Industrial control system
An industrial control system (ICS) is an electronic control system and associated instrumentation used for industrial process control. Control systems can range in size from a few modular panel-mounted controllers to large interconnected and interactive distributed control systems (DCSs) with many thousands of field connections. Control systems receive data from remote sensors measuring process variables (PVs), compare the collected data with desired setpoints (SPs), and derive command functions that are used to control a process through the final control elements (FCEs), such as control valves.
Panel mounted controllers with integral displays. The process value (PV), and setvalue (SV) or setpoint are on the same scale for easy comparison. The controller output is shown as MV (manipulated variable) with range 0-100%.
Siemens Simatic S7-400 system in a rack, left-to-right: power supply unit (PSU), CPU, interface module (IM) and communication processor (CP).
A pre-DCS era central control room. Whilst the controls are centralised in one place, they are still discrete and not integrated into one system.
A DCS control room where plant information and controls are displayed on computer graphics screens. The operators are seated as they can view and control any part of the process from their screens, whilst retaining a plant overview.
A control system manages, commands, directs, or regulates the behavior of other devices or systems using control loops. It can range from a single home heating controller using a thermostat controlling a domestic boiler to large industrial control systems which are used for controlling processes or machines. The control systems are designed via control engineering process.
The centrifugal governor is an early proportional control mechanism.
An electromechanical timer, normally used for open-loop control based purely on a timing sequence, with no feedback from the process
Example of a single industrial control loop; showing continuously modulated control of process flow.
A DCS control room where large screens display plant information. The operators can view and control any part of the process from their computer screens, whilst retaining a plant overview on the larger screens.