Issues on LCU architecture

There are endless variations in control structure of LCU

Architectural parameters for evaluating the controllers
• Size of the controller-depends on Number of function
blocks of number of control statements, number of I/O
channels
• Functionality of the controller-mix of functional blocks or
language statements, mix of process i/o types(analog or
digital)
• Performance of the controller-rate at which controller
scans the I/P and process the variable to generate control
signal
• Communication channels out of controller-The number,
type and speed of the controller to communicate with
other devices
• Controller output security-manual backup or redundancy
 Ways of accommodating technological change
• Select the hardware that is state of art, but
has reached reasonable level of stability
• Make sure components are available from
more than one vendor
• Design or select a DCS whose architecture can
accommodate technological change without
the need for scraping the system or making
major change
• The vendor should have prior digital system
design experience in the users area of interest.
 Requirements on control programming language
• It must allow the user to specify the control
and computing functions to be implemented
in a comfortable manner
• Able to configure the control strategy instead
of programming it.
• It must allow the user to implement the
existing conventional control alg.
• Communication functions are required to
exchange information bet. devices
LCU Languages
Required control and communication functions
Major language alternatives
 Functional capability of software function blocks
• Functions are provided that would be very
difficult or expensive to implement in
hardware. Ex time delay, exponential and
matrix fns.
• Since fn blocks are implemented in software
control configuration can be easily changed
• Conversion of physical inputs into engineering
units (ex. milliamps into Celsius)
Example of a batch reactor
 Evaluation of Function Block Libraries
• Libraries in which blocks are large or small
• Function blocks with complex computational functions
• Method used to pack the function blocks in LCU It depends
on the amount of LCU resources (in memory and
computational time) required to implement the block.
• Range of control applications that can be implemented
with given set of Fn. Blocks.
• The number of function blocks offered is not necessarily a
valid measure of the quality of the library.
• Software design approach used in implementing the
function blocks must be consistent with the execution
capabilities of the processor and the accuracy requirement
of the application.
• User must examine the specific mathematical equation
 Problem oriented Languages
• It is a special purpose language, each one tailored to a
particular vendors hardware, specific control application
• Two popular types
• Fill in the form-user fills the form provided by the vendor
for his application
• Dis. Adv.
• The user cannot determine the structure by themselves
• The definition procedure is tedious
• There is little or no standardization in the forms from one
vendor to other
• batch language-consists of set of commands
that direct the LCU to perform certain
operations(Ex. Opening valve)
• Its very concise in its implementation of
sequential control logic
• User must specify the parameters of
continuous control functions separately
 High level languages
Major Functional areas to be considered for the evaluation of various
language options
• Interfacing with the process
• Coping with the real time environment
– Interrupt handling capability to external events
– Ability to schedule multiple application programs or multitasking
– Software timers and real time clocks
• Interfacing with other elements in a DCS
• Providing the security features required in a control application
– Error checking and exceptions handling mechanism
– Redundant processors
– Software must support hardware security features
– System software must contain orderly procedures for memory access
to avoid scrambling
• Supporting the utilities required to write and maintain the
programs
Process interfacing Issues
Functions of communication interfaces
• To allow several LCUs to implement control strategies
that are larger in scope than possible with a single LCU
• To allow transmission of process data to the higher
level system elements
• To allow these higher level elements to transmit
information requests and control commands to the
LCUs
• To allow two or more LCUs to act together as
redundant controllers to perform the same control or
computational functions
• To augment the I/O capacity of the LCU with that of
data input/output units (DI/DOs) in the system
 Functions of Low level human
interfaces
• Interfacing hardware directly connected to LCU
rather than over the shared communication
facilities
• Allow plant operator to control the process
• Allow the operator to override the automatic
equipment and control the process manually in
case of a controller hardware failure
• Allow the plant instrumentation engineer to
configure the control system logic and later tune
the control system parameters
 Security design issues for LCU
Security Objectives
• Make sure that the failure of a single control
system element does not shut down all
automatic control functions
• If failure of a control system causes loss of
automatic control in a portion of the system,
make sure that there is a mechanism that
allows the operator to take over manual
control of that portion of the process
• Ensure that the control outputs are safe one
 Three Security design approaches
• Provide manual backup only
Designed to implement only one or two control
loops
 Provide a standby redundant
controller
• Control output is fed back to both controllers
to allow bumpless transfer to be accomplished
Provide multiple active controllers
• In this approach failure of one controller
doesn’t affect the automatic control function
Techniques to improve the security of the control
output circuitry
Implementation of different techniques for secure control output
Major design principle of Manual Backup
Manual Backup Configurations
Guidelines to design redundant controller
Approaches to design redundant LCU
Architecture