PRACTICAL

DISTRIBUTED CONTROL
SYSTEMS (DCS)
FOR ENGINEERS AND TECHNICIANS

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN:

s &UNDAMENTALSOFTHEARCHITECTUREANDOPERATIONOF$ISTRIBUTED
Control Systems (DCSs)
s (OWTODESIGNTHEOVERALL$#3ANDPROCESSCONTROLSYSTEM
s 4ECHNIQUESTOSPECIFY$#3S
s -ETHODSTOOPTIMISETHEPERFORMANCEOFYOURPLANT
s 5NDERSTANDINGOFTHEKEYERGONOMICISSUESINDESIGNOF
operator displays
s (OWTOAPPLYADVANCEDCONTROLSTRATEGIESTOYOURPLANTCONTROL
system
s -OREEFFECTIVEUSEOFYOUREXISTING$#3PROCESSCONTROL
capabilities
s (OWTODESIGNANDCREATEACONSISTENTANDEFFECTIVEALARM
philosophy for your installation
s (OWTORECOGNISEANDDEALWITHHUMANPROBLEMSININTERFACING
to alarm systems

WHO SHOULD ATTEND:

s 0ROCESS#ONTROL%NGINEERSAND4ECHNICIANS
s !UTOMATION%NGINEERS
s /PERATIONS-ANAGERS
s /PERATORSAND#ONTROL2OOM0ERSONNEL
s -ETALLURGISTS
s 0RODUCTION%NGINEERS
s 0ROCESS%NGINEERS
s 0LANT%NGINEERS
s )4-ANAGERSWORKINGWITH.ETWORKS
s %LECTRICAL%NGINEERS
s 0ROJECT%NGINEERS
s %LECTRICALAND)NSTRUMENTATION4ECHNICIANS
s -AINTENANCE%NGINEERSAND3UPERVISORS

49
 The Workshop
This workshop will cover the practical
applications of the modern distributed
CONTROL SYSTEM $#3  7HILST ALL CONTROL
systems are distributed to a certain extent,
there is a definite merging of the concepts of
DCS, Programmable Logic Controller (PLC)
and SCADA and despite the rapid growth in
the use of PLCs and SCADA systems, some
of the advantages of a DCS can still be said
to be:
Integrity: The expected process down-time
caused by a conventional DCS is significantly
LESS THAN WITH USING A 3#!$!0,# /NE
incident in a refinery can cost more than the
The Program
INTRODUCTION
SUMMARY OF TYPICAL DISTRIBUTED
CONTROL SYSTEMS
DCS VERSUS SCADA VERSUS PLCS
s #OMPARISON
s 4HESMARTINSTRUMENTASTHEKEY
component in a DCS system
DCS SYSTEM ELEMENTS
s -AINDIFFERENCESBETWEENADISTRIBUTED
ALARM SYSTEM MANAGEMENT FOR
DCSS
s 0HILOSOPHIESOFALARMMANAGEMENT
s (UMANANDERGONOMICFACTORS
s 3TRUCTUREOFGOODALARMSYSTEM
s 3AFETY)NTEGRITY,EVEL3),
s $ESIGNOFALARMSYSTEM
s -EASUREMENTOFPERFORMANCE
DISTRIBUTED CONTROL SYSTEM
REPORTING
difference in price between a DCS and CONTROLSYSTEMAND0,#3#!$! s !LARMREPORTINGTYPESOFALARMS
3#!$!0,#2EASONSFORTHISWOULDINCLUDE systems generated and acceptance of alarms
redundancy, fault tolerance, diagnostic
s 2EQUIREMENTSOFTHEOPERATORINTERFACE s 4HEDIFFERENTTYPESOFLOGSANDREPORTS
ALARMING ON )/ ERRORS SYSTEM DESIGN AND
within the DCS which can be configured on a DCS
others.
s ,AYOUTOFA$#3SYSTEMWITHDATA system
Engineering time: ! SMALL 3#!$!0,#
highway communications paths s $ATAHISTORYUSEINLOGSREPORTSAND
system is easy to design and configure. As
the system grows bigger, the effort involved s 2EDUNDANCYINTHE$#3 trend displays
to properly design and configure the system
DATA COMMUNICATIONS IN A DCS DISTRIBUTED CONTROL SYSTEM
grows exponentially, and also the risks that
s /VERVIEWOF$#3AND3#!$! CONFIGURATION
things can go wrong. To design and
implement a single loop PID controller in a #OMMUNICATIONSFIELDOPERATORLONG s 4HEORGANISATIONOFSYSTEMDATAFILES
3#!$!0,# SYSTEM IS EASY AND QUICK 4O distance) s $ATACONFIGURATIONPROCEDURES
design and implement the base layer control s .ETWORKTOPOLOGIES necessary for setting up the DCS area
ON A REFINERY USING A 3#!$!0,# SYSTEM s &OUNDATION&IELDBUS database
can be challenging without a highly skilled s 0ROFIBUS s 4HENEEDFORDIFFERENTSECURITYLEVELS
team of industrial automation engineer and attached to various operating
s $EVICENET
technicians. parameters
s )NDUSTRIAL%THERNET
Abnormal Situation Management and s #ONFIGURATIONCONTROLPROCEDURES
Intelligent Alarm Management is a very
important DCS issue that provides significant
advantages over PLC and SCADA systems.
&EW$#3SDOJUSTICETOTHEPROCESSINTERMS
of controlling for superior performance -
most of them merely do the basics and leave
s 2OUTERSSWITCHESHUBS
s 4#0)0
s )NDUSTRIAL.ETWORKSECURITY
s ,INKSTO-%3AND%20
THE BASIC CONTROLLER
adopted to ensure data integrity
ADVANCED CONTROL STRATEGIES
MAINTENANCE CONSIDERATIONS
s -AINTENANCEREQUIREMENTSOFSYSTEM
and system elements
the rest to the operators. Operators tend to s )DENTIFICATIONOFTHE0#"SWHICHMAKE s 4HEREQUIREMENTSFORIN
BUILT
operate within their comfort zone; they don't up the controller diagnostics and for maintenance
drive the process "like Schumacher drives s &UNCTIONOFTHECENTRALPROCESSINGUNIT diagnostic routines
his Ferrari". If more than one adverse #05
condition developed at the same time and s 4HEREQUIREMENTSFORINSTALLATIONOF
s 4HETYPESOFMEMORY 503SYSTEM
the system is too basic to act protectively,
the operator would probably not be able to s $ISCRETEANDLOGICCONTROL s 2ECOVERYOFA$#3FOLLOWINGAPOWER
REACTADEQUATELYANDRISKAMAJORDEVIATION s 3EQUENTIALANDBATCHCONTROL outage
Operators have little feedback on their own
BASIC DCS CONTROLLER THREE TYPICAL APPLICATIONS
performance and exceptional adverse
CONFIGURATION
conditions are often not handled as well as SUMMARY AND CLOSURE
THEYSHOULDBE7HYARE$#3SGENERALLYSO s #ONTROLMODESAVAILABLEWITHINEACH
UNDER UTILISED /FTEN BECAUSE THE VENDOR controller slot
minimises the applications software s 4RACKINGANDINITIALISATIONINCONTROL
development costs to be sure of winning the slots used for cascade control
JOB OR BECAUSE HE DOES NOT KNOW ENOUGH
about the process or if it is a green-field
situation, enough could not be known at
commissioning time but no allowance was
made to add the missing functionality during
the ramp-up phase.
OPENPROGRAMMING
This workshop examines all these issues
and gives suggestions in dealing with them
and whilst by no means exhaustive, provides
an excellent starting point for you in working
with DCSs.
Practical Sessions
s 3PECIFICATIONOFA$#3
s #ONFIGURATION OF A TYPICAL $#3 CONTROL LOOP
USINGATYPICALPLANTPROBLEM
s $ESIGNOFANALARMSYSTEM
s !DVANCED PROCESS CONTROL
CONFIGURATION AND
TESTING
s #ONTROLALGORITHMS
s 4HEUSEOFDIAGNOSTICS
PROGRAMMING OF DCS SYSTEMS
s "LOCKCONFIGURATION
s )%#
languages (structured text, function
block, ladder, sequential)
s 4IPSANDTRICKSINPROGRAMMING
THE OPERATOR INTERFACE
s 4HEOPERATORSPROCESSgWINDOWg
s 4HEVARIOUSOPERATORDISPLAY
configurations
s 4HEREQUIREMENTFORKEYBOARDENTRYOF
data
s %RGONOMICREQUIREMENTSINTHE
operator environment