PROCESS CONTROL &

AUTOMATION

BY

SOBUKOLA, O.P. (PhD)/KAJIHAUSA,

O.E. (MRS)
Department of Food Science & Technology,
University of Agriculture, PMB 2240, Abeokuta,
Nigeria.
sobukolaop@unaab.edu.ng

Grading
Continuous Assessment Test CAT
20%
Examination

- 70%

Attendance - 10%
Total

- 100%

Course Outline
Lecture 1- Introduction
Lecture 2- Control Systems
Lecture 3- Measuring and Detecting Elements
Lecture 4- Control Actions
Lecture 5- Frequency response Analyses
Lecture 6- Computer-based Systems

LECTURE ONE
INTRODUCTION
Automatic control has played a vital role
in the advance of engineering and
science. In addition to its extreme
importance in space-vehicle systems,
robotic systems and the like, automatic
control has become an important and
integral part of modern manufacturing
and industrial processes.

- A process is the transformation of a

set of inputs, which may be material,
actions, methods and operations into
desired outputs in the form of a
product.
- Control - means measurement of the
performance of a process and the
feedback required and corrective
actions where necessary.
- Automation Automation means
reductions in the use of direct labour
during food processing.

Advantages of Automation include:

Consistency and accuracy in the positioning
of moving parts of an equipment.
A more consistent product.
The more economic use of existing plant by
saving of fuel/and or electrical energy.
The release of skilled personnel for other
productive work .
Reduction of physical effort with
consequent reduction of fatigue and
boredom
Improved working conditions.

Limitations of automation:
Initial cost is high
power fluctuations,
Lack of skilled personnel etc.

Basic steps in process control are:

Measurement of the process variable;
Evaluation and comparison with
desired level; and
Control of the required level of the
parameter involved

LECTURE TWO
Definition of some terms in process control
Controller A device that measures a variable
condition (Temperature, pressure, humidity,
moisture content) like thermostats, humidistat or
pressure controllers.
Control system consist of controller, controlled
device and source of energy or input.
Controlled device it reacts to the signal
received from a controller and varied the flow of
the controlled agents. Valve, damper, electric
relay or a motor driving a pump, fan etc.
Control agents the medium being manipulated
by the action of controlled device e.g. air or gas.

 Controlled variables are system parameters

which are under control e.g. Temperature,
pressure, humidity etc.
Manipulated variable is the quantity or
condition that is varied by the controller so as
to affect the value of the controlled variable.
Plant This may be a piece of equipment or a
set of machine parts functioning together,
the purpose of which is to perform a
particular operation.
Disturbances A disturbance is a signal that
tends to adversely affect the value of the
output of a system.

CONTROL SYSTEMS
Self controlled systems
Pneumatic system
Hydraulic system
Electrical system
Electronic System

LECTURE THREE
MEASURING AND DETECTING
ELEMENTS (SENSORS)
They are the main interfere between
the control system and process. In
food processing, they are required for
incoming material selection; material
waste control; process quality control;
packaging inspection; equipment
maintenance/failure prediction,
environmental control.

Block diagram
A control system consist of a number
of components that perform certain
factors which are represented by
block diagram in control engineering.
It is a pictorial representation of
functions performed by each
component and of the flow of signals.
It depicts the interrelationships that
exist among the various components.

Open loop control system Those

systems in which the output has no
effect on the control action. In other
words, in an open loop control system
the output is neither measured nor
fed back for comparison with the
input.
Feedback/Closed loop system- The
term closed-loop control always
implies the use of feedback control
action in order to reduce system error.

LECTURE FOUR
CONTROL ACTIONS
The relationship between the deviation and the
signal sent from the controller to the correcting
unit determines the control action.
Most control actions derive their names on the
basis of mathematical or functional relationship
between the output and the error.
An automatic controller compares the actual value
of the plant output with the reference input
(desired value), determines the deviation, and
produces a control signal that will reduce the
deviation to zero or to a small value.
The manner in which the automatic controller
produces the control signal is called the control
action.

Industrial controllers are usually classified

according to their control actions:
Two step Action or on-off controllers
Proportional Action
Integral Control Action
Proportional plus integral control Action
Proportional plus derivative control
Action
Proportional plus Integral plus derivative
control actions

Frequency response of controller

A controller may be regarded as an
amplifier. For sinusoidal input
signals, a controller with proportional
action only gives an output
proportional to the input, but in
phase opposition to it, whatever the
frequency may be.

LECTURE FIVE
FREQUENCY RESPONSE ANALYSIS
Frequency response Is the relationship
between output signal and input signal
when the sinusoidal input is a component
or system is varied over a wide range of
frequencies.
When the plant and the controller are
connected together to form a closed loop,
we have a system similar to a voltage
amplifier with feedback mechanism.

 The input to the controller is a signal

representing the output condition of the
process and the output of the controller is fed
into the process.
The process may be broken down into a series
of individual stages, called transfer stages and
time lags due to the finite time taken for signals
to travel from one point to another.
As the frequency of the input signal is increased
the angle of lag increases, the largest possible
lag for a signal stage being 90o.
The attenuation also increases as frequency is
increased. Attenuation is the production of an
output signal smaller than the corresponding
input.

Frequency response of controller

A controller may be regarded as an
amplifier. For sinusoidal input signals, a
controller with proportional action only gives
an output proportional to the input, but in
phase opposition to it, whatever the
frequency may be.
Transient response and stability
It is time variation of the output signal when
a specified step input signal or disturbance
is applied. The transient response of a
speed control system is illustrated by the
shape of the speed/time graph immediately
following the sudden application of load or a
sudden change in the desired speed setting.

LECTURE SIX
Computer-based systems
The increasingly widespread use of microprocessorbased process controllers over the last twenty years
is due to their flexibility in operation, their ability to
record (or log) data for subsequent calculations and
the substantial reduction in their cost.
Computers can not only be programmed to read
data from sensors and send signals to process
control devices, but they can also store and analyse
data and be connected to printers, communications
devices, other computers and controllers throughout
a plant.
They can also be easily reprogrammed by operators
to accommodate new products or process changes.
Examples of the different types of computer
controlled systems are described below.

Programmable logic controllers (PLCs)

A significant development in process
control during the 1980s was the
introduction of PLCs.
They are based on microcomputers, and
have the same functions as relays, but with
vastly greater flexibility.
Historically, they were first used to replace
relays in simple repetitive applications, but
the greater power was quickly used to
develop other functions, including recipe
storage, data transfer and communications
with higher level computers.

Types of control systems

The different combinations in which
PLCs and larger computers can be
linked together in an integrated
control system can be described in
three categories:
1. dedicated systems
2. centralised systems
3. distributed systems.

Neural networks
Where complex relationships exist
between a measured variable and the
process or product, it has not yet been
possible to automate the process.
Recent developments of expert
systems or neural networks may have
the potential to solve such problems.
These are able to automatically deduce
complex relationships and also to
quickly learn from experience.