Lesson 8 - Process Control and Instrumentation End of Unit SAQ
This lesson allows you to test yourself on the material covered in the Process Control and Instrumentation unit and determine the level to which you have met the learning outcomes.
Suggested Response - Q5
*** What would be important considerations and choices to make if you looked at your automation system as a whole? How do they interact with each other? You can base your answer on the hierarchy of control.
Response:
The three largest considerations would be the size of the operation, the complexity of the process, and the budget.
The bigger the operation, and the more complex it is, the more we can justify using systems that interact at an enterprise level to integrate all the information.
Even for mid-size organisations, management information allows for ongoing optimisation.
At a supervisory and control level, we might need to decide whether to use PLC or PC based systems. PC based systems could provide higher level outputs. However, for larger operations, PLC systems provide more robust control. For very small operations, control could also be in the form of standalone controllers.
At a field level, there are two considerations with regard to hardware. Firstly, we must decide whether a fieldbus or conventional wiring would be appropriate. Secondly, we must consider our specifications for the instruments and control elements within our process.
Bigger, more complex operations can generally afford the price tags associated with higher levels of automation.