Introduction
Automation impacts everyday life from the manufacturing, packaging,
and delivery of products to the conveniences and services that make
life easier. Its focus is to control processes and surroundings to make
life more productive, relaxed, secure, and efficient. Automated
processes and environments reduce and often eliminate the number of
steps that must be performed by the operator or user making it easier
to achieve a task or control an environment.
Automation consists of 3 market segments industrial, building, and
commercial/residential. Industrial automation is utilized primarily in
factories and warehouses to automate the product life cycle. Industry
automates as many machine functions, processes, or production lines
as possible attempting to maximize efficiency and provide a
competitive, inexpensive product. Market leaders in the industrial
realm include Rockwell Automation and Siemens.
Building automation is employed in multistory, commercial buildings
and focuses on maximizing the operating efficiency of an environment
while providing a secure and comfortable work area. Areas of control
include heating, ventilation, air conditioning, fire and intrusion
detection, access control, electrical and video surveillance systems.
The building automation arena includes companies such as T.A.C.,
Johnson Controls, and Honeywell.
Commercial/residential automation is utilized in offices, stores and
homes to deliver control and convenience to the end user by
simplifying daily tasks. Commercial/residential automation focuses on
environmental elements such as lighting, air conditioning, security,
and access. Market innovators in this space include AMX, Lutron, and
Crestron.
Genesis
Prior to the introduction of electrical automation, systems consisted of
electromechanical devices “hardwired” together to form a process such
as an automobile assembly line. Design and construction of such
‘hardwired’, mechanical assembly lines required a large amount of
time and manpower to implement and maintain. GM, which utilized
large assembly lines, recognized the need to replace electromechanical
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systems with a flexible, cost effective, reliable alternative as a means
of staying competitive.
In 1968, GM wrote the design criteria for the first programmable logic
controller otherwise known as a PLC. One year later the first PLC was
introduced on an assembly line heralding the automation industry as
we know it today. Over time automation has migrated to industries
ranging from health care, food and beverage, packaging/material
handling, utilities (water/waste water management), security,
entertainment (amusement park rides, Broadway productions).
Recent trends show movement into the residential market.
What is Automation?
Automation is making an operation/process ‘automatic’ with the
objectives of higher efficiency, greater flexibility, lower costs,
improved quality and productivity. Initial automation systems,
deployed for the automotive industry, were simple on/off devices
controlled by a series of switches. These systems highlight the
components that are the basis for all automation systems: inputs,
outputs, and a logical or decision making unit.
INPUTS
Signals
Decision Making/
Logical Unit
Control
OUTPUTS
Motor
Figure i. Basic components of Automation Systems
An automation system, represented in Figure i, reads input signals
from sensors which are fed to the logical or decision making unit. This
logical unit, otherwise known as a programmable logic controller or
PLC, makes decisions based on these input signals, resulting in the
update of outputs. Updating an output can have two consequences:
either a change of state or no change of state. For example, a change
of state means the device connected to the output has changed from
an ‘on’ state to an ‘off’ state or vice versa. No change in state means
the device simply stays in the same mode of operation such as either
‘on’ or ‘off’.
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Technology improvements have led to smarter, less expensive
automation solutions capable of handling far more complex processes.
Additionally, systems are no longer limited to a single location but may
be distributed across the world and connected via some form of data
communication link such as a local area network or wireless
communications. Innovation is leading to a still greater impact on
industry as industrial machines are integrated with new information
technologies, combining production, development, sales and
management levels.
A major contributor to innovation is the trend of moving away from
proprietary or closed systems towards open systems. A proprietary
system locks the customer into a limited vendor pool and is often
subject to the whims of a small knowledge base. This leads to less
innovation and no competition many times resulting in higher prices
and stagnating technology. An open system is based on uniform
industry standards allowing for the use of products from multiple
vendors across a unified network. Open systems reduce cost, increase
flexibility, and add greater choice.
Automation System Types
There are two types of Automation Systems: SCADA and DCS. SCADA
or Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition Systems gather real time
information to monitor and control the plant status for industries such
as oil and gas, refining, water and waste management. The systems
utilize centralized control and cover large geographic areas
necessitating the use of a variety of communication systems to gather
data from sensory points and issue commands to control points. The
communications are typically less reliable and slow in comparison to a
typical Local Area Network (LAN) configuration.
Figure ii. Generic view of a control system.
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DCS or Distributed Control Systems are similar to SCADA but the
sensory and control points are usually located in a more confined area.
Communications may be via LAN and are normally high speed and
very reliable. A true DCS system provides a centralized control that
communicates with remote nodes operating independently. Each node
has the capability to monitor and control a specific process while
keeping the centralized control apprised of its progress. The
centralized control acts as a communications point that allows the
completed work from one remote node to be passed to the next in an
orderly and timely manner.
Roles
The automation of any machine function, process, or production line is
a complex, challenging, and stimulating process that requires a team
effort from all involved. The primary participants are the customer,
sales engineers, and engineering. Industrial Distribution graduates
typically fill the role of, but are not limited to, sales engineering. Sales
engineers visit the customer and are charged with identifying
opportunities to deploy new products or improve existing automation
solutions. These opportunities are conveyed to engineering by the
sales engineer.
The engineer proposes a solution to meet the customer and sales
engineer’s expectations. When the customer accepts the proposal the
sales engineer manages the communication channel between the
customer and engineering. This requires a personable, creative
individual, knowledgeable in the technical aspects of automation
systems.
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