TRAINING IN PROCESS-CONTROL BY DISTRIBUTED COMPUTERS - A HANDS-ON APPROACH

This paper presents the training in basic theory, measurement, and control methods and its implementation in the process industry through the use of state-of-the-art distributed computers for control engineering education. The experiments involved are: temperature control of liquid delivery by steam heating in a heat exchanger; multi-variable control of temperature, level, and throughput flow in a liquid tank; pressure control of the last tank of a 3-tank plant series, and DC motor speed control. The experiments are conducted on actual equipment with industrial grade transmitters and control valves. The control systems used are: (1) the state-of-the art distributed controls used in process industry (such as Bailey NETWORK 90®), (2) PCs with I/O board and (3) industrial self-tuning PIDs (such as L&N-Electromax V+®, Foxboro-EXACT®, Bailey LOOP COMMAND® with self-tuning option, and TCS-SELF TUNER®). The tutorial work emphasized teaching theoretical and practical methods in control engineering, which is a summary and highlights the training conducted in the Industrial Instrumentation and Control Lab. The "hands-on" implementation of the theory and methods played a key role in building a bridge between academia and industry. © 1990.