Hardware for a Process Control System

The physical elements (hardware) constituting a control system as

it is implemented in practice for the control of real physical
processess.

Hardware Elements of a Control System

In every control configuration we can distinguish the following
hareware elements :
1. The chemical process :
It represents the material equipment together with the
physical or chemical operations that occur there.
2. The measuring instruments or sensors :
Such instruments are used to measure the disturbances, the
controlled output variables, or secondary output variables,
and the main sources of information about what is going on
in the process.
3. Transducers :
Many measurements cannot be used for control until they
are converted to physical quantities (such as electric voltage
or current, or a pneumatic signal, i.e., compressed air or
compressed liquid) which can be transmitted easily.
Transducers are used for this purpose.
4. Transmission lines :
These are used to carry the measuring signals from the
measuring device to the controller.
5. The controller :
1

This is the hardware element that has intelligence. It

receives the information from measuring devices and
decides what action should be taken.
6. The final control element :
This is the hardware element that implements in real life the
decision taken by the controller. The control valve is the
most frequently encountered final element but not the only
one. Other typical final control elements for a chemical
processes are :
Relay switches, providing on-off control
Variable-speed pumps
Variable-speed compressors
7. Recording elements:
These are used to provide a visual demonstration of how a
chemical process behaves.

eTemperatur
e
recorder
Desired

Ts

Fi

Ti

Thermoco
uple
Tank

F0

CController

Control valve
Transmission
line

Figure 1 : Hardware elements for the feedback control of a

stirred tank heater

Use of Digital Computers in Process Control

Large chemical plants such as petroleum refineries, ethylene
plants, ammonia plants, and many others are under digital
computer control. The effects have been very substantial, leading
to better control and reduced operating costs.

Some applications characteristic of the diverse usage of digital

computers :
1. Direct digital control (DDC) :
Today the chemical industry is moving more and more
toward the DDC of the plants. A typical system of DDCs for
an ethylene plant can include between 300 and 400 control
loops. All the companies that furnish the control system for
the chemical industry rely more and more on DDC.
2. Supervisory computer control :
Many times the human operator does not or cannot find the
best operating policy for a plant which will minimize the
operating costs. This deficiency is due to the enormous
complexity of a typical chemical plant. In such cases we can
use the speed and the programmed intelligence of a digital
computer to analyze the situation and suggest the best
policy. In doing so the computer coordinates the activities of
the basic DDC loops ( Figure 3)
3. Scheduling computer control :
Finally, the computer can be used to schedule the operation
of a plant.

Disturbances

Manipula
ted
Variables

Process

Measur
ed
Output
s

Unmeasured
outputs
OOperators
Console

Ccomputer-toProcess
Interface

DDigital
Computer

PProcess-toComputer
Interface

Figure 2 : Typical DDC configuration

computer
for
Superviso
ry
control
DDC
For
Unit 1

Process
Unit 1

DDDC
For
Unit N

DDC
For
Unit 2

Process
Unit 2

Process
Unit N

Chemical Plant
Figure 3 : Structure of supervisory computer control