Introduction

Abstract

Since about 1960 the influence of automation on the operation? and the design of industrial processes like power systems, chemical plants, and manufacturing systems has increased progressively. This development of expanding process automation was caused by an increasing demand on process performance or product quality, the independence of process operation from the presence of human operators, and the relief of operators from monotonous and heavy tasks, as well as by rising wages. The degree of automation pushed forward drastically from around 1975 when relatively reasonably priced and reliable microcomputers were available and could solve many automation problems in one device. This was paralleled by further progress in the areas of sensors, actuators, bus–communication systems, and human–machine interfaces. The improvement in the theoretical understanding of processes and automation functions also played a large role.