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3 Monitoring and control (9626)

Monitoring Internal Control Systems and IT

A control system typically comprises of a computer or microprocessor, a control program which
handles data from sensors and sends signals to output devices and an interface box to convert
signals between the sensors and the processor.
The role of computers in control
 Computers can respond very rapidly to change.
 Systems can run 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
 Control systems can operate in places that humans would find dangerous or awkward.
 Outputs are consistent and error free.
 Computers can process data quickly and machines can operate faster than humans.
Computers are now used to control many types of devices such as:
 air conditioning and central heating systems in large buildings
 security systems and burglar alarms
 manufacturing processes
 traffic lights and pedestrian crossings

The role of sensors in control

Sensors are used to measure physical quantities such as temperature, light, pressure, sound, and
humidity. They send signals to the processor. For example:
 A security alarm system may have an infrared sensor which sends a signal when the beam is
broken.
 A heat sensitive sensor in the corner of a room may detect the presence of a person.
 Temperature sensors could be used to control the heating in a large building.
 Magnetic sensors are used to detect metal and can be placed in roads to monitor traffic flow.
Other physical quantities that can be transmitted directly to the computer's processor include:
 rainfall/water levels
 radiation level
 pH level
 oxygen level

Analogue to digital conversion

Data such as pressure, light and temperature is analogue data. Computers can only work
with digital data.
An interface box or analogue to digital converter (ADC) is needed to convert the analogue data
from the sensors into digital data the computer can process.

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Feedback cycle
The diagram below shows a control program for maintaining the water level in a fish tank.

The control
program stores the highest and lowest acceptable water levels and what action to take if they're
exceeded.
The process is continuous and is called a feedback cycle.

Stages of the feedback cycle

1. water level falls too low
2. sensor detects water level is too low
3. valve opened to let water in
4. sensor detects water level is too high
5. valve opened to let water out

A computer-controlled greenhouse
To get the best plant growing conditions temperature and humidity (moisture in the air) have to
be controlled.
The greenhouse therefore has temperature and humidity sensors linked to a computer, and the
computer has a control program storing details of the correct temperature and humidity settings.
The greenhouse is fitted with a heater, sprinkler and window motor, also linked to the computer.
If the humidity falls below the values stored in the program, the computer activates the sprinklers
and closes the windows. If the temperature falls outside the values stored in the program, the
heater is activated by the computer.
The system monitors the conditions night and day with immediate response to any changes. To
alter the growing conditions the values in the computer program can of course be changed.

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How Air Conditioners Work

The Parts of an Air Conditioner
Let's get some housekeeping topics out
of the way before we tackle the unique
components that make up a standard air
conditioner. The biggest job an air
conditioner has to do is to cool the
indoor air. That's not all it does, though.
Air conditioners monitor and regulate
the air temperature via a thermostat.
They also have an onboard filter that
removes airborne particulates from the
circulating air. Air conditioners function
as dehumidifiers. Because temperature
is a key component of relative humidity,
reducing the temperature of a volume of
humid air causes it to release a portion of its moisture. That's why there are drains and moisture-
collecting pans near or attached to air conditioners, and why air conditioners discharge water
when they operate on humid days.

Still, the major parts of an air conditioner manage refrigerant and move air in two directions:
indoors and outside:

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Window and Split-system AC Units

A window air conditioner unit
implements a complete air
conditioner in a small space. The units
are made small enough to fit into a
standard window frame. You close the
window down on the unit, plug it in and
turn it on to get cool air. If you take the
cover off of an unplugged window unit,
you'll find that it contains:

 A compressor
 An expansion valve
 A hot coil (on the outside)
 A chilled coil (on the inside)
 Two fans
 A control unit

The fans blow air over the coils to improve their ability to dissipate heat (to the outside air) and
cold (to the room being cooled).

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Chilled-water and Cooling-tower AC Units

Although standard air conditioners are
very popular, they can use a lot of energy
and generate quite a bit of heat. For
large installations like office buildings,
air handling and conditioning is
sometimes managed a little differently.

Some systems use water as part of the

cooling process. The two most well-
known are chilled water systems and
cooling tower air conditioners.

Most air conditioners have their capacity

rated in British thermal units (Btu). A Btu
is the amount of heat necessary to raise the temperature of 1 pound (0.45 kilograms) of water
one degree Fahrenheit (0.56 degrees Celsius). One Btu equals 1,055 joules. In heating and cooling
terms, one ton equals 12,000 Btu.

A typical window air conditioner might be rated at 10,000 Btu. For comparison, a typical 2,000-
square-foot (185.8 square meters) house might have a 5-ton (60,000-Btu) air
conditioning system, implying that you might need perhaps 30 Btu per square foot. These are
rough estimates. To size an air conditioner accurately for your specific application, you should
contact an HVAC contractor.

Automated Control System for Greenhouse

Environment
Monitoring and control of greenhouse environment play an important role in greenhouse
production and management. Greenhouse monitoring and controlling project is used to measure
the various parameters like Temperature, Humidity and Light and to display them on a LCD.
Temperature, Humidity and light are sensed by respective sensors. Sensor output is amplified
and given to ADC. Micro-controller controls these parameters and keeps them at some
predefined levels using relay interface. Appropriate environmental conditions are necessary for
optimum plant growth, improved crop yields, and efficient use of water and other resources.
Automating the data acquisition process of the soil conditions and various climatic parameters
that govern plant growth allows information to be collected at high frequency with less labor

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requirements.

The existing systems employ PC or SMS-based systems for keeping the user continuously
informed of the conditions inside the greenhouse. This makes the proposed system to be an
economical, portable and a low maintenance solution for greenhouse applications, especially in
rural areas and for small scale agriculturists The objective of this project is to design a simple,
easy to install, micro-controller based circuit to monitor and record the values of temperature,
humidity, soil moisture and sunlight of the natural environment that are continuously modified
and controlled in order optimize them to achieve maximum plant growth and yield

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The automatic monitoring and control of traffic

Techniques for controlling traffic have been in use ever since the automobile became the
standard mode of transportation in the early 1900's. Perhaps the most familiar example is the
stoplight, which in its most basic form uses a simple timer to determine when the light will
change.
The timed traffic light poses a problem for low-traffic intersections, since cars may need to wait
at a red light for an extended period of time, even when there are no cars driving by on the cross
street. This problem is usually solved by embedding a simple inductor-type automobile sensor
just under the surface of the pavement. Controlling high-traffic intersections is more
complicated, and is best handled using algorithms that depend on the number of cars coming
from all directions at any given time, or using human operators to switch the lights based on a
visual observation of the number of cars waiting at the intersection.
In addition to traffic lights, other sensors and traffic related devices commonly used include
cameras, roadside LED displays, street lights, parking lot entrances, and even parking meters.
What has been missing until recently is an easy and economical way to monitor and control the
devices located in a given area, such as at an intersection or a self-service parking lot.

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Controlling Traffic at an Automated Parking Lot

We've all had the experience of entering a large parking lot, only to drive aimlessly around the
lot for several minutes before locating an available space. A combination of sensors and LED
displays can be used to create an effective traffic control system that directs motorists from the
entrance to the nearest empty parking space.

One option is to use sensors that automatically detect which parking spaces are occupied and
which spaces are empty. The sensors can be connected to a UC-7420 through a local RS-485
network. The UC can be programmed to monitor the sensors continuously, and when a car leaves
a space, this information is relayed to a central computer over an Ethernet LAN, or 802.11
wireless LAN. The UC-7420 can also be used to connect the LED displays to a central computer.
The central computer monitors the information from all of the sensors in the parking lot, and
when a car enters the parking lot, it uses the LED displays to direct the driver to the nearest empty
space.

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Scenario created for Poultry Farm using monitoring and control

systems
As poultry production systems become increasingly automated, monitoring systems are being
integrated with control systems to provide growers with real-time and historical information on
how various systems such as environment control, feeding, egg handling, and water are
performing. The use of buildings that are 400 or more feet in length and which may be from
hundreds of feet to miles away from the farm office presents a number of technical problems to
the farm manager who wants to carefully monitor and control the conditions in poultry houses.
The evolution of electromechanical and electronic equipment used in poultry facilities has been
continuously progressing. The reason is simply economics. Monitoring and control systems
greatly reduce labor costs.

They can provide improved environmental conditions and air quality, improved broiler
performance, and opportunities for improved management.

For example, it is sometimes desirable to provide a feeding in the middle of the night.
 Lights and feeders can be scheduled by the control system to introduce this special event.
 Some ventilation control systems provide hourly house temperature targets. This allows
for the house to be cooled at night to maintain daily house temperature targets during
hot weather.

Automatic control systems, if properly used, make flock management more consistent, since
humans tend to forget.
A distinction is made between electronic and electromechanical devices.

An example of an electronic device is an environmental controller with one or more temperature

sensors and one or more relays that are used to activate equipment.

An example of an electromechanical device is a conventional thermostat, which is a

temperature activated relay used to turn on or off equipment such as heaters or fans as air
temperature varies. Either of these example devices can be used to operate a fan. The type of
control system used will also affect the troubleshooting options and approaches when problems
arise.

Overview of typical monitoring and control systems Ventilation, heating and cooling a properly
designed monitoring and control system should be capable of maintaining preset environmental
conditions in the building. Baffles are usually controlled by motor controllers, fans may be either
on-off or variable speed, heaters require on-off control, and evaporative coolers may require
water supply to be automatically turned on and off. Static pressure is usually controlled by
regulation the air inlets on negative pressure houses or the air outlets on positive pressure
houses. Some air quality factors such as temperature are essential to monitor and control. Others
such as ammonia or carbon dioxide may be expensive to monitor (although periodic sampling

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may be desirable), and they may be controlled indirectly. Relative humidity, although a very
important parameter in terms of broiler performance, dust control, and growth of
microorganisms, is typically not monitored or controlled in the U.S. where most poultry houses
use curtains and dirt floors.

In Western Europe where the houses are typically fully enclosed and often have concrete floors,
monitoring and control is usually done with computer-based control systems which monitor and
control temperature, humidity, static pressure, and lights. Management must control the
benefits, risks and costs associated with maintaining good environmental conditions inside
poultry buildings. Different building designs, geographical regions and poultry management
practices determine the air quality factors that need to be considered and that are practical to
deal with. Environmental control can be complicated at times by competing objectives. For
example, it is desirable to heat a pullet house to 90°F and to provide fresh air. In cold weather,
levels of ammonia and carbon dioxide might reach harmful levels if the control system does not
provide a certain level of minimum ventilation.

Feeding
A feeding control system requires some way of knowing when to turn the feeders on and off. It
is important for the same amount of feed to be available at all locations along the feeder and,
especially with some systems, for the desired amount of feed to be presented to the broilers.
Feed monitoring systems are available to measure the amount of feed consumed by broilers. This
can be accomplished in a number of ways: with electronic load cells on the feed bins that record
pre- and post-feeding weights, with an auger run-time monitor, or with a dump scale in which
feed passes into a container that is balanced to a certain weight, and the monitoring system
counts the number of times the container dumps the feed into the surge bin.

This may be desirable, for example, to increase calcium levels for night time feedings.

Lighting
A monitoring and control system should provide scheduling of lights that is easy to use. It is
especially important breeding facilities for precise lighting schedules to be followed. A system
than can pre-program lighting schedules over the life of the flock is very useful for management.
It is also important to provide the desired intensity of light. Dimmers are available in existing
control programs, but it is more common for light intensity to be manually adjusted. Low light
levels require light meters for calibration and checking the light dimmers and levels in the house.

Water
Water flow monitoring can be used to track how much water the broilers are consuming to
quickly detect changes in flock behavior, or to spot problems with the water supply or distribution
system (such as a leak in the water line). By interfacing with appropriate alarms, the monitoring
system can report a 3:00AM water leak to an appropriate farm employee, minimizing potential
losses, wetting of litter or floors, and damage to equipment. C. Fundamentals of conventional
and computer-based control and monitoring systems There are many options for controlling and

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monitoring a poultry house. Depending on the application and the needs of the use, the controls
can vary from simple on-off switches to a fully automated computer-based control system. It is
important that those involved in specifying or using control and monitoring systems for poultry
houses understand the basic operations, capabilities, and limitations of existing equipment as
well as the potential benefits and limitations of more advanced equipment. Since the primary
application of control technology in a poultry house is for control of environment, this application
will be used for most of the following discussion. Similar control and monitoring concepts could
be applied to most other applications in a poultry house (e.g., feeder operation, water
monitoring, egg counting, etc.).

Control systems for poultry houses can usually be classified as conventional or computer-based.
Conventional controls include simple electromechanical devices 11.5 such as on-off thermostats,
pressure switches, single and multi-stage fan controls, and timers for light scheduling. Self-
contained, solid-state controls are also available for these types of tasks. Most conventional
electromechanical controls have sensors which must be located close to the control, they do not
have displays for the controlled variable, and the user who wants to know how well the control
is working must use a second device to monitor the conditions (e.g., a thermometer may be
required for the typical electromechanical thermostat). In contrast, conventional solid-state
controls do have displays for the controlled variable, but it is usually only a local display.

Computer-based controls have several advantages over conventional controls including the
following:
1. They can be programmed for almost any desired type of control including simple on-off,
proportional, time proportioning, (e.g., a light program that varies lights in a house on a cycle
similar to natural outdoor light), etc.
2. The control program can be set up with numerous logical interactions, e.g., turn the
evaporative cooler on if the temperature is > 80°F and the humidity is < 70% or if the temperature
is > 85°F regardless of the humidity.
3. Changes in control strategy require only a change in the program (software), whereas similar
changes in conventional controls require re-wiring the system.
4. The computer-based control system can incorporate local and remote text, graphics, or
animation displays of controlled or monitored conditions at selectable intervals. It can also record
the conditions on removable or permanent disks, and on a print out.
5. The computer-based control system can be designed for phone access or networked to other
computers by wired or wireless systems including one in the home.
6. The computer-based control system can be expanded to include other sensors, functions,
houses, etc. in the future.
7. The computer-based control system has a high reliability and very few or not moving parts.

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Advantages of conventional controls over computer-based controls include:

1. Conventional controls, especially the electromechanical ones, tend to be less susceptible to
damage by electrical surges (although computer-based systems can be protected by appropriate
surge suppressors).
2. Conventional controls are more readily available, easy to replace by unskilled labor and
relatively cheap.

Considerations that need to be taken into account prior to selecting a control and monitoring
system for environmental control include the following:

1. What control accuracy is needed?

2. Will the set points be fixed, cyclic or stepped?
3. How and where will the controlled variables (e.g., temperature, humidity, static pressure, light,
etc.) be sensed by the controls and how will they be monitored and/or recorded?
4. Do the displays need to be local or remote or both?
5. Is it desirable to record some of the environmental parameters like temperature, humidity,
and light level on a permanent record that can be used to develop trend graphs, etc.?
6. Is it likely that the producer will want to change the control strategy in the near future, and if
so, will he/she be willing to re-wire the system to accomplish the new control strategy?
7. What is the potential for improving performance and minimizing losses with optimized control
and monitoring of environment?
8. What is the potential for energy savings with optimized control?
9. Considering the risks of failure in critical parts of the system, what level of reliability is
required?
10. What level of user friendliness is required?

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MODERN PRODUCTION MONITORING IN AUTOMOTIVE PLANTS

In today's automotive plants we find heterogeneous software systems for different types of tasks
either for planning and the manufacturing operations.

IT-systems used for factory planning are summarized as 'digital factory tools'. On the operating
level software systems are not yet integrated and thus they support separate tasks such as

 Production order control,

 Production monitoring,
 Sequence planning,
 Vehicle identification,
 Quality management,
 Maintenance management,
 Material control and others.

Due to the fact that the

work share between
OEM's and suppliers has
moved for the benefit of
the suppliers the OEM's
have to focus more on

Logistics and supply

chain management,
even on the shop floor
level. Today the staff on
the shop floor level
works with production monitoring tools that support manufacturing decisions only based on
production quantities. In case of a facility breakdown or quality inspection results they only know
that a certain number of vehicles is affected but neither the customer orders related to these
vehicles nor their options, e.g. color, right hand-/left hand drive, sun roof, etc. It would be a great
step forward for better and more transparent decisions if the shop floor people could take their
decisions based on identified vehicles/customer orders rather than on undefined production
quantities. This means that in the years to come the above mentioned systems for production
monitoring, maintenance management and logistics control will have to be integrated to allow
better and more transparent decisions and to recognize the impacts from decisions on the shop
floor e.g. on just-in-sequence parts to be provided to the line. Another driver for new software
technologies is the increasing number of vehicle models combined with their shorter life cycles.
IT-systems must be more flexible concerning changes and adaptations to the new models

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requirements.

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