Tags: automation, Project Management, Project managers, System, System Integrator
The Economics of Automation – Part 2
Posted by John Clemons
In this last installment on this topic I said that the main purpose of automation is no longer to eliminate labor. That may have been the purpose some decades ago, but it is no longer the purpose of automation.
I spent some time explaining that fundamentally that was the case because if some type of machine or automated equipment could be used to replace manual labor, it would have already been installed a long time ago.
So...
Avoid Mistakes through Design and Migration Planning
Posted by Paul Galeski
Regardless of your plant’s age, your control system is now one of its most critical components.
You cannot operate effectively in the 21st century without a modern control system designed for the way your plant works now—and for the way it will work in the future. Upgrading your control system is much more than a “rip and replace” exercise.
Selecting a Migration Partner
Once you’ve made the decision to upgrade your control system, the first step is to pick a migration partner and begin the planning and design process. A migration partner could be a DCS manufacturer /OEM, the manufacturer of the system be...Initial Settings For PID Controllers
Posted by Jim FordLet’s say you’re the lead configuration engineer on the automation portion of a green-field plant installation project, and you need to give your start-up guys a head start with a set of default PID tuning constants. You want to hand it over in a way that the board operators can place some of their basic controls in auto mode with the expectation that the loops will control fairly close to their setpoints without significant oscillation. The following table offers some time-tested default values for gain, integral time, and derivative time that will work in most common situations as a starting point during initial unit start-up. If your control system uses other tuning constant units (e.g., reset for the integral action, then you’ll have to do the conversion – I’m sure you can handle it).
The Economics of Automation – Part 1
Posted by John Clemons
Back in the ‘60’s and ‘70’s the main purpose of automation was to eliminate labor. Actually, that’s pretty much been the main purpose of automation since the first machine of any kind was rolled onto a factory floor hundreds of years ago.
Eliminating or reducing labor is the purpose behind just about any tool or machine from the invention of the wheel right down to the invention of this laptop computer I’m using to write this blog.
But, you may not realize this, that is all very much in the process of changing and, in many cases, has already changed, and changed dramatically.
I’m not joking. The main purpose of automation used to be to ...
