25-07-2020

CONTROL SYSTEM
 Types of Industrial Control Systems
Different Types of Industrial Control Systems are Distributed Control
System (DCS), Remote terminal unit (RTU) and Programmable logic
controller (PLC).

 Distributed Control System (DCS)

Plant distributed control system (DCS) – While the term DCS applies in
general to any system in which controllers are distributed rather than
centralized, in the power generation and petrochemical process industries it
has come to refer to a specific type of control system able to execute complex
analog process control algorithms at high speed, as well as provide routine
monitoring, reporting and data logging functions.

Figure : Simple example of distributed control systems

In most applications, the input and output modules of the system are
distributed throughout the facility, but the control processors themselves are
centrally located in proximity to the control room.

These systems typically use proprietary hardware, software and

communication protocols, requiring that both replacement parts and technical
support be obtained from the original vendor.

 Direct digital control (DDC)

The DDC directly interfaces to the process for data acquisition and control
purpose.

 That is, it has necessary hardware for directly interfacing

(optoisolator, signal conditioner, ADC, etc.) and reading data from
process.
 It should also have memory and arithmetic capability to
execute required P, P+I, P+I+D control strategy.
 At the same time, the interface to control vale should also be
part of DDC.
The below Figure shows the various functional blocks of a DDC system

 The microprocessor performs the following tasks.

1. It reads the various process variables from different
transmitters through multiplexer and ADC.
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2. It determines the error for each control loop and executes
control strategy for each loop.
3. It outputs the correction value to control vale through DAC.
Direct digital control (DDC) systems are used in the commercial building
heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) industry to monitor and
maintain environmental conditions.

They consist of local controllers connected to a network with a personal

computer (PC) based central station which provides monitoring, reporting,
data storage and programming capabilities.

The controllers are optimized for economical HVAC system control, which

generally does not require fast execution speeds. Their hardware and control
software are proprietary, with either proprietary or open protocols used for
network communication.

 Remote terminal unit (RTU)

Remote terminal unit (RTU) based SCADA : RTU-based systems are
common in the electric, gas and water distribution industries where monitoring
and control must take place across large geographical distances.

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The RTUs were developed primarily to provide monitoring and control
capability at unattended sites such as substations, metering stations, pump
stations, and water towers. They communicate with a central station over
telephone lines, fiber-optics, radio or microwave transmission.

Monitored sites tend to be relatively small, with the RTU typically used mainly
for monitoring and only limited control. Hardware and software are proprietary,
with either proprietary or open protocols used for data transmission to the
central station.

 Programmable logic controller (PLC)

Programmable logic controller (PLC) based systems: PLCs, which are
described in greater detail in the next section, can be networked together to
share data as well as provide centralized monitoring and control capability.

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Control systems consisting of networked PLCs are supplanting both the plant
DCS and the RTU-based systems in many industries. They were developed
for factory automation and have traditionally excelled at high speed discrete
control, but have now been provided with analog control capability as well.

Hardware for these systems is proprietary, but both control software and
network communication protocols are open, allowing system configuration,
programming and technical support for a particular manufacturer’s equipment
to be obtained from many sources.

 DCS System Layout and its Different Parts

 S Bharadwaj ReddyJan 24, 20200

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In this article, we discuss the topic on different parts of DCS system
layout and its modules like processors & IO cards, marshalling &
system cabinets, engineering & operator workstations, and Switch.

Distributed Control Systems (DCS) plays a vital role in

manufacturing, production industries as they are used to control and
manage the processes.

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 Image Courtesy: manufacturingchemist

Distributed Control Systems are extension of traditional controllers.

The major concept of distributed control systems application is
derived from the idea of decentralizing the control unit and
establishing a common network between the operator, engineering
stations.

DCS tends to be used on large continuous process plants where high

reliability and security is important, and the control room is not
geographically remote.

DCSs are connected to sensors and actuators and use set point
control to control the flow of material through the plant.

Read: DCS Tutorial

Although 4–20 mA has been the main field signalling standard,

modern DCS systems can also support field bus digital protocols,
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such as Foundation Fieldbus, profibus, HART, Modbus, PC Link,
etc., and other digital communication protocols such as modbus.

 DCS System Layout

 DCS System –  Level 0

This level contains the field devices such as flow and temperature
sensors, and final control elements, such as control valves.

 DCS System –  Level 1

This level contains the marshalling cabinets where the field
termination takes place. Also houses the intrinsic safety barriers,
relays, Terminal blocks, Isolators etc. from here the signal travels
from the Junction boxes wherein the signals are paired and received
from the appropriate sections in the field area.
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 DCS System – Level 2
This level contains the system cabinet which is designed to
accormodate power supply,controller and I/O cards. The field signals
will be digitally processed by the I/o cards and sent to the controller
for further digital processing.

This part will be located in the top most part of the cabint and will be
brain of the automatic system.

 DCS System – Level 3

This level consists of visual disply unit or computer, is the operator
interface. It is production control level, which directly control the
process. Plant operational schematics are displayed. Alarm and
interlock cause and effect diagrams are displayed in different pages.

Read: Types of System Architecture

 System Cabinets
In system cabinet, all electronic modules will be installed like
processor cards (CPU), input modules, output modules, serial
communication cards, power supply modules, rack to rack inter-
communiacation modules, fieldbus cards, profibus cards, modbus
cards.

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Main types of input modules are analog input (AI) cards, digital input
(DI) cards. The number of IO channels will vary depends on the user
selection of these cards like 8 channel, 12 channel, 16 channel & 32
channel.

Similarly output modules are analog output (AO) cards, digital output
(DO) cards.

 Marshalling Cabinets
Marshalling cabinets shall be used to terminate all field cables as well
as for grouping of various signals from the field devices properly
tagged.

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Sometimes different marshalling cabinets can be allocated based on
type of signals like analog input/output signals, digital inputs, digital
output and relays.

 Operator WorkStation
The operator workstations are used for monitoring all system
operations and for effecting control actions and parameter
adjustments.

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There are normally multiple operator workstations, as illustrated
in above figure, each of which contains all of the process graphic
displays and historical trend displays for the system.

Some of the operations performed through the Operator workstations

are listed below;

 Logging on and off the system using passwords and user

names
 Invoking process displays to view the operations throughout
the system
 Effecting control modes for various equipment in the system;
for example, Manual and Automatic modes, placing equipment in
or out of service
 Changing setpoint parameters, with appropriate security
allowance
 Effecting manual control actions for equipment, such as
start/stop and open/close
 Viewing historical trend displays and transferring data to other
files for exporting
 Viewing the current alarm summary to identify alarm conditions
requiring attention.
 Viewing the alarm/event summary to view the chronological
series of events.

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 Fig: DCS TDC2000 operator workstation (old model)

  Engineering WorkStation
 To build graphics using the graphic builder programme.
 The configure control loops/monitoring loops
 To assign I/Os to various I/O modules during generation of
application software.
 To configure shutdown logic/sequence logic.
 To write/edit user written program in higher level languages.
 To download the generated application software to various
system nodes. To generate “self documentation” i.e. it should be
possible to store the generated information on a CD as well as to
enable user to take a printout of the system configuration.
 To emulate generated control loops/scheme/graphics, etc.
before it is downloaded to any control processor or operator
stations.
 The graphic and database equalization of all the operator
station shall be performed from engineering station with a single

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 command. It should not require manual copy/paste intervention by
user.
 Switch
A switch is a intelligent device on network. A switch is a device in a
computer network that connects other devices together. Multiple data
cables are plugged into a switch to enable communication between
different networked devices.

Switches manage the flow of data across a network by transmitting a

received network packet only to the one or more devices for which
the packet is intended.

Each networked device connected to a switch can be identified by

its network address, allowing the switch to direct the flow of traffic
maximizing the security and efficiency of the network.

 Communication Media and Protocols

Communication media consists of transmission cable to transmitt the
data such as coaxial cables, copper wires, fiber optic cables and
sometimes it might be wireless.

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Communication protocols selected depends on the number of
devices to be connected to this network.

In DCS, two or more communication protocols are used in between

two or more areas such as between field control devices and
distributed controllers and other one between distributed controllers
and supervisory control stations such as operating and engineering
stations.

1. Components of PLC

The recommended controller for SCADA systems is

the programmable logic controller (PLC). PLCs are general-
purpose microprocessor based controllers that provide logic, timing,
counting, and analog control with network communications capability.

2. Components of PLC
A PLC consists of the required quantities of the following types of
modules or cards, mounted on a common physical support and
electrical interconnection structure known as a rack.
3. A typical PLC rack configuration is shown in below figure.

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4. (1) Power supply :
The power supply converts facility electrical distribution voltage, such
as 230 VAC, 120 VAC or 125 VDC to signal level voltage used by the
plc processor and other modules.

5. (2) Processor :
The processor module contains the microprocessor that performs
control functions and computations, as well as the memory required
to store the program.

6. (3) Input/Output (I/O) :

These modules provide the means of connecting the processor to the
field devices. Examples of these modules are Analog Input Module,
Analog output module, Digital input module, Digital output module
etc.

These are used to connect devices between plc and field devices like
flow transmitters, pressure transmitters, control valves, analyzers,
substation feeders for motor control etc.

7. (4) Communication :

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Communications modules are available for a wide range of industry-
standard communication network connections. These allow digital
data transfer between PLCs and to other systems within the facility.

Most commonly used modules are Modbus communication cards or

Serial communication.

Some PLCs have communications capability built-in to the processor,

rather than using separate modules.

8. (5) Communication Media and Protocols :

The most common communication media used are copper-wire,
coaxial, fiber-optics, and wireless. The most common “open”
communication protocols are Ethernet, Ethernet/IP, and DeviceNet.

“Open” systems generally provide “plug and play” features in which

the system software automatically recognizes and communicates to
any compatible device that is connected to it.

Other widely accepted open protocols are Modbus, Profibus, and

ControlNet.

9. (6) Redundancy :
Many PLCs are capable of being configured for redundant operation
in which one processor backs up another.

This arrangement often requires the addition of a redundancy

module, which provides status confirmation and control assertion
between the processors. In addition, signal wiring to redundant racks
is an option.

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10. PLC Software and Programming
All software and programming required for the PLC to operate as a
standalone controller is maintained on-board in the processor.

PLCs are programmed with one of the following

standard programming languages:

11. (1) Ladder Diagrams :

Used primarily for logic (Boolean) operations and is easily
understood by electricians and control technicians. This is the most
commonly used language in the United States and is supported by all
PLC suppliers.

12. (2) Function Block Diagrams :

Used primarily for intensive analog control (PID) operations and is
available only in “high-end” PLC’s. It is more commonly used outside
the United States.

13. (3) Sequential Function Chart :

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It Used primarily for batch control operations and is available only in
“high-end” PLC’s.

14. (4) Structured Text :

It is Used primarily by PLC programmers with a computer language
background and is supported only in “high-end” PLC’s.

15. SCADA
SCADA PLCs should be specified to be programmed using ladder
diagrams. This language is very common, and duplicates in format
traditional electrical schematics, making it largely understandable by
electricians and technicians without specific PLC training.

The ladder logic functions the same as equivalent hard-wired relays.

The PLCs in a SCADA system will be networked to one or more
central personal computer (PC) workstations, which provide the
normal means of human machine interface (HMI) to the system.

These PCs will be provided with Windows-based HMI software that

provides a graphical user interface (GUI) to the control system in
which information is presented to the operator on graphic screens
that are custom-configured to match the facility systems.

For example, the electrical system status may be shown on a one-

line diagram graphic in which open circuit breakers are colored
green, closed breakers are colored red, and voltage and current
values are displayed adjacent to each bus or circuit breaker.
16. PLCs are recommended for the following reasons :
(1) They were developed for the factory floor and have demonstrated
high reliability and tolerance for heat, vibration, and electromagnetic
interference.

(2) Their widespread market penetration means that parts are readily
available and programming and technical support services are
available from a large number of control system integrators.

(3) They provide high speed processing, which is important

in generator and switchgear control applications.

(4) They support hot standby and triple-redundant configurations for

high reliability applications.

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