What is industrial Automation

Industrial Automation is really a technique by which we make hand over human control to machines. In industrial automation machines are developed to accomplish the tasks which humans employed to achieve. Why it is done? Because of its advantages:

Through Industrial automation we could do mass production with less manpower

Quality from the strategy is increased

Safety of man & equipment is increased

More accurate process control

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

Systems operate is low power, more electronic control so equipment every day 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 used to control the process at each and every step. Human intervention was there each and every step. Drawbacks were inferior output, errors involved with human involvement affected compromised safety, wastage of raw material, and accuracy of human action.

Then came Pneumatic Control: Industrial automation with this era was achieved through invention of pneumatic controllers noisy . 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 in the logic was very complex procedure since a lot of rework was required to accomplish difference in logic. So time taken 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.

Electronic Control using Logic Gates: In early 60s electronics dominated the method, 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. What is Industrial Automation & How it Evolved to using electronics space and energy requirements reduced, maintenance requirement reduced & systems were more reliable.