What is industrial Automation

Industrial Automation is a technique in which we make give over human control to machines. In industrial automation machines are designed to accomplish the tasks which human beings utilized to achieve. Why it is done? Because of its advantages:

Through Industrial automation we are able to do mass production with less manpower

Quality with the product is increased

Safety of individual & devices are increased

More accurate process control

Since human intervention is less so reliability of the system is higher

Systems operate is low power supply, more electronic control so equipment life is higher

Changes in process logic becomes easier since logics are changed mostly through software

Principal Industrial Automation MNCs

L & T • ALSTOM

Schneider • FESTO

Siemens • Fuji Electric

Allen Bradley • Toshiba

Messung • TATA Honeywell

Modicon • Omron

Mitsubishi • Fanuc

Asia Automation • Delta

How industrial automation control system Evolved?

Initially automation was achieved through manual control, operators accustomed to control the method at every step. Human intervention was there at every step. Drawbacks were low quality output, errors involved in human involvement affected compromised safety, wastage of raw material, and accuracy of human action.

Then came Pneumatic Control: Industrial automation in this era was achieved through invention of pneumatic controllers in early 1920s. Automation was achieved by controlling air to pneumatic valves, which were actually switched on/off by relays and switches. They were very bulky and changing of the logic was very complex procedure since a lot of rework was required to accomplish alternation in logic. So time come to complete task changes was very high

Hard wired logic control: contactors, relays (for switching), timers and counters (for timing and counting) were chosen for achieving desired industrial automation. But these systems also resulted into bulky panels. A lot of wiring was involved so time taken up complete task was higher. Defect investigation & troubleshooting was complex.

Everything You Need to Know About Industrial Automation Solutions using Logic Gates: In early 60s electronics dominated the process, electronic logic gates were used for achieving logical operations. they replaced switching devices like relays and contactors inside control circuits. Electronic times & counters replaced mechanical timers & counters. Due to utilization of electronics space as well as requirements reduced, maintenance requirement reduced & systems were more reliable.