be
proprietary. Over the last decade, with emergence of embedded electronics and

Downloaded by Jemima Christy

computing, standards for low level network standards (CANBus, Fieldbus etc.) for
communication with low level devices, such as sensors and actuators are also
emerging.

An Example Industrial Specification for Automatic and Supervisory

Level Automation Systems

The specification of a section of a Cold Rolling Mill complex, referred to here as

PL-TCM ( Pickling Line and Tandem Control Mill). Such specification documents
are prepared when automation systems for industrial plants are procured and
installed. The document captures the visualization of automation functionality of
the customer. Here basic level refers to the automatic control supervisory control
levels, while process control level refers to a level. Some of the terms and concepts
described below have been discussed in subsequent lessons.
Platforms: The above levels of controls shall be achieved through programmable
controllers PLCs, micro-processor based systems as well as PCs / Work stations,
as required.
Each of the automation systems of the PL-TCM shall be subdivided in accordance
with the functional requirements and shall cover the open loop and closed loop
control functions of the different sections of the line and the mill.
Modes of Operation: The systems shall basically have two modes of operation. In
the semi-automatic mode the set point values shall be entered manually for
different sections of the line through VDU and the processors shall transmit these
values to the controls in proper time sequence.
In fully automatic mode the process control system shall calculate all set point
values through mathematical models and transfer the same to the subordinate
systems over data link.

Downloaded by Jemima Christy

The functions to be performed by the basic level automation shall cover but not be
limited to the following.
Functionality at Basic Level: The Basic Level shall cover control of all
equipment, sequencing, interlocking micro-tracking of strip for specific functions,
dedicated technological functions, storage of rolling schedules and look-up tables,
fault and event logging etc. Some of these are mentioned below.

♦ All interlocking and sequencing control of the machinery such as for entry and
exit handling of strips, shear control etc. Interlocking, sequencing, switching
controls of the machines. This shall also cover automatic coil handling at the
entry and exit sides, automatic sequencial operation of welding/rewelding
machine and strip threading sequence control as well as for acid regeneration
plant.

♦ Calculation of coil diameter and width at the entry pay-off reels.

♦ Position control of coil ears for centrally placing of coils on the mandrels.

♦ Generation of master speed references for the line depending on operator's input
and line conditions and down loading to drive control systems.

♦ Speed synchronizing control of the drives, as required.

♦ Strip tension, position and catenary control through control of related drives and
machinery. Initiation of centre position control for Power Operated Rolls,
steering/dancer rolls; Looper car position control. Automatic pre-setting control,

Downloaded by Jemima Christy

 measurement and control of tension and elongation for tension leveller. Auto
edge position control at tension reels if required.

♦ Control of entry shear for auto-cutting of off-gauge strip.

♦ Control of pickling parameters for correct pickling with varying speed of strip in
the pickling section.

♦ Side trimmer automatic setting contro.

♦ Interlockings, sequencing and control of scrap baller, if provided.

♦ Auto calibration for position control/precision positioning shall be provided as

necessary.

♦ Manual/Auto slowdown/stoppage of strip at weld point at tension leveller, side

trimmer, mill and exit shear.

♦ Control of technological functions for tandem mill such as:

o Automatic gauge control along with interst and tension control.

o Shape control

o Roll force control

Downloaded by Jemima Christy

♦ Storage of tandem mill rolling schedules, for the entire product mix and all
possible variations. Suitable look-up tables as operators guidance for
line/equipment setting.

♦ Automatic roll changing along with automatic spindle positioning.

♦ Constant pass line control based on roll wear as well as after roll change.

♦ Automatic control of rotary shear before tension rells.

♦ Automatic sequence control of inspection reel.

♦ Provision of manual slow down/stoppage of strip as well as chearing for `run' for
inspection of defects at tension leveller, side trimmer entry and exit of the
Tandem Mill throuth push button stations.

♦ Micro-tracking of strip and flying gauge change (set point change) for
continuous operation with varying strip sizes.

♦ Setting up the mill either from the stored rollings schedule with facility for
modification by the operator of down-loading from process control level system.

♦ Automatic control of in-line coil weighing, marking and circumferential banding

after delivery tension reels.
Supervisory Functions at Basic Level: Centralised supervisory and monitoring
control system shall be provided under basic level automation with dedicated
processors and MMI. All necessary signals shall be acquired through drive

Downloaded by Jemima Christy

 control system as well as directly from the sensors/instruments as, required. The
system shall be capable of carrying out the following fuctions.

♦ Centralised switching and start up of various line drives and auxiliary systems
through mimic displays.
♦ Status of plant drives and electrical equipment for displaying maintenance
information.
♦ Monitoring and display of measured values for tandem mill main drives and
other large capacity drives such as winding temperature, for alarm and trip
conditions.
♦ Centralised switching and status indication of 33 kV and 6.6 kV switchboards.
♦ Display of single line diagram of 33 kV and 6.6 kV switchboards, main drives,
in-line auxiliary drives etc.
♦ Acquisition of fault signals from various sections of the plant with facility for
display and print-out of the fault messages in clear text.
Comprehensive diagnostic functions
Functionality at Process Control Level: The Process Control Level shall be
responsible for computation and control for optimization of operation. Functions
like set point generation using mathematical models, learning control, material
tracking within the process line/unit including primary data input, real time control
of process functions through basic level automation, generation of reports etc. shall
be implemented through this level of automation. Some of the specific functions to
be performed by the process control level automation are the following.

♦ Coil strip tracking inside the process line/unit by sensing punched holes at
weld seams.

Downloaded by Jemima Christy

 ♦ Primary Data Input (PDI) of coils at entry to PL-TCM with provision for
down loading of data from production control level.

♦ Generation of all operating set points for the mill using PDI data, mill model,
roll force model, power model, strip thickness control model, shape/profile
control model with thermal strip flatness control as well as for other sections
of the line.

♦ Learning (Adaptive) control using actual data and the mathematical model
for set-up calculations.

♦ Storage of position setting values of levellers, side trimmer. Input of strip

flaw data manually through inspection panel at the inline inspection facility
after side trimmer.

♦ Processing of actual data on rolling operation, generation of reports logs and

sending data to production control level.

Information System Functions: The information system shall generally comply

with the following features.
♦ Data of importance shall be available with the concerned personnel in the
form of logs and reports.
♦ Output of logs and reports at preset times or on occurrence of certain events.
♦ It shall be possible to change the data items and log formats without undue
interference to the system.

Downloaded by Jemima Christy

 ♦ Logged information shall be stored for adequate time period ensuring the
availability of historical data record.
♦ Data captured by the system shall be checked for integrity with respect to
their validity and plausibility with annunciation.
Man Machine Interface: The visualization system for both the automation levels
shall be through man-machine interface (MMI) for the control and operation of the
complete line. The system shall display the following screens, with facilities for
hard copy print out.

♦ Process mimics for the complete line using various screens with status
information of all important in-line drives as well as the references and
actual values of important parameters.
♦ Dynamic information‟s in form of bar graph for indication of reference and
actual values of important parameters.
♦ Screens providing trends of the important process variables.
♦ Acquisition of actual parameters (averaging/maximum/minimum) for the
complete line, on coil to coil basis through weld seam tracking or TCM exit
shear cut for the generation of logs on process/parameters and production.

Standards: The programmable controllers and other micro processor based

equipment offered shall generally be designed / structured, manufactured and
tested in accordance with the guidelines laid down in IEC-1131 (Part 2) apart from
the industry standards being adopted by the respective manufacturers.
Hardware: The hardware of each basic controller/equipment of a system will
generally comprise main processing unit, memory units, stabilized power supply
unit, necessary communication interface modules, auxiliary storage where
required. I/O modules in the main equipment, remote I/O stations where required

Downloaded by Jemima Christy

and the programming and debugging tool (PADT). The hardware and software
structure shall be modular to meet wide range of technological requirements. I/Os
shall be freely configurable depending on the requirement. The programming units
shall preferable be lap-top type.
Networking: The networking would conform to the following specifications.

♦ In each of the two automation levels, all the controllers of a system shall be
connected as a node over suitable data bus forming a LAN system using
standardized hardware and software.
♦ The LAN system shall be in line with ISO-Open system Interconnect.
♦ All drive level automation equipment shall be suitably linked with the basic
level for effective data/signal exchange between the two levels. However,
all the emergency and safety signals shall be directly hardwired to the
respective controllers.
♦ Similarly, the LAN systems for the basic level and process control level shall
be suitably linked through suitable bridge/interface for effective data/signal
exchange. Provision shall also be made for interfacing suitably the process
control level with the production level automation system specified in item .
♦ The data highways shall be designed to be optimally loaded and the same
shall be clearly indicated in the offer.
♦ The remote I/Os, the microprocessor based measuring instruments and the
micro-processor based special machines like coil weighing, marking and
circumferential banding machines shall be connected over serial links with
the respective controllers.
♦ The personal computers and work stations shall be connected as a LAN
system of the corresponding level.

Downloaded by Jemima Christy

Data and Visualisation: The following specifications would apply in respect of
data security, validity and its proper visualization.

♦ All the operator interfaces comprising colour VDU and keyboard as MMI for
interacting with the respective system and located at strategic locations,
shall be connected to the corresponding LAN system.
♦ Key lock /password shall be provided to prevent unauthorized entry.
♦ Entry validity and plansibility check shall also be incorporated.
♦ An Engineer's console comprising of necessary processor, color VDU,
keyboard/mouse and a printer unit shall be provided for the automation
systems. The console shall have necessary hardware and software of
communicating with the LAN and shall have access to the complete system.
Basic functions of this console shall be off-line data base configuration,
programme development, documentation etc.

Application Software: The application software shall be through functional block

type software modules as well as high level language based software modules. The
software shall be user friendly and provided with help functions etc. Only one type
of programming language shall be used for the complete system. However, ladder
type programming language may be used for simple logical functions. Only
industrially debugged and tested software shall be provided.
Basis of System Selection
Future Expandability: The selection of equipment, standard software and
networking shall be such as to offer optimum flexibility for future expansion
without affecting the system reliability.
Fault Tolerance: The system shall be designed to operate in automatic or semi
automatic mode of operation under failure conditions.

Downloaded by Jemima Christy

Spare Capacity: The system shall have sufficient capacity to perform all functions
as required. A minimum of 30 per cent of the total memory shall be kept
unallocated for future use.
Loading: The data highway shall be designed to be optimally loaded and the same
shall be clearly indicated in the offer.
Software Structure and Quality Programs: shall be in high level language that is
effective and economical for the proposed system in respect of Modularization,
rate of coding, store usage and running time. The software structure of the system
shall be suitably distributed /centralized for supervision and control of the related
process areas following the state of the art architecture.

Integration: The communication software shall be such that the systems shall be
able to communicate independently among themselves as well as with the lower
level Basic Control/Process control automation system, as required. Provision shall
be made for interfacing the production control system with the higher level
Business Computer system to be provided for the entire steel plant in future.
Programmability: The information system shall generally be designed such that it
shall be possible to change the data items and log formats without undue
interference to the system.
Data Integrity and Protection: Logged information shall be stored for adequate
time period ensuring the availability of historical data record. Data captured by
the system shall be checked for integrity with respect to their validity and
plausibility with annunciation. Storing of essential data to be protected against
corruption when the system loses power supply or during failure.

Downloaded by Jemima Christy

Related Question

Q1 Draw the functional block diagram of a typical sensor

system Q2 Draw the functional block diagram of an actuator

system
Q3 Draw the block diagram of a typical industrial control system
Q4 Consider a motor driven position control system, as commonly found in CNC
Machine drives. Identify the main feedback sensors in the system. Identify the
major sources of disturbance. How is such a drive different from that of an
automated conveyor system?
Q5 State the major aspect in which sequence/logic control systems differ from
analog control systems. Describe an industrial system that employs discrete
sensors and discrete actuators.
Q6 State three major functions of a Supervisory Control System. Consider the
motor driven automatic position control system, as commonly found in CNC
Machine drives. Explore and find out from where such systems get their set
points during machining. Identify some of the other functionalities
Q7 Draw the Automation Pyramid and identify the Layers. Give examples of the
Automation Pyramid and explain major functional layers in any typical factory
Q8State three major functions of Supervisory Control mentioned in the
Automation System for the PL-TCM.

Downloaded by Jemima Christy

Downloaded by Jemima Christy