The purpose of this module is to prepare the students to work at a high level in industry with automation and control systems and to give students extensive hands on practice at implementing automation, control and monitoring of industrial processes. A laboratory programme will be followed which emphasises the main learning objectives of the course through assignments and mini projects.
Automation strategies
Human centered automation, ethics, socio-economic impact, safety. IT Pyramid, Manufacturing execution system (MES), ANSI/ISA-95. Planning and efficiency of automated systems. Applications: Assembly, Food, Packaging, Pharma
Components of an automated system
Components of an Automated System: Part feeding, orientation and handling devices, application of sensors, interfacing considerations.Materials handling and storage systems.
PLCs
Location in control architecture, definition and markets, IEC 61131. Operations and Expressions, Functions, Data types. Timers, counters, registers, pulse, rising/falling. Function Blocks: Elements, Rules, POU, Library - discrete, continuous, specialised, Behaviour, Segmentation, Execution.
PLC Interface Systems
Operator Interface(OI), Human Machine Interface (HMI), Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA). Functionality. Interface to plant, engineering. Faultfinding - flags, alarm and event management. Trends, history, process database.Validation, Batch Processing Standards
| Module Content & Assessment | |
|---|---|
| Assessment Breakdown | % |
| Other Assessment(s) | 40 |
| Formal Examination | 60 |