Instrumentation and control: leveraging efficiency

By admin November 17, 2014 3:46 pm IST

Instruments play a vital role in all processes in industry. The field of instrumentation and control is experiencing some of the exciting innovations nowadays
Instrumentation is usually known as the art and science of measurement and control of process variables within a production or manufacturing area. The process variables used in industries are level, pressure, temperature, humidity, flow, ph, force, speed etc.
When it comes to control operation, the practice uses sensors to measure the output performance of the device being controlled and those measurements can be used to give feedback to the input actuators that can make corrections toward desired performance. When a device is designed to perform without the need of human inputs for correction it is called automatic control (such as cruise control for regulating a car’s speed).
Instrumentation and its importance Over the period, it is observed that instruments actually play a vital role in all processes in industry. In almost all applications, their importance is already established. By controlling right from the specifications of the raw materials to the process parameters, a low cost low rejection – prone product may be easily produced.
“For cost-effective way of using process control and instrumentation, certain basic facts should be understood and then the refinement in the process technique may be applied,” says Vishwas Kale, Managing Director, Vijayesh Instruments Pvt. Ltd. “Saving energy is important for environment as well as for cost control. To manage saving of energy, we should have answers for this. What is to be measured, controlled and recorded/ logged? And also ‘why’ for every item.”
Instruments also help in monitoring the process accurately and safely.  Now the process can be monitored effectively from single location (control room) by using proper sensors and instruments.
Sanjay Belhe, Director – Marketing, Protocontrol Instruments (I) Pvt. Ltd. says, “In any automated process, sensors play role of eyes and ears while instruments play role of brain. No process can be automated without use of sensors and instruments.” Major aspectsIn measurement industry, one cannot control what cannot be measured. Sensors are the foundation of feedback control. Sensors measure the process variable and transmit a signal that represents the measurement to the controller. The quality of performance of the system is directly related to the performance of the sensor.
The process variables which are being measured are mostly temperature, pressure, level, flow and mass. No sensor measures a process variable directly. Each sensor measures the effect of the process variable by physical position, force, voltage or some other more easily measured property.
Instrumentation is the basic process control in the industry. In industrial control number of variables like temperature, flow, level, pressure, and distance can be sensed simultaneously. All of these can be interdependent variables in a single processing require a complex microprocessor system for total control. Due to more advancement in technology and the efficient measurement techniques instruments that we are using today may be obsolete in future. Hence choosing appropriate instrumentation technique becomes obviously essential.
During specifying the instrumentation, the main objectives of the designer should be:• Safe plant operation• High production rate• Low production cost• To maintain the product composition within the specified quality limits.

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