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 2. Control Systems


CONTROL SYSTEMS


 * AUTOMATION
   
   174 Articles


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A control system makes decisions about how a discrete, continuous or hybrid
processes function, generally ensuring processes operate within appropriate
parameters, safely, at an appropriate rate and within required quality. Control
systems help factories and facilities produce quality goods safely and
efficiently. Open-loop control is when the output (decision) doesn’t feed back
into the control loop. Closed-loop control uses the output to influence, or
provide feedback for, the next decision. Control systems can include hardware
and software for programmable logic controllers (PLCs), programmable automation
controllers (PACs), embedded systems and edge computing, dedicated controls,
proportional-integral-derivative (PID) and advanced process controls (APC),
along with distributed control systems (DCS), supervisory controls and data
acquisition (SCADA) and other controllers, such as industrial PCs (iPCs).


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TAKING CONTROL OF YOUR CONTROL SYSTEM


TODAY’S INPUT/OUTPUT (I/O)-AGNOSTIC CONTROL SOLUTIONS HELP PLANTS BREAK FREE OF
PROVIDER “LOCK IN,” PROVIDING MORE CHOICE AND FASTER RETURN ON INVESTMENT IN
MODERNIZATION PROJECTS.

BY Aaron Crews

 

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

 * Understand the costs and challenges process manufacturing plants face due to
   running legacy control systems.
 * Learn about the benefits of modernizing a control system beyond improved
   operational efficiency.
 * Learn how input/output (I/O)-agnostic systems can provide a cost-effective
   solution without requiring a full rip-and-replace.



Today’s process manufacturing plants are under a lot of pressure. These plants
are often using control technologies that are 20 to 40 years old. In many cases,
the control system is reaching end of support, which can lead to many problems.

Supply chain issues make it harder to find replacement parts for aging control
systems, generating long lead times and extended outages. Support, when
available at all, is often limited, and a shortage of personnel experienced with
legacy systems means long wait times for help. Many of the best practice safety
and efficiency features automation technologies provide are either difficult to
connect or not available with legacy control systems.

All these problems are compounded by the corporate office calling for better
performance, higher efficiency and more sustainable operations, which are
difficult to achieve without the right automation technologies. As a result,
many plants are looking to modernize control systems, and many are finding new
technologies provide greater choice without breaking budgets or creating
extended operations outages (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Modern automation technologies, like Emerson’s DeltaV distributed
control system Version 15, bring a wide array of advantages over legacy systems,
providing fast return on investment. Courtesy: Emerson


REASONS TO MODERNIZE THE CONTROL SYSTEM

The modern plant is very different from common facilities of just 10 short years
ago. Today’s plants no longer have a deep bench of experienced personnel who can
intuitively diagnose and manage operations and maintenance issues. It will be a
long time before today’s new plant personnel have that level of experience and
intuition.

As a result, successful plants rely on decision-support technologies built into
automation. Modern control systems are designed to intuitively integrate the
automation solutions that make plants safer and more reliable. Today, pervasive
sensing components monitor each asset in the plant to ensure it will at peak
performance. These components send collected data to operators in the control
room, along with actionable advice to keep processes running at their best.
Alarm management software eliminates alarm floods, keeping plant personnel
safer, while helping them avoid environmental incidents. Advanced process
control (APC) helps lock best practices into the system, so units and plants run
at their best, regardless of the experience level of operators (Figure 2).

All these technologies and more help plants run at peak efficiency, which helps
create a competitive advantage. But they also are all difficult – and sometimes
impossible – to implement with legacy control technologies. For this reason,
many plants are looking to modernize control systems to take advantage of the
easy integration provided by modern automation, but to do so, they must often
look past traditional modernization methods to more affordable and efficient
solutions.

Figure 2: Modern control systems make it easy to take advantage of automation
technologies that are now considered manufacturing best practices. Courtesy:
Emerson


A BETTER WAY TO MODERNIZE THE CONTROL SYSTEM

Operations teams know control system modernization is the answer to many of the
problems they face in the plant, but many teams face a conundrum; the control
system with the features they want and need is from a different automation
supplier than the legacy control system they have in place. Changing control
systems often means rewiring and replacing the I/O, which is a time-consuming,
expensive and error-prone process that also extends outages. Project teams often
struggle to build a business case for the modernization they need in the face of
tight capital expenditure (CAPEX) budgets and limited tolerance for extended
production outages.

Because it requires the re-termination of thousands of wires and replacement of
dozens of system cabinets, the replacement of existing I/O can be expensive,
time consuming and risky. Every person committed to manually transitioning I/O
to a new control system is someone not focused on other valuable tasks in the
plant. The fewer people committed to the task, the longer a cutover will take,
leading to an increase in lost production.

In the past, the only solution to this problem was incremental upgrades from the
same control system manufacturer, which is still time consuming, but less so.
But such a strategy is unlikely to deliver all the best practice technologies a
team needs, and leaves plants “locked in” to a single vendor every time they
want to upgrade, regardless of whether or not that vendor offers the required
technology and support.

Today’s I/O technologies offer companies choice and flexibility in control
system selection regardless of the legacy technology. Today’s project teams can
choose an I/O-agnostic interface to connect a new control system directly to
legacy I/O without the need to rip and replace old wiring and terminations. An
I/O-agnostic interface can reduce the downtime and complexity of modernization
while also reducing CAPEX costs.


FASTER CONTROL SYSTEM MODERNIZATION MEANS LESS DOWNTIME

Traditional modernization projects often require large project teams with many
personnel on the ground to transition old I/O to new I/O before a new control
system can be brought online. Often, the number of terminations that must be
converted numbers in the tens of thousands, which can take weeks or months of
manual labor, depending on the size and skill of the transfer team.

Using I/O-agnostic interfaces, project teams eliminate the need to transition
legacy I/O before starting up the new control system. Instead, an I/O-agnostic
interface operates as a bridge between the old components and the new control
system. The team only replaces the existing controller and operator interface
components, connecting the new controller via a communications cable that
connects to the I/O-agnostic interface. Using this strategy, the project team
can choose the scale of its modernization: controller-by-controller,
console-by-console, or by facility area (Figure 3).

Traditional modernization of a plant with 20,000 I/O controlled by 50 controller
nodes might take months or years. The process would require dozens of
technicians tracing, replacing and re-terminating wiring over many hours.

Leveraging an I/O-agnostic solution can dramatically cut modernization time. The
project team can instead replace controllers individually, leaving the legacy
I/O in place to gain all the benefits of modern control without the cost and
hassle of a full rip-and-replace overhaul.

Figure 3: I/O agnostic solutions, like Emerson’s DeltaV IO.CONNECT, provide a
path for process manufacturers to adopt the newest control technologies from
their supplier of choice, without replacing existing I/O. Courtesy: Emerson


SHIFT COSTS TO EASE BUDGET STRAIN

No project team has unlimited budgets, but as plants face increasing pressures
to improve throughput, efficiency and sustainability, today’s project resources
are often even more limited than they used to be. Teams have other critical
projects drawing from the same funds, and every dollar spent on modernization is
a dollar unavailable for other initiatives.

Many project teams are finding I/O-agnostic solutions provide them the fiscal
flexibility they need to complete modernizations without derailing other
critical initiatives. Instead of one massive capital expenditures (CapEx) spend
on ripping and replacing old I/O, the team instead leaves I/O in place, removing
that cost from the project budget.

Because the I/O-agnostic interface empowers the team to cut over I/O on its own
schedule, they can choose to transition legacy I/O after the cutover, while the
plant is operational. This strategy moves I/O change to the operations budget,
and it can be part of the budget for as long as it takes to complete cutover.

The act of modernizing the control system is often a money-saving choice in
itself. The cost of supporting legacy systems is often high. Few companies
maintain a deep bench of personnel with experience in decades-old control
technologies, and even when those experts are available, they’re often expensive
and only arrive after long waits, which is an expensive proposition if a unit or
plant is down because they’re waiting for a technician to arrive.

Moving to a modern control system gives the plant access to a much wider range
of available support personnel. Whether the plant is hiring new technicians who
will have been trained on the newest control technologies or relying on
consultant support from a trusted automation provider, support of modern systems
is often more available, efficient and cost effective.

Consider an enterprise with hundreds of thousands of I/O points across the
fleet. Modernizing the whole system would be an overwhelming undertaking and
unlikely to get started even if necessary. In such a situation, implementing an
I/O-agnostic solution lets the organization move all its plants to new,
efficient and effective control technology while leaving the costliest element
to replace – the I/O – in place.

The organization not only gains the financial benefit of transitioning I/O
gradually over the next 5 to 10 years as part of the operations budget, but they
also gain the advantages of the new control technologies for better performance,
and higher throughput, making it easier to meet higher benchmarks and generate
fast return on investment.


ELIMINATE CONTROL SYSTEM ROADBLOCKS

In a world of tight budgets, short staffing, and increasing needs for continuous
manufacturing, modernization projects can seem out of reach. Sometimes, it can
seem as though keeping legacy systems running or slightly updated – is the only
solution.

The truth is I/O-agnostic interfaces are changing the paradigm of control system
modernization. Today’s plants can reap the benefits of best-practice
technologies like alarm management, advanced process control, predictive
maintenance and more while leaving existing I/O in place. This helps eliminate a
large percentage of the costs, time and risks associated with modernization.

Aaron Crews is global director of modernization at Emerson. Edited by Chris
Vavra, web content manager, Control Engineering, CFE Media and Technology,
cvavra@cfemedia.com.


MORE ANSWERS

Keywords: control system, I/O systems

ONLINE

Learn more about control systems at
https://www.controleng.com/articles/the-control-system-is-key-to-optimal-loop-tuning/

https://www.controleng.com/articles/the-control-system-is-key-to-optimal-loop-tuning/

http://emerson.com/ioconnect

CONSIDER THIS

What steps are you taking to modernize your plant?




CONTROL SYSTEMS FAQ


 * WHAT ARE EXAMPLES OF CONTROL SYSTEMS?
   
   There are many different types of control systems, but some examples include:
   
    * Feedback control systems: These systems use feedback from a sensor or
      process variable to adjust the control output to maintain a desired set
      point or condition.
    * Feedforward control systems: These systems use a predicted or measured
      disturbance variable to adjust the control output to prevent the
      disturbance from affecting the process variable.
    * Proportional-integral-derivative (PID) control systems: These systems use
      a combination of proportional, integral and derivative control actions to
      achieve precise control of a process variable.
    * Logic control systems: These systems use Boolean logic or other logical
      operations to make decisions and control processes. Examples include
      traffic lights, industrial robots and automatic washing machines.
    * Hybrid control systems: These systems combine multiple types of control
      systems to achieve a desired control performance.
    * Networked control systems: These systems use networks, such as Ethernet or
      wireless, to connect devices and exchange control information. These type
      of control systems are used in distributed control systems, such as smart
      buildings, power grids, and transportation systems.


 * WHAT ARE THE MAIN PARTS OF A CONTROL SYSTEM?
   
   A control system typically consists of several main parts:
   
    * Sensors: These are devices that measure the process variable, such as
      temperature, position or speed, and convert it into an electrical signal
      that can be processed by the control system.
    * Actuators: These are devices that produce a physical output, such as
      movement or force, in response to a control signal. They are used to
      control the process variable.
    * Controller: This is the device or algorithm that processes the sensor
      input and generates the control output. It compares the measured process
      variable to the desired set point and calculates the error signal. Based
      on this error signal, the controller generates the control output to the
      actuator.
    * Transmission: This is the communication link between the sensor,
      controller and actuator. It can be an electrical cable, wireless link or
      other type of communication medium.
    * User interface : This is an optional part of the control system which
      allows the operator to monitor, control and configure the system.


 * WHAT ARE THE 2 TYPES OF CONTROL DEVICES?
   
   There are several types of control devices, but two main types are:
   
    * Discrete control devices: These devices are used to control on/off,
      open/closed, or other binary states. They include switches, relays, and
      contactors.
    * Analog control devices: These devices are used to control continuous
      variables such as temperature, pressure, or position. They include valves,
      motor starters and adjustable speed drives.
   
   Other types of control devices, such as smart devices, can be discrete or
   analog, have a microcontroller or microprocessor and can communicate over a
   network.


 * WHAT IS A CONTROL LOOP?
   
   A control loop is a feedback mechanism that is used to control the behavior
   of a system or process. It is the basic building block of a control system
   and consists of the following components:
   
    1. Process variable: This is the physical quantity that is being controlled,
       such as temperature, pressure, or position.
    2. Setpoint: This is the desired value for the process variable, which
       represents the desired outcome of the control system.
    3. Sensor: This is a device that measures the process variable and provides
       input to the control system.
    4. Controller: This is the logic device in the control system that processes
       the input from the sensor and generates control signals for the actuator.
    5. Actuator: This is the component of the control system that performs a
       physical task based on the control signals from the controller.
    6. Feedback: This is the process of comparing the actual value of the
       process variable with the setpoint, and using that information to adjust
       the control signals and improving the performance of the control system.
   
   The control loop operates in a continuous manner, constantly monitoring the
   process variable and making adjustments as needed to ensure that the process
   variable remains close to the setpoint. The feedback mechanism is critical to
   the success of the control system, as it allows for real-time correction of
   any deviations from the desired outcome, ensuring that the process remains
   stable and under control.

Some FAQ content was compiled with the assistance of ChatGPT. Due to the
limitations of AI tools, all content was edited and reviewed by our content
team.


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