Abstract
Process control is a vital part of process operation. On the one hand, it is indispensable by function and irreplaceable by other engineering specialties. On the other hand, process control is such a unique engineering specialty that it is not widely understood or appreciated in an operating plant. Raising general awareness of process control is a great way to help operation and production. This chapter provides a high-level introduction to process control by starting in Sect. 1.1 with a brief explanation on why and when process control is needed, where and how process control fits in. This chapter also tries to clarify some confusion and misunderstandings on process control. Section 1.2 describes the plant operation requirements and shows how operating objectives and control objectives are linked and achieved. Finally, Sect. 1.3 puts process control into the context of overall plant automation and explains the integral role that process control plays in safe and efficient operation.
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Notes
- 1.
Operators always have the privilege to override automatic control in case of an emergency. One of the design flaws in the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) in Boeing 737 Max that caused the two catastrophic crashes in 2019 was that the MCAS system is given the privilege of overriding the pilot’s control. Consequently, one of the improvements is “... MCAS will never override the pilot’s ability to control the airplane using the control column alone.” (from https://www.boeing.com/737-max-updates/mcas).
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Niu, S.S., Xiao, D. (2022). Process Control Overview. In: Process Control. Advances in Industrial Control. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-97067-3_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-97067-3_1
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