Proceeding of the 2011 IEEE Students' Technology Symposium

14-16 January, 2011, lIT Kharagpur

Data Logging and Supervisory Control of Process

Using Lab VIEW
Subhransu Padhee, Yaduvir Singh
Department of Electrical and Instrumentation Engineering
Thapar University
Patiala, Punjab, India
subhransu---'padhee@yahoo.com
dryaduvirsingh@gmail.com

Abstract- This paper gives an overview of data acquisition, data

process, application software and personal computing unit.

logging and supervisory control system of a plant consisting of

Many of the networking technologies that have already been

multiple boilers. Data acquisition, data logging and supervisory

available for a long time in industrial automation (e.g.,

control are the basic building blocks of plant automation. This

paper takes a case study of plant consisting of multiple boilers
where multiple process variables of the boilers need to be
acquired from the field and monitored. The data of the process
variables needs to be logged in a database for further analysis
and supervisory control. A LabVIEW based data logging and
supervisory control program
generated data

simulates

are logged in to the

standard and/or proprietary field and control level buses),

besides having undertaken great improvements in the last few
years, have also been progressively integrated by newly
introduced

connectivity

solutions

(Industrial

Ethernet,

Wireless LAN, etc.). They have greatly contributed to the

the

technological renewal of a large number of automation

database with proper

solutions in already existing plants. Obviously, even the

the

process and

indication about the status of the process variable.

Keywords-data acquisition, data logging, supervisory control

software technologies involved in the corresponding data

exchange processes have

been

greatly improved;

as an

example, today it is possible to use a common personal

I.

INTRODUCTION

computer

Acquiring multiple data, the data may be analog or discrete

in nature from the field or process at high speed using multi
channel data acquisition system, processing the data with the
help of a data processing algorithm and a computing device
and displaying the data for the user is the elementary need of
any industrial automation system [1,3,6]. Modem day process
plants, construction sites, agricultural industry [9], petroleum,
power distribution network [8,13], wireless sensor network
[11], refinery industry and every other industry where data is
of prime importance use wireless data acquisition,

data

field

with

the

help

of

different

sensor

is

order

field, the signal conditioning and processing operations are

performed. In signal conditioning operation, different noises
which are super imposed in the original process signal is
removed

and

the

signal

is amplified. After

the

signal

conditioning operation, signal is given to a signal processing

algorithm which processes the signal and stores the data in a
memory unit.
With

the

advantage

of

technology

personal

computers with PC I, PXVCompact PCI, PCMCIA, USB,

even

complex

remote

This paper takes a case study of a boiler. Different control

overview of modem day data acquisition system, data loggers
and supervisory control techniques. In the case study a
LabVIEW based data acquisition and data logging program is
used to log the measurements of different process variable
data in a database. The database also shows the status of the
process variable as normal and not normal.
II.

DATA ACQUISITION, DATA LOGGING AND

SUPERVISORY CONTROL

challenging. Different kinds of noises are super imposed in the

data. Data comes from the field with the help of transducers

implement

techniques of the boiler are shown. This paper also gives an

always

and data acquisition system. After acquiring data from the

to

industrial plants [14].

processing and data logging equipments. Acquiring data from

the

in

supervisory tasks of simple as well as highly sophisticated

A.

Data Acquisition
Most measurements begin with a transducer, a device

that

converts

measurable

physical

quantity,

such

as

temperature, strain, or acceleration, to an equivalent electrical

signal.

Transducers

are

available

for

wide

range

of

measurements, and come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and

specifications. Signal conditioning can include amplification,
filtering,
sample

differential
and

hold

applications,

(SS&H),

isolation,

simultaneous

current-to-voltage conversion,

voltage-to-frequency conversion, linearization and more.

IEEE 1394, ISA, VXI, serial and parallel ports are used for
data acquisition, test and measurement and automation [5].
Personal computers are linked with the real world process with
the help of OPC, DDE protocol and application software is
used to form a closed loop interaction between the real world

TS11PACSOP013

978-1-4244-8943-5/11/$26.00 2011 IEEE

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Proceeding of the 2011 IEEE Students' Technology Symposium

14-16 January, 2011, lIT Kharagpur

Ill.

CASE STUDY

Steam boiler is a device used to convert water to steam at a

required pressure and temperature by applying heat. Fuel is
burnt in the boiler furnace to generate the heat. The boiler fuel
can be coal or furnace oil. Boilers are available in two basic
designs: fire-tube and water tube. Boilers should produce
steam at high pressure and temperature to meet maximum
work efficiency. These conditions are achievable only with
water tube boilers. Boilers efficiency ranges from 65% to 90%.
Boiler feed pump or steam injector feeds water in to the boiler.
The pump may be of reciprocating type or centrifugal type.
Figure 2 shows the schematic diagram of a power plant

I Q,

consisting of a boiler, condenser, turbine and a pump.

Figure I: Schematic diagram of data acquisition system

Figure 1 shows the schematic diagram of data

acquisition system. Sensor is used to sense the physical
parameters from the physical world. The output of the sensor
is provided to the signal conditioning element. The main
purpose of signal conditioning element is to remove the noise
of the signal, amplify the signal. The output of the signal

controller and display element.

data storage embrace both digital computer memory and that

old traditional standby-paper. There are two principal areas
where recorders or data loggers are used. Recorders and data
loggers are used in measurements of process variables such as
H
temperature, pressure, flow, p , humidity; and also used for
scientific and engineering applications such as high-speed
testing (e.g., stress/strain),

statistical analyses,

and other

laboratory or off-line uses where a graphic or digital record of

selected variables is desired. Digital computer systems have
the ability to provide useful trend curves on CRT displays that
could be analyzed.

C.

Condenser

Figure 2: Schematic diagram of power plant

Cooling water

A water tube boiler is a type of boiler in which water

circulates in tubes heated externally by the fire. Fuel is burned
inside the furnace, creating hot gas which heats water in the
steam-generating tubes. The heated water then rises into the
steam drum. Here, saturated steam is drawn off the top of the
drum. Superheated steam is used to drive turbines. Since water
droplets

can

severely

damage

turbine

blades,

steam

is

superheated to 730F (388C) or higher to ensure that there is

no water content in the steam. A significant advantage of the
water tube boiler is that there is less chance of a catastrophic
failure: there is not a large volume of water in the boiler nor
are there large mechanical elements subject to failure.
Superheated Steam

After data acquisition and data logging function are

supervisory

Supcr heated steam

'---------'

Supervisory Control

completed

Boiler

. ,

Data Logging

current and future reference. Today, alternative methods of

.1

Fluegas

!LI----''I-- Q, ----, ------'

the analog signal to the equivalent digital data. The equivalent

digital data is then fed to the computer, which acts both as a

Once data has been acquired, there is a need to store it for

conditioning system is provided to ADC. The ADC converts

B.

w' ----Q

Saturated liquKi

aI hg
; h lemperalure

control

comes

in

to

action.

In

Wet Steam

100' C

supervisory control the computer which acts as a controller

compares the signal coming from the process with the

Sens ible heat

reference value or set point to calculate the error. According to

of water

O'C

the value of error the controller gives a decision which is also

said to be as control action. The decision or control action is
implemented in the process using actuator and final control

Latent heat of
evaporation

Temp

(QC)

Latent heat of
fusion

element. The output of the controller is given to the digital to

analog converter, which is then conditioned according to the
process needs. The final signal is passed to the process and
control action is implemented in the process through actuator
and final control element.

'------ .
Enthalpy (KeaVkg)

Figure 3: Graph between enthalpy and temperature

Figure 3 shows the graph between enthalpy and

temperature. There are three stages of the steam generation. In
first stage the heat is added to the water to raise its
temperature to boiling point (saturation temperature). This

TSllPACSOP013

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Proceeding of the 2011 IEEE Students' Technology Symposium

14-16 January, 2011, lIT Kharagpur

heat is called sensible heat denoted by hw. In second stage the

boilers and are logged in to the database. The program also

heat is added to the boiling water under constant pressure.

calculates the normal condition of the operation and not

With increase in heat the stage is changed from water to steam

normal condition of operation and indicates the label in the

without increase in temperature. This stage is called the latent

database. The operator can change the set point of the steam

heat stage and the steam produced is called the dry steam. In

temperature and drum level of boilers according to the process

the third stage the steam is dried and the steam temperature is

needs. There is also a tool for boiler selection where only one

raised from saturation temperature to the desired extent.

boiler can be selected at a time.

There are different kinds of losses in boilers. Loss in

efficiency

is

reported

mainly

because

of

incomplete

Scale factor calculation

combustion of carbon, unburned fuels, moisture content in

fuel and external radiation.

Boiler is a high pressure device which is required to

be operated with safe permissible limits. Safe handling of

known as Indian Boiler Act-1923.

One of the major problems in boiler control systems is the
inverse effects of the two-phase liquid level control that
generate the typical shrink & swell. This phenomenon exists
whenever the steam demand increases producing a drop in
drum fluid pressure. The drum level controller replenishes the
energy input to the system by increasing the feed-water rate to
the drum tank and, therefore, the steam volume in the water
walls increases. This results on increasing fluid level, even

The transducer output is connected to an 8 bit ADC

(analog to digital converter) data acquisition (DAQ)

and can get burst. Bursting of boiler can extensively damage

Indian government has formulated an act which is popularly

Level transducer gives linear output of 0 to 1 volt for

o to 2m of water level.

boiler is foremost important otherwise the boiler gets damaged

property and man power. For safe handling of boiler unit the

Temperature transducer gives a linear output of 0 and

1 volt for OC to 100e.

module having an input range of 0 to 1 volt.

Scale factor for level

2/255

Scale factor for temperature

0.0078

100/255

0.39

The following section shows the LabVIEW based

front panel and block diagram developed for data acquisition,
data logging and supervisory control. There are three boilers
namely boiler 1, boiler 2 and boiler 3. The boiler selection tool
allows the operator to select only one boiler at a time. There
are two basic process variables which have to be monitored in
the boiler. These variables are steam temperature and drum
level.

though the expected dynamic behavior would be a drop in

water liquid level (inverse reaction). This inverse effect is
present when the control system uses only the drum water
level as a mass index in the evaporator system.
Steam to
header

Feed forward
controller

I
G- -

Level Set Point

Heat from furnace

+ 1

Figure 5: Block diagram of scaling system of boilers and selection of boilers

Figure 4: Three element control of boiler

To

compensate

the

inverse

reaction

several

control

schemes are available. The one that has been used for years is
the three element controller shown in the Figure 4.
IV.
This

paper

LabVIEW

from multiple boilers.

experimentation,
generate

PROBLEM FORMULATION

develops

Figure 5 shows the block diagram of the program

where a boiler selection tool is used to select a single boiler

based

data

the

Because of the simulation based

random number generators are used to

process

data.

The

random

numbers

are

subsequently scaled to a proper unit and used in the boilers.

acquisition, data logging and supervisory control technique for

three boilers (Boiler 1, Boiler 2 and Boiler 3). The data for
steam temperature and drum level are acquired from the

TSllPACSOP013

331

Proceeding of the 2011 IEEE Students' Technology Symposium

14-16 January, 2011, lIT Kharagpur

Date 1__-----,
<II-------,

161-

Concatenate Strin s
:

---,
Temp(Qr---L-------T--4:::
s
S
t
ta
em
I----------.
=:
urr-
p(mH
T Level
'181::

"'.
i...
Level Status
Enter File Name
'be: data.xls
en or create ...

o 0

I ========---

Format Into Strin

[%0

,'lV"""""'"

Figure 6: Block diagram of data logging system of boilers

Figure 6 shows the block diagram of data logging part of the

program. Figure 5 is used as the sub VI in figure 6 and the
high and low limit of the process variable is specified. If the
data generated is well within the desired level then "normal"
tag is assigned or else "not normal" tag is assigned. All the
data is logged in to the database with appropriate date and
time and the status of the process variable either normal or
not normal. The database is shown in table I.
V.

BOILER 1

BOILER 3

BOILER 2
lpuPl

to"".
100:

t,,,,,.

100:

'0 :,]

1.5 :
I-

00'
60'
10'

0.5 0-

20'

0'.

SIMULATIONS AND RESULTS

8l:

L.uPl

t,,,,,.

2 ..---.
:1.5:
I:

100:

0'

there are three boilers and the level and temperature of each

I.S
I:

60'
10'
20'
0'.

0:"

_
_
_

BOILER SELECIIOH IDOL

4,
IKlI1fRI

The front panel of the plant is shown in figure 7 where

00:

0.5'

20 :

L.. ,1

0.5,
0'

;1Kl11fR2
,
8l11fR3

J
,
8l11fR2

boiler is clearly indicated. The SCADA unit is interfaced

with the real time plant and the front panel of the SCADA
unit reports every change in level and temperature to the
operator by showing the change in level and temperature in
the front panel. The operator can select any one of the boiler

SCALE--BOILERI

SCALE--BOILER2

LEUEL(.)

TEIf(C)

'Mil

IEIf (C)

!m

SCALE--BOILER3

LEUEL (.)

LEUEL(.)

TEIf(C)

@]

'Mil

using the boiler selection tool provided. The scaling factors

of the boilers are indicated in the front panel.

Figure 7: Front panel of boiler selection and scaling factors of boiler

Figure 8 shows the data logging front panel of the system.

In this data logging system the real time trend of the process
variable (steam temperature and drum level) are shown and
all the data are stored in the database. The high and low
units

TSllPACSOP013

of

steam

temperature

and

drum

level

are

also

332

Proceeding of the 2011 IEEE Students' Technology Symposium

14-16 January, 2011, lIT Kharagpur

PM
4: 15:25
PM
4: 15:26
PM
4: 15:27
PM
4: 15:28
PM
4: 15:29
PM

mentioned in the front panel. The boiler selection tool can

select any of the boilers from the mUltiple boilers.

8/6/2010
8/6/2010

Cluster

8/6/2010

Tank

Theroooeter
2:

8/6/2010

I,S'

Y""",""", ;m l
!!1m I
!!1m2
!!1m3
Slide

8/6/2010

88,14

Normal
Not
Normal
Not
Normal

1.771

Not
Normal
Not
Normal

61.23

Normal

1,064

Normal

73,71

Normal

0,924

49.14

Normal

1,526

Normal
Not
Normal

14,04

0,084

The database appends all the data of the process variables as

seen in table I. This database can be used to monitor the
process data in present as well as for future reference. This
data

can

also

be

used

for

statistical

process

control

applications.
VI.
This

paper

CONCLUSION

emphasizes

on

the

data

. ..
acqUisItion,

supervisory control and data logging aspect of an industrial

process. These areas are of prime importance for computer
control of an industrial process. The industrial process
o

111

nne

III

which is under consideration is a plant with multiple boiler

1111

units whose process data (level and temperature) should be

Trre

acquired from the field, logged in a database and the data is

further used for supervisory control. This paper discusses
various methods of data acquisition, data logging and
supervisory control and the modem development in the area.

Figure 8: Front panel of data logging system of boilers

It also discusses the different control requirement and three

Table I shows the database which is generated by

element control scheme for boiler unit. For simulation

the system. The database is generated in Microsoft excel file

purpose this paper used LabVIEW which is basically used

and

in virtual instrumentation domain. LabVIEW based data

stored

in

the

computer.

In

this

the

reading

of

temperature and level are logged with appropriate date and

acquisition, data logging and supervisory control modules

time and the status of the level and temperature.

are generated and all are simulated in the industrial boiler

TABLE I.
Date

8/6/2010
8/6/2010
8/6/2010
8/6/2010
8/6/2010
8/6/2010
8/6/2010
8/6/2010
8/6/2010
8/6/2010
8/6/2010
8/6/2010
8/6/2010

Time

3:48: 19
PM
3: 48: 20
PM
3: 48: 21
PM
3: 51: 34
PM
3: 51:34
PM
3: 51:35
PM
3: 51:36
PM
3: 51: 37
PM
3: 51: 38
PM
3: 51:39
PM
4: 15: 23
PM
4: 15: 23
PM
4: 15: 24

TSllPACSOP013

plant. The data generated is stored in a database. The

DATABASE STORED IN EXCEL FILE

BITemp(c )

7,8
19,11
14,82
83,85
9.36
70,98

Temp
Status

Not
Normal
Not
Normal
Not
Normal
Not
Normal
Not
Normal

BI-Level
(m)

database stores the real time process data along with time
Level
Status

0,07

Not
Normal
Not
Normal
Not
Normal

0,686

Normal

1.127

Normal

1.449

Normal

1.498

Normal

0.336
0.455

1.47

Normal

1.95

Normal
Not
Normal
Not
Normal
Not
Normal

1.337

67,08

Normal

0,056

Normal
Not
Normal

47,58

Normal

0,609

Normal

52,65
83,85

Normal
Not

1.435
0,525

Normal
Normal

75,27
18,72

stamp and status of the process variable. The database can

further be used for statistical process control applications.
In future scope of the paper, a wireless web based data
acquisition, data logging and supervisory control system can
be implemented. The main advantage of wireless web based
data acquisition system is that any authorized person any
where in the world can access the real time process data
with the help of internet. The main concern area of web
based data logging and supervisory control system is the
security of data and authentication of the user. To solve the
above security need a firewall can be implemented.
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