Practical No:

AIM: - To compare DCS and PLC

OBJECTIVE:

To study comparison in terms of advantages and disadvantages between DCS and PLC

THEORY:Before selecting DCS or PLC for the control of process plant, following points should be taken into
consideration.

What are you manufacturing and how?

Parameters

PLC

DCS

No of products anufactured
Receipe Parameters
Procedures
Equipment utilization and arbitration
Frequency of changes of formulas and receipes

Single
Constant
Single
Fixed/None
Never

Manufacturing process

Manufacturing or assembly of
specific items (aka "things")

Visibility of Product

Product is visible as it moves

through the process

Multiple
Variable
Multiple or Different
Flexible/ often
Often
Involves the combination and/or
transformation of raw materials (aka
"stuff")
Often impossible to visually see the
product as it moves through the
process

Type of Logic control

Type of Batch Control

High - Speed logic control (such as

motors)
Simple batch control

Regulatory/Analog (loop) control

Complex batch control

What is the value of the product being manufactured?

PLC

DCS

Value of the individual component

beingManufactured is relatively low

The value of a "batch" can be very high (either in

raw material cost or market value)
Downtime only results in lost production, but can
result in dangerous conditions
Downtime can result in process equipment
damage( product hardens, etc.)
Return to steady state production after an
unplanned outage can be long, expensive and
difficult

Downtime mainly results in lost production

Downtime doesnot typically damage the process
equipment
Return to steady state production after an outage
is short and relatively straightforward

What do you view as the "heart" of the system?

PLC

DCS

Heart of the system is the controller as the product Heart of the system is the HMI as th eproduct can
can be seen and logic plays an important role here
not be seen

What does the operator need to be successful?

PLC

The operator's primary role is to handle exceptions

Status information (on/off, Run/Stop) is critical
information for the operator
Exception-based alarming is key information for the
operator
Manufacturing might be able to rum "lights-out"

DCS
The operator's interaction is typically required to keep the
process in its target performance range
Faceplates and anlog trends are critical to "see" what is
happening to the process
Alarm management is key to safe operation of the process and
for responding effectively during plant upset conditions
Failure of the HMI could force the shutdown of the process

What system performance is required?

PLC

DCS

Fast logic Scan (approx. 10ms) is required to perform Control loops require deterministic scan executions at a
motion or motion control
speed of 100 to 500ms
Redundancy may not be cost justified
System redundancy is often required
System can be taken offline to make configuration
Online configuration changes often required
changes
Analog Control: Simple to advanced PID control up to
Analog Control: Simple PID only
Advanced process Control
Asset Management alerts you to what might break
Diagnostics to tell ypu when something is broken
before it does

What degree of customization is required?

PLC

DCS

High Level Programming languages are

available for creating custom logic

Custom logic created from existing function blocks

Customized routines usually required

Standard libraries considered nice features
Provision must be available to integrate
functions/ products into an integrated
architecture

Many algorithms (i.e. PID) are complex and do not

vary among applications
Standard application libraries are expected(function
blocks and faceplates)
Entire system is expected to function as a complete
solution

What are your engineering expectations?

PLC

DCS

Program / configure individual components,

integrate later (bottom up)
Desire customizable platforms to build upon

Up-front design of complete system before

implementation begins (top-down)
looking for significant " out of the box" functionality
System designed to make it "easy" to engineer
process applications

System designed to be flexible

Solution is generic in nature, to be applied on
a wide variety of applications
Use ladder logic to configure application

Use of predefined, Pretested functions saves time

Use function block diagram to configuration
application

Difference between DCS and PLC

DCS

PLC

Specialized software required for programming

Work in multi loop
Less rugged and requires air conditioned rooms
Used for any loop count
No change in performance with increasing loop count
System wise global database
Highly efficient multi tasking mode
Redundancy possible at every level
Communication on high speed serial bus
Automatic Documentation
Single engineering tool
Analog processing done in real frequncy domain function
Typical Perfromance: >1000 PID loops/second
Re engineering efforts reduced by 75% incase of expansion
Fully functional interpalnt connectivity

Simple software used for programming

Work in cyclic loop
Suitable for industrial environment
Used for low loop count
Performance drops with increasing loop count
Individual database for every node
Purely free running mode
Redundancy not possible or limited
Communication on low speed serial bus
Manual Documentaton
Multiple engineering tool
Analog processing simulated through digital computer
Typical Perfromance: 100 PID loops/second
Large engineering efforts required in case of expansion
No interplant connectivity