Chapter (1)

Components and
Characteristics of
Industrial Processes
 1.1. What is a process?
1.2. What does a control system
do?
1.3. Why is control necessary?
1.4. Why is control possible?
1.5. How it can be done?
1.6. Where it can be
TOPICS implemented?
1.7. What are the control
engineer’s interests?
1.8. How can the process control
be documented?
1.9. Control strategies.
1.10. Components of industrial
processes.
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Components
and
Characteristics
of Industrial
Processes
Industrial process control (IPC)
or simply process control is
a system used in modern
manufacturing which uses the
principles of control theory and
physical industrial control
systems to monitor, control and
optimize continuous industrial
For example, heating up the temperature in a
room is a process that has the specific, desired
outcome to reach and maintain a defined
temperature kept constant over time. Here, the
temperature is the controlled variable, at the
same time, it is the input variable since it is
measured by a thermometer and used to
decide whether to heat or not. The desired
temperature is called the set-point. The state of
the heater, for example, the setting of the valve
allowing hot water to flow through it; is called
the manipulated variable since it is subject to 5
control actions.
 There are many different types of
process control systems.

Three of the most common are:

1. Programmable Logic Controllers

(PLC)
2. Supervisory Control and Data
Acquisition (SCADA)
3. Distributed Control System (DCS)
PLC is used to read a set of digital and analog
inputs, apply a set of logic statements, and
generate a set of analog and digital outputs.
Using the previous heating example, the room
temperature would be an input to the PLC.
The logical statements would compare the
set-point to the input temperature and
determine whether more or less heating was
necessary to keep the temperature constant.
A PLC output would then either open or close
the hot water valve, an incremental amount,
depending on whether more or less hot water
was needed. 7
SCADA (an acronym for
supervisory control and data
acquisition) is a control system
architecture comprising
computers, networked data
communications and graphical
user interfaces for high-level
supervision of machines and
processes.
A distributed control
system (DCS) is a
computerized control system for
a process or plant usually with
many control loops, in which
autonomous controllers are
distributed throughout the
system, but there is no central
operator supervisory control.
1.1. What is a
process control?

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Process control is an engineering
discipline that deals with
architectures, mechanisms, and
algorithms for controlling the
output of a specific process. This
can be as simple as making the
temperature in a room kept
constant or as complex as
manufacturing an integrated circuit.

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In practice, the industrial processes are different
in behavior, architecture and characteristics. So,
they can be characterized as one or more of the
following forms :
1. DISCRETE PROCESSES.
2. BATCH PROCESSES.
3. CONTINUOUS
PROCESSES.
4. HYBRID PROCESSES.

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Discrete process : it can be
found in many manufacturing,
motion and packaging
applications. Robotic assembly,
such as that found in
automotive production, can be
characterized as discrete
process control. Most discrete
manufacturing involves the Robot arm control in a discrete process.

production of discrete pieces of

product, such as metal
stamping.
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Batch process : where some applications require that
specific quantities of raw materials be combined in
specific ways for particular durations to produce an
intermediate or end result. One example is the production
of adhesives and glues, which normally require the mixing
of raw materials in a heated vessel for a period of time to
form a quantity of end product. Other important examples
are the production of food, beverages and medicine. Batch
processes are generally used to produce a relatively low to
intermediate quantity of product per year (a few pounds to
millions of pounds). 14
Batching processes. 15
Continuous process : often, a physical system is
represented though variables those are smooth and
uninterrupted in time. The control of the water
temperature in a heating jacket, for example, is a form
of continuous process control. Some important
continuous processes are the production of fuels,
chemicals and plastics. Continuous processes, in
manufacturing, are used to produce very large
quantities of product per year, millions to billions of
pounds.
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Continuous reject process
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Hybrid processes : Applications having
elements of discrete, batch and continuous
process control are often called hybrid
applications.

Product line processes as a hybrid process

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1.2. What does a control
system do?

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1. Measurement process
for the variable to be
controlled, or collecting
data from the controlled
plant. This is done by
sensors or data 20
2. Comparison between the
measured variable and a
reference value, doing some
calculations to get the
change in the variable, or
data processing for the
collected data. This is done 21
3. Making a final decision in
order to maintain the
sensed variable within a
desired range, or sending
some control signals to the
controlled plant. This is
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The following sample of
examples illustrates the
process manual control steps
and the corresponding
automatic process control
scheme.
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1. Level process control :

Manual level process control steps.

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Automatic level process control system.
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2. Heating process control :

Manual heating process control steps

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Automatic heating control system

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So, the final goal of the control is to
maintain or adapt desired conditions in a
physical system or an industrial process
by adjusting selected variables in that
system. This can be done by making a use
of an output signal of the system to
influence an input signal of the same
system, which called feedback control. 28
1.3. Why is control
necessary?

29
The control and dynamic operation is an
important factor in an industrial process
design. In other words, the industrial
processes need some degree of control
for two main reasons :

30
1. The first one is to maintain the
controlled conditions or variables
in a physical system or an
industrial process at the desired
values when small or large
disturbances occur.
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2. The second reason is to respond to
changes in the desired values by
adjusting the selected variables in
the process. The response is based
on the analysis of the process
operation and objectives.
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Finally, the process control will assure the following
issues :
a. Safety.
b. Environmental protection.
c. Equipment protection.
d. Smooth plant operation.
e. Product quality.
f. Profit optimization.
g. Monitoring and diagnosis
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These issues are usually translated into values
of the system or process variables such as
temperature, pressure, flow rate, liquid level,
speed of a motor or conveyor, displacement
… and so forth which are to be controlled.

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1.4. Why is control
possible?

35
If the plant or the industrial process
equipment is not properly designed, the
control system will perform poorly,
inadequately or might be impossible.
Therefore, when designing an industrial
process or a plant, several considerations
must be accounted such as :

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a. Providing adequate equipment : which means
including adequate rapidly responded sensors for
the process variable and appropriate final control
elements so that the control actions can be taken in
real time? Moreover, such sensors and final
control elements should be shielded and protected
against the surrounding effects due to the process
operation.
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b. Expected changes in the plant variables :
which concerns about the anticipation of the
expected changes in the process disturbances or
the desired values of the controlling variables
and providing or adding adequate equipment
during the plant design? So, the adequate design
calculations must be based on the expected
changes.
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c. Adding a percentage extra
capacity for the equipment sizing :
this is to allow the plant equipment to
respond to all expected disturbances
or system variables by merely adding
a percentage extra capacity in
accordance to the anticipated changes. 39
If the previous considerations are not
correct, or the plant design is not accurate,
the control may not be possible and the
plant operation through manipulating the
final control elements may not be
achieved.

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1.5. How can control
be done?

41
1. In simple process control, it
can be done using the human
feedback.
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2. In complex processes the feedback actions
are automated by sensing, calculating,
manipulating the controlled variables by
communicated parts of the control system.
Currently, most automatic control is
implemented using electronic equipment at
some levels of current or voltage to represent
the values to be communicated.
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3. So, one can say that, the process
control is done automatically using
instrumentation and computation
that perform all the features of
feedback control without requiring
or allowing the human intervention.
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1.6. Where can
control be
implemented?

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In order to operate an industrial process on a
minute-to-minute basis, a lot of information
from much of the process has to be available
at a central location which known as the
control room or control center. Such control
scheme is generally known as SCADA
system where :
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1.Sensors and control elements are located
in the process.

2. Signals which are mostly electronic or

communications with the control center to
be viewed to the operator.

3. Distances between the process and the

control center ranges from few hundred
feet to a mile or more.
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4. In some processes,
small control panels are
used nearby the
equipment to allow
access to them.

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Local and centralized control equipment 49