Notes

What is Industrial Automation & How it Evolved
What is industrial Automation

Industrial Automation can be a technique in which we make give human control to machines. In industrial automation machines are programmed to accomplish the tasks which people accustomed to achieve. Why it is done? Because of its advantages:

Through Industrial automation we are able to do mass production with less manpower
Quality from the method is increased
Safety of man & tools are increased
More accurate process control
Since human intervention is less so reliability with the system is higher
Systems operate is low energy, more electronic control so equipment our life is higher
Changes in process logic becomes easier since logics are changed mostly through software

Principal Industrial Automation MNCs

L & T • ALSTOM

Schneider • FESTO

Siemens • Fuji Electric

Allen Bradley • Toshiba

Messung • TATA Honeywell

Modicon • Omron

Mitsubishi • Fanuc

Asia Automation • Delta

How industrial automation control system Evolved?

Initially automation was achieved through manual control, operators utilized to control the task each and every step. Human intervention was there at each step. Drawbacks were low quality output, errors involved with human involvement affected compromised safety, wastage of raw material, and accuracy of human action.

Then came Pneumatic Control: Industrial automation within this era was achieved through invention of pneumatic controllers in early 1920s. Automation was achieved by controlling air to pneumatic valves, which in turn were actually switched on/off by relays and switches. They were very bulky and changing from the logic was very complex procedure since a great deal of rework was required to accomplish difference in logic. So time come to complete task changes was very high

Hard wired logic control: contactors, relays (for switching), timers and counters (for timing and counting) were utilized for achieving desired industrial automation. But these systems also resulted into bulky panels. A lot of wiring was involved so time taken up complete task was higher. Defect investigation & troubleshooting was complex.

Electronic Control using Logic Gates: In early 60s electronics dominated the method, electronic logic gates were utilized for achieving logical operations. they replaced switching devices like relays and contactors inside the control circuits. home & counters replaced mechanical timers & counters. Due to use of electronics space as well as requirements reduced, maintenance requirement reduced & systems were more reliable.
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