Chapter 2

Basic Principles of Industrial Automation

W. Boyes

2.1 Introduction
There are many types of automation, broadly defined. Industrial
automation, and to some extent its related discipline of building automation, carries some specific principles. The most
important skills and principles are discussed in Chapter 1 of
this book.
It is critical to recognize that industrial automation differs from other automation strategies, especially in the enterprise or office automation disciplines. Industrial automation
generally deals with the automation of complex processes,
in costly infrastructure programs, and with design life cycles
in excess of 30 years. Automation systems installed at automotive assembly plants in the late 1970s were still being
used in 2008. Similarly, automation systems installed in
continuous and batch process plants in the 1970s and 1980s
continued to be used in 2008. Essentially, this means that it
is not possible to easily perform rip-and-replace upgrades to
automation systems in industrial controls, whereas it is simpler in many cases to do such rip-and-replace in enterprise
automation systems, such as sales force automation or even
enterprise requirements planning (ERP) systems when a
new generation of computers is released or when Microsoft
releases a new version of Windows. In the industrial automation environment, these kinds of upgrades are simply not
practical.

2.2 Standards
Over the past three decades, there has been a strong movement
toward standards-based design, both of field instruments and
controls themselves and the systems to which they belong.
The use of and the insistence on recognized standards for
sensor design, control system operation, and system design
and integration have reduced costs, improved reliability, and
enhanced productivity in industrial automation.
There are several standards-making bodies that create
standards for industrial automation. They include the
2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
doi: 10.1016/B978-0-7506-8308-1.00002-4

International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and the

International Standards Organization (ISO). Other standards bodies include CENELEC, EEMUA, and the various
national standards bodies, such as NIST, ANSI, the HART
Communication Foundation, and NEC in the United States;
BSI in the United Kingdom; CSA in Canada; DIN, VDE,
and DKE in Germany; JIS in Japan; and several standards
organizations belonging to the governments of China and
India, among others.
For process automation, one of the significant standards
organizations is ISA, the International Society of Automation. ISAs standards are in use globally for a variety of
automation operations in the process industries, from process
and instrumentation diagram symbology (ISA5 and ISA20)
to alarm management (ISA18) to control valve design
(ISA75), fieldbus (ISA50), industrial wireless (ISA100),
and cyber security for industrial automation (ISA99).
Three of the most important global standards devel
opedby ISA are the ISA84 standard on safety instrumented
systems, the ISA88 standard on batch manufacturing,
and the ISA95 standard on manufacturing operations
language.
Other organizations that are similar to standards bodies
but do not make actual standards include NAMUR, OMAC,
WBF (formerly World Batch Forum), WIB (the Instrument
Users Association), and others.
In addition, with the interpenetration of COTS computing devices in industrial automation, IEEE standards, as
well as standards for the design and manufacture of personal
computers, have become of interest and importance to the
automation professional.
There are also de facto standards such as the Microsoft
Windows operating system, OPC (originally a Microsoft
standard called Object Linking and Embedding for Process
Control, or OLE for Process Control, and now called simply
OPC), and OPC UA (Universal Architecture).
It is important for the process automation professional to
keep current with standards that impinge on the automation
system purview.

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PART | I The Automation Knowledge Base

2.3 Sensor and system design,

installation, and commissioning
It is not generally in the purview of the automation professional to actually design sensors. This is most commonly
done by automation and instrumentation vendors. What are
in the purview of the automation professional are system
design, installation, and commissioning. Failure to correctly
install a sensor or final control element can lead to serious
consequences, including damage to the sensor, the control
element, or the process and infrastructure themselves.

2.3.1The Basics
The basics of sensor and system design are:

Identification of the application

Selection of the appropriate sensor/transmitter
Selection of the final control element
Selection of the controller and control methodology
Design of the installation
Installing, commissioning, and calibrating the system

2.3.2 Identification of the Application

Most maintenance problems in automation appear to result
from improper identification of the application parameters.
This leads to incorrect selection of sensors and controls and
improper design of the installation. For example, it is impossible to produce an operational flow control loop if the flowmeter is being made both inaccurate and nonlinear by having
been installed in a location immediately downstream of a
major flow perturbation producer such as a butterfly valve or
two 90-degree elbows in series. The most common mistake
automation professionals make is to start with their favorite
sensors and controls and try to make them fit the application.

2.3.3 Selection of the Appropriate Sensor/

Transmitter
The selection of the most appropriate sensor and transmitter
combination is another common error point. Once the application parameters are known, it is important to select the most
correct sensor and transmitter for those parameters. There are
11 basic types of flow measurement devices and a similar
number of level measurement principles being used in modern
automation systems. This is because it is often necessary to
use a niche instrument in a particular application. There are
very few locations where a gamma nuclear-level gauge is the
most correct device to measure level, but there are a number
where the gamma nuclear principle is the only practical way to
achieve the measurement. Part of the automation professionals
skill set is the applications knowledge and expertise to be able
to make the proper selection of sensors and transmitters.

2.3.4 Selection of the Final Control Element

Selection of the final control element is just as important as
selection of the transmitter and sensor and is equally based on
the application parameters. The final control element can be
a control valve, an on/off valve, a temperature control device
such as a heater, or a pump in a process automation application. It can be a relay, a PLC ladder circuit, or a stepper motor
or other motion control device in a discrete automation application. Whatever the application, the selection of the final
control element is critical to the success of the installation.
Sometimes, too, the selection of the final control element
is predicated on factors outside the strict control loop. For
example, the use of a modulating control valve versus the
use of a variable-speed drive-controlled pump can make the
difference between high energy usage in that control loop
and less energy usage. Sometimes this difference can represent a significant cost saving.

2.3.5 Selection of the Controller and Control

Methodology
Many automation professionals forget that the selection of
the control methodology is as important as the selection of
the rest of the control loop.
Using an advanced process control system over the top
of a PID control loop when a simple on/off deadband control
will work is an example of the need to evaluate the controller and the control methodology based on the application
parameters.

2.3.6Design of the Installation

As important as any other factor, properly designing the
installation is critical to the implementation of a successful
control loop. Proper design includes physical design within
the process.
Not locating the sensor at an appropriate point in the
process is a common error point. Locating a pH sensor on
the opposite side of a 1,000-gallon tank from the chemical
injection point is an example. The pH sensor will have to
wait until the chemical injection has changed the pH in the
entire vessel as well as the inlet and outlet piping before it
sees the change. This could take hours. A loop lag time that
long will cause the loop to be dysfunctional.
Another example of improper location is to locate the
transmitter or final control element in a place where it is difficult or impossible for operations and maintenance personnel to reach it after startup. Installations must be designed
with an eye to ease of maintenance and calibration. A sensor
mounted 40 feet off the ground that requires a cherry-picker
crane to reach isnt a good installation.
Another example of improper installation is to place a
device, such as a flowmeter, where the process flow must

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Chapter | 2 Basic Principles of Industrial Automation

be stopped to remove the flowmeter for repair. Bypass lines

should be installed around most sensors and final control
elements.

2.3.7 Installing, Commissioning, and

Calibrating the System
Installation of the system needs to be done in accordance
with both the manufacturers instructions and good trade
craft practices, and any codes that are applicable. In hazardous areas, applicable national electrical codes as well as any
plant specific codes must be followed. Calibration should
be done during commissioning and at regularly scheduled
intervals over the lifecycle of the installation.

2.4Maintenance and operation

2.4.1 Introduction
Automation professionals in the 21st century may find themselves working in maintenance or operations rather than in
engineering, design, or instrumentation and controls. It is
important for automation professionals to understand the
issues and principles of maintenance of automation systems, in both continuous and batch process and discrete factory automation. These principles are similar to equipment
maintenance principles and have changed from maintenance
practices of 20 years ago. Then maintenance was done on
a reactive basisthat is, if it broke down, it was fixed. In
some cases, a proactive maintenance scheme was used. In
this practice, critical automation assets would be replaced at
specific intervals, regardless of whether they were working
or not. This led to additional expense as systems and components were pulled out when they were still operational.
Recent practice has become that of predictive maintenance.
Predictive maintenance uses the recorded trends of physical measurements compared to defined engineering limits to
determine how to analyze and correct a problem before failure occurs. This practice, where asset management software
is used along with sensor and system diagnostics to determine
the point at which the automation asset must be replaced, is
called life-cycle maintenance or life-cycle optimization.

2.4.2Life-cycle Optimization
In any automation system, there is a recognized pattern to
the life cycles of all the components. This pattern forms the
well-known bathtub curve. There are significant numbers of infant mortality failures at the start of the curve;
then, as each component ages, there are relatively few failures. Close to the end of the products life span, the curve
rises, forming the other side of the bathtub. Using predictive maintenance techniques, it is possible to improve the

operational efficiency and availability of the entire system

by monitoring physical parameters of selected components.
For example, it is clear that the mean time between failures
(MTBF) of most electronics is significantly longer than the
design life of the automation system as a whole, after infant
mortality. This means that it is possible to essentially eliminate the controller as a failure-prone point in the system and
concentrate on what components have much shorter MTBF
ratings, such as rotating machinery, control valves, and
thelike.

2.4.3Reliability Engineering
For the automation professional, reliability is defined as
the probability that an automation device will perform its
intended function over a specified time period under conditions that are clearly understood. Reliability engineering
is the branch of engineering that designs to meet a specified probability of performance, with an expressed statistical confidence level. Reliability engineering is central to the
maintenance of automation systems.

2.4.4Asset Management, Asset

Optimization, and Plant Optimization
Asset management systems have grown into detailed, layered software systems that are fully integrated into the
sensor networks, measure parameters such as vibration and
software diagnostics from sensors and final control elements, and are even integrated into the maintenance systems
of plants. A modern asset management system can start with
a reading on a flow sensor that is out of range, be traced to
a faulty control valve, and initiate a work order to have the
control valve repaired, all without human intervention.
This has made it possible to perform workable asset
optimization on systems as large and complex as the automation and control system for a major refinery or chemical
process plant. Using the techniques of reliability engineering and predictive maintenance, it is possible to maximize
the amount of time that the automation system is working
properlythe uptime of the system.
Asset optimization is conjoined to another subdiscipline
of the automation professional: plant optimization. Using
the control system and the asset management system, it is
possible to operate the entire plant at its maximum practical
level of performance.

Suggested Reading
Mather, Darryl, Lean Strategies for Asset Reliability: Asset Resource
Planning, Industrial Press Inc., 2009.
EAM Resource Center, The Business Impact of Enterprise Asset Management, EAM, 2008.