Application of DCS and PLC systems in Process Control Applications

摘要

With the rapid change in technologies in process control and instrumentation systems, and to cut down the cost and make it competitive in the world wide market, various types of systems with various configurations have come. Selecting the right systems is very difficult for the user. There are no concrete technical back up details about these systems and in absence of these details the user faces problems in choosing the right systems. Also, there is a stringent competition between DCS (distributed control system) manufacturers and PLC (Programmable logic controller) system manufacturers. Apart from these there are different field buses that are available in the market. This paper deals with the fundamental difference between a DCS system and a PLC system, the redundancies available in this system, and how to decide among these two for a typical process control application. The paper also describes the most appropriate configuration followed using the field buses.