This is an electrical engineering discipline focused on the design of regulated systems including their control by means of feedback loops. The regulated variable is usually temperature, whether it is, for example, the temperature control of a refrigerator or the heating of urban housing estates. The concept of measurement and control can be encountered e.g. in boiler rooms, industrial halls, heat exchangers etc. M&R includes, for example, temperature monitoring and maintenance in blood plasma freezers, thermal control for heat transfer stations and many others.
The term can be understood as the automatic control of production procedures in various industries. The central element of automation is the programmable logic controller (PLC), which monitors the process to be controlled through measuring elements and influences it through actuators to achieve the desired state. It is a very broad spectrum field, the essence of which is to replace man with machine to increase production speed and quality.
Can be seen as an alternative name for industrial automation with higher specialization. While industrial automation includes building automation or line automation, the field of process control is focused explicitly on solutions for the automation and control of production and non-production (handling) procedures. As process control, one can imagine controlling a bottling line in a brewery, controlling the mixing of chemical mixtures, controlling single-purpose machines, and more.
They consist of a set of electrical and mechanical elements and their purpose is to transform raw material into a final product. To give you an idea, we can think of a block of aluminium as the raw material and a piston for an internal combustion engine as the final product. The production lines are controlled by PLC (Siemens, Amit) and can be monitored by a SCADA system. The SCADA system is basically a control room where the individual process parameters of the production line are displayed on the display of the controller/operator and these parameters can be further processed (archived, statistics etc.).
The principle of a light barrier is the detection of an object by means of (interrupting) a light beam. According to the design, they are divided into one-way and reflective. A one-way barrier is divided into two elements, one transmitter and one receiver. In contrast, a reflective barrier contains both the transmitter and receiver on one side, with either a mirror or other reflective element on the other side. It is mainly used as an operator safety feature on single-purpose machines, presses where there is a risk of injury to the operator. Nowadays, it is also common to see light barriers in the home with door sensors for detecting people or vehicles. Matrix light barriers are also used as a “touch pad” for touch control of LCD displays.
Contains a set of electronic components typically used to control an autonomous system. It is commonly used to control combustion in the engine of a car.
Used to detect the amount of oxygen in the exhaust gas. Using a lambda probe, it is possible to control the richness of the mixture to improve engine performance while reducing fuel consumption. A distinction is made between rich mixture control (excess fuel, lambda < 1), lean mixture control (excess air, lambda > 1) and stoichiometric mixture control (balanced fuel/air ratio, lambda = 1)
Can usually be thought of as an internal combustion engine system coupled to a generator. The term cogeneration is meant as the “co-generation” of electrical and thermal energy. Thus, both energies are generated simultaneously. The internal combustion engine consumes fuel and the combustion generates heat. The fuel can be natural gas, CNG, diesel, gasoline, rapeseed oil methyl ester, FAME. The heat energy from the fuel is partly converted into mechanical energy and partly remains thermal energy, which is removed by the cooling system through an exchanger, e.g. for heating buildings and structures or for heating water. The mechanical energy is converted into electrical energy by a connected electrical generator. Compressors, air-conditioning units, etc. can also be connected to the internal combustion engine.
Can also be transcribed as electrical switchboard. It is an element of a regulated system which usually houses the control system and its auxiliary circuits in the form of converters, frequency converters, terminals, transformers, etc. It forms a kind of housing for the electrical circuits of the controlled process.
frequency converters – sales, control, software, installation, setup
– scalar
– vector
also known as a heat exchanger station. It is used to transfer heat from the primary circuit (thermal power plant, heating plant) to the secondary circuit, which means “central heating” for heating buildings. The heat is usually transferred via Alfa-Laval heat exchangers with high efficiency and compact dimensions. The secondary circuit also means the domestic hot water DHW circuit. In layman’s terms, domestic hot water is the water that flows in homes from the tap as ‘hot’ water.
Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition. A SCADA system can be thought of as a control room with complete visualization of the technology or automated process. The operator thus has a complete overview of the current status of the automated process and can effectively intervene in it. All displayed process values and parameters can then be archived and used for statistical evaluation. An important role here is played by the so-called OPC server, which mediates the data exchange between the PLC industrial control system (hardware) and the SCADA visualization system (software).
Sometimes also known as Inductive encoder or inductive encoder. It is a position sensor for detecting the presence of objects. It only responds to materials that are “metallic” (ferromagnetic, permeability > 1). The principle is the change in the resonant frequency of the magnetic field due to the presence of the detected object.
Similar to the inductance sensor, this sensor is used to detect an object. However, unlike the inductive sensor, the object to be detected does not need to be made of “metal”. The change in frequency of the internal oscillator due to the change in external capacitance (permittivity) is used for detection.
Used to control the flow of liquids or gases in hydraulic or pneumatic systems. They are usually manufactured in open/closed versions and differ only in the voltage logic. It is either open or closed without voltage.
Used to transport products or media throughout the production process. They can be encountered in e.g. steel mills, gravel pits, opencast mines. The belt is driven by an electric motor with either a gearbox or a frequency converter. The use of a frequency converter allows for infinitely variable speed control to continuously control the transport speed or to save electrical energy.
This is a mechanical device usually with a metal body (usually aluminium alloy) for controlling the flow of gases, especially compressed air. The valve may be binary or proportional. A binary valve can only open and close, while a proportional valve can continuously control the flow of gas or air.
This is a mechanical device usually with a metal body to control the flow of fluids, especially hydraulic oil. The valve may be binary or proportional. A binary valve can only “open and close”, while a proportional valve can continuously regulate the fluid flow.
Sometimes also referred to as an EP valve. The abbreviation EPV stands for electric proportional valve. As the name suggests, this type of valve can regulate the flow of the fluid proportionally, i.e. continuously over the entire range from fully open to fully closed. Globally, these are all types of electrically operated valves. An EPV can therefore be pneumatic, hydraulic, etc.
The abbreviation PLC in English stands for Programmable Logic Controller, i.e. programmable control system. It is a hardware means for the automatic control of any technological process where self-control is required. The advantage of using PLC is to increase efficiency, quality and repeatability of production. It can usually be programmed with higher programming languages, i.e. C++, C#, Pascal and derivatives of these languages according to the manufacturers of specific hardware.
Development environment for programming and for creating SCADA systems for Siemens Simatic industrial control systems. A single project in TIA Portal can then contain complete software for a complete set of hardware elements used in a technological process. Thus, there is no need for software for each hardware element separately.
Development environment from Smart Software Solutions used for programming a wide range of PLCs from different manufacturers. These include Wago, ifm electronic, Eaton and others. Software can be created in several different modes from structured text ST to graphical FBD and CFC diagrams. The programming modes in the development environment reflect the European standard IEC61131-3.
A specific approach in programming PLC control systems. Mainly used on the continent of North America, where it is taken as standard. In our country it is similar to line diagrams.
Industrial programmable control system from Siemens. Simatic is a synonym for a reliable and robust control system used from the control of very simple machines or systems to complicated technological processes and systems (oil platforms, nuclear power plants).
Siemens Simatic systems are divided into the following series:
– S7-300
– S7-400
– S7-1200
– S7-1500
– ET200S
– ET200SP
– Also.
Industrial bus developed by Siemens. It enables the connection of industrial control systems and controllers with decentralised remote input and output units. Profibus DP is used as the communication protocol.
A communication protocol developed by Siemens that uses Ethernet as the physical layer. It is deployed for production automation, process automation and drive control (with or without safety orientation).