History Of Automation:
During World War- II, the major changeover in the manufacturing field happened. For good quality, high precision with higher production rate components, there was a need for Industrial Automation.
In the initial days, the automation need is catered through Hard-wired relay Logic Control Systems with sequencing.
Numerous applications in various industries are developed like Defence, Automobile, Water Treatment, Textiles, Cement, Machine Tools, Chemical Processes, Paper, Metals, Mining, Agriculture Equipment, etc.
The Industrial Application was developed with the use of many Electronics Controllers and Hard-wired Logic using Power Contactors, Relays, Timers, Counters.
PLC – Programmable Logic Controllers are developed to achieve …
- Improve the manufacturing cycle time
- Flexibility Of Operations
- Programmability
- Consistent product quality
- Minimize downtime
- – Easy troubleshooting
PLCs are used extensively for Conveyors, Process Control and Special Purpose Machine Automation (SPM) Building Automation.
HMI – Human (Man) Machine Interface (HMI / MMI)
HMI is an interface between Human (Man) and machine/device by which human can interact with the machine.HMI interfaces with the machine through PLC.
It is a combination of hardware & software. A human can control/edit/feed/ Monitor the parameters thru HMI to the machine. Similarly, the machine parameters are displayed on the HMI screen & hence the machine data can be acquired.
Applications Of HMI
HMI are extensively used in various areas of industries & numerous applications in machine tools, automotive, pharma, food, Process, Oil & Gas, Paper, Metal processing, etc.
SCADA – The Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA)
It’s a computer system for gathering and analyzing real-time data.
SCADA systems are used to monitor & control a plant or equipment in various industries such as manufacturing, Food, Electric Power generation, transmission and distribution, Wastewater Treatment, Traffic Signal control system, Railways.
By using the SCADA system we can control and monitor equipment at remote locations. We can monitor real-time and historical data like temperature, level, flow, Humidity & detect the problem or errors of machine and processes quickly.
SCADA can handle various communication protocols like Ethernet, Mod bus, Profibus, OPC, LAN for interfacing with PLC.
VFD – The Variable Frequency Drive
To control the speed of AC motors VFD is used. VFD is becoming an almost standard part of all industrial machines. Additionally Energy Saving is also achieved thru VFD by keeping the optimum speed of the motor. By controlling the speed of a pump rather than controlling flow through the use of throttling valves, energy savings can be done substantially.
Sensors / Transducers
In Industrial Automation Sensors are input devices which provide an output (signal) with respect to a specific physical quantity (input).In industrial automation, sensors play a major part to make the products automatic. Sensors can detect, analyze, measure and process a variety of transformations like Temperature, Pressure, Flow, Humidity, Level, Weight, Speed, Vacuum.
