Automation Panels

Panel PC 300 makes a Panel 900 an embedded PC based on a 500-MHz processor. It has 256 Mbytes of SDRAM, Ethernet 10/100, a serial interface, and support for USB 2.0 interfaces. The 900 handles applications that do not require the computing power of an APC620. It comes in 10.4-in. VGA, 12.1-in. SVGA, 15-in. XGA, or 17/19-in. SXGA resolutions, with touch-screens and keys. The 300 does not need a fan, and used with CompactFlash cards, there are no rotating parts.

Process Plant Automation
Process control is used extensively in oil refining, chemical processing, electrical generation and the food and beverage industries where the creation of a product is based on a continuous series of processes being applied to raw materials. Such systems typically deal with analog signals from sensors and meters that are transmitted to specialized computers which cause the temperature, pressure and flow to be continually adjusted (see DCS and PAC). Process control makes extensive use of analog/digital and digital/analog conversion.

SCADA

A SCADA system includes input/output signal hardware, controllers, HMI, networks, communication, database and software. It mainly comes in the branch of Instrumentation Engineering. The term SCADA usually refers to a central system that monitors and controls a complete site or a system spread out over a long distance (kilometres/miles). The bulk of the site control is actually performed automatically by a Remote Terminal Unit (RTU) or by a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC). Host control functions are almost always restricted to basic site over-ride or supervisory level capability. For example, a PLC may control the flow of cooling water through part of an industrial process, but the SCADA system may allow an operator to change the control set point for the flow, and will allow any alarm conditions such as loss of flow or high temperature to be recorded and displayed. The feedback control loop is closed through the RTU or PLC; the SCADA system monitors the overall performance of that loop.

The PCC could be defined by the engineer at any point in the system (such as at an MCC bus) but it is usually understood to be the point where the customer connects to the utility (unless otherwise stated). Even though engineers are free to apply IEEE 519 at other points in the system to require equipment compliance, the standard is still intended to be a system specification. European IEC 61800 specifications, on the other hand, are equipment (rather than system), based.

Process control is used extensively in oil refining, chemical processing, electrical generation and the food and beverage industries where the creation of a product is based on a continuous series of processes being applied to raw materials. Such systems typically deal with analog signals from sensors and meters that are transmitted to specialized computers which cause the temperature, pressure and flow to be continually adjusted (see DCS and PAC). Process control makes extensive use of analog/digital and digital/analog conversion.