The main idea
of this blog is to enlighten the readers about the similarities between DCS and
PLC. Just to educate you, the reader of my blog, PLC stands for Programmable
logical control, it is a digital microprocessor used to control machinery on
factory assembly lines, cnc lattes, amusement rides and lighting fixtures. DCS,
distributed control system is used for manufacturing system processes, in which
the controller elements are not in a central location but are distributed
throughout the system.
The author
went about giving us the similarities between the DCS and PLC, like for
example, they both use functional blocks and then he went on telling me, the
reader, about the advantage in deploying them in different working condition and
the benefits of these control systems in their respective environments.
PLC, for
example, was a natural choice of manufacture and the end use was to apply it
for safety systems, while the idea on the other hand was to supply DCS with a whole bunch of
hardware and software packages including for Human Interface, necessary for the
complete automation of the plant, thus facilitating Single Point Configuration
in terms of database and communication possible. Today, “Differences between
the two has virtually vanished due to Programming / Configuration language
standard IEC-61131.” (Asif, 2012)
This post was
informative as it discusses the improvement between these two controller systems
over the past years since the controller systems have been upgraded to keep up
with new technology and trends.” Now, more important is cost,
application, system integrity, reliability, maintainability, historical logging
/ intelligent statistics and learning / training.” (Asif, 2012) The author spends time to
blog because he wants to help other electrical engineers out there when
deciding on which controller system to deploy in their working environment as
easy as possible. As you can see from the author’s blog the similarities in
these systems are so close that he leaves the choice in choosing a controller
system to you the reader. This is because both of the controller systems can do
the same thing. From reading this blog I think can better understand why some
companies choose to use one control system over the other.
