29/3/2015 AutomationBasics:BackthePACISA

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HomeISAPublicationsInTechMagazine2007/SepAutomationBasics:BackthePAC

September 2007
Back the PAC
Aprogrammableautomationcontroller(PAC)isanindustrialcontrollerthatcombinesthefunctionalityofaprogrammablelogiccontroller(PLC)andaPC.TraditionalPLCvendors
usethetermPACtodescribehighendsystems.PCcontrolcompaniesdothesamethingtoexplainindustrialcontrolplatforms.AsthetechnologicalgapgetssmallerbetweenPC
andPLC,withPLCsusingcommercialofftheshelf(COTS)hardwareandPCsystemsincorporatingrealtimeoperatingsystems,PACsmakethedifferencesevenhazierbetween
differentcontrolsystems.

Historical hybrids
BeforethePAC,industriesusingelementsofdiscretecontrolandprocesscontrolhadexpensiveoptions,mostofwhichincludedcomplexhybridkludgesofbothsystemsusing
equipmentfrommorethanonesupplier,differentoperatingsystems,andallkindsofconnectivityproblems.

Thebirthofthemicroprocessorhastransformedindustrysothehighvolumeofprocessorchipsforcedpricesdown.Thehybridkludgeoffunctionsbecamepracticalandnolongera
kludge.

Somedefinehybridasthepartnershipofdiscretefunctions,whichPLCsandcontinuouscontrolofdistributedcontrolsystems(DCSs)madesimpleandlessexpensive.Somedefine
hybridasthecapabilityofbatchfunctionsthatneithertheoriginalPLCsnororiginalDCSscouldperformwellwithoutheavyengineering.Somerefertohybridastheindustriesin
whichthesystemsworkandserve,likepharmaceutical,finechemicals,andfoodandbeverage.Andfinally,someknowhybridasthearchitecturalmeldingofthePLCsimplicityand
costwiththesophisticatedoperatordisplays,alarmmanagement,andeasybutsophisticatedconfigurationcapabilitiesoftheDCS.Thelastdefinitionfitstheproductofferingsof
traditionalDCSsuppliersandsomePLCproviders.

Muchinnovationhasemergedintheareaoflessexpensive,butsophisticated,controlsystemsthatsmallercompaniescanafford.Systemstodayvaryincontrolcapabilitiesand
degreeofredundancies.

PC vs. PLC primer

Historically,thePChasenduredtheperceptionofthreeshortcomings:stability,reliability,andunfamiliarprogrammingenvironment.ThePC'sgeneralpurposeoperatingsystem
wasnotstableenoughforcontrol.PCcontrolledinstallationswereforcedtohandlesystemcrashesandunplannedrebooting.Withrotatingmagneticharddrivesandnonindustrially
hardenedcomponents,suchaspowersupplies,PCsweremorepronetofailure.Plantoperatorsneededthecapabilitytooverrideasystemformaintenanceortroubleshooting.
Usingladderlogic,theyknewhowtomanuallyforceacoilandpatchcodetoquicklyoverrideasystem.ButwithPCsystems,operatorsneededtolearnnewtools.

UsingaPLCtomeetmodernapplicationrequirementsfornetworkconnectivity,deviceinteroperability,andenterprisedataintegrationpresentedotherchallenges.Thesetypesof
tasksareusuallymoresuitedtothecapabilitiesofacomputer(PC).ToprovidethesecapabilitiesinaPLCbasedapplication,additionalprocessors,networkgatewaysorconverters,
"middleware"softwarerunningonaseparatePC,andspecialsoftwareforenterprisesystemsmustoftenbeintegratedintothesystem.

Ontheotherhand,aPCpackagedforindustrialenvironmentscanprovidemanyofthecapabilitiessoughtinmodernapplications,particularlythoseneededfornetworkinganddata
communication.SimilartoaugmentingaPLCtoaccomplishPCliketasks,however,anindustrialPCthatneedstoperformPLCliketasks,suchasmachineorprocesscontrol,also
requiresexpansion.Forexample,aPCmaybeusinganoperatingsystemthatisnotoptimizedforhighperformanceanddeterministicindustrialapplications.AdditionalI/O
expansioncardsorspecialextensionsmayneedtobeintegratedintothePC'soperatingsystemtoprovidethehighperformance,deterministic,orneardeterministicoperation.

PAC 'em in
APACisnotableforitsmodulardesignandconstruction,aswellastheuseofopenarchitecturestoprovideexpandabilityandinterconnectionwithotherdevicesandbusiness
systems.Inparticular,PACsaremarkedbothbyefficientprocessingandI/Oscanningandbythevarietyofwaysinwhichtheycanintegratewithenterprisebusinesssystems.

ThePACconceptwillnotreplaceorsupersedethetraditionalPLC,butitwillexpandthePLC'sroleandwillplayamajorpartinplantandfactoryautomationtodayandinthefuture.
ThePACconceptprovideseasyintegrationformultidomainfunctionalitysuchasmotioncontrol,processcontrol,andHMI.DemandforcontrollersbasedonthePACconceptarises
fromtheneedtointegratelogic,motion,andprocesscontrolinmanyapplications.

PACsareattractivetomanufacturersastheygreatlyreducetotalcostofownershipbyprovidingsingleintegrated,multidisciplinedevelopmentenvironmentwithcommontagnames
andasingletagdatabaseforaccessbyallfunctions.PACsalsoprovideanopenarchitectureforinteroperabilitywithothersuppliers'solutionsbasedoninterfacestandardssuchas
TCP/IP,OPC,andXMLaswellasopencommunicationstandardssuchasEtherNet/IP,Profibus,EthernetPowerlink,andCAN.

SOURCES:SamuelHerb(samherb@comcast.net)principalofJAOMADConsultancyinPennsylvaniaToddWalter,productmarketingmanageratAustin,Tex.basedNational
Instruments(todd.walter@ni.com)ARCAdvisoryGroup(www.arcweb.com)andOpto22(www.opto22.com).

PACs unveiled
ByDickMorley

In95%ofallplantfloorapplications,speed(realtime)isnotrequiredaknownresponseholdsmoreimportance.WhethertheI/Oisreadbyinterruptorsequential
scanisimmaterial,howeverIcanremembermanyinstancesofanasynchronousI/Oscanreallyscrewingupapplicationsoftwarebecauseapredeterminedstate
couldnotbeexpected.Theother5%oftheapplicationsthathavetheneedforspeedhaveoffboardcontrolstointerfacewiththemainscheduler.

In30years,thediscreteapplicationshavenotchangedmuch.Thedesignandimplementationfortheseprojectshavenotchangedmuch,andtheproblemswe
experiencehavenotchangedmuch.Troubleshootingthesystemsandtheprocessbeingcontrolledstillrequiresamultimeter,prints,andknowledgeofthe
processregardlessofwhetheritisamachinetooloradistillationcolumn.

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29/3/2015 AutomationBasics:BackthePACISA
TheNorthAmericansupportstaffforautomationlieswiththemaintenancestaff.Theydonotcareabouttagnames,interrupts,ordatabasesandtheyshouldnot
haveto.APACmayallowforadesignbenefitwithregardstonetworking,dataaccessforHMI,andverticalapplicationssuchasSAP,butintheframeofmindof
processthese"features"donotmatter.

MostPACsaresimplyPLCsinadifferentsuit.SomemayrememberthePLC3fromAllenBradley.Youcouldhavemultiprocessorsinthechassis,redundancy,
andmanyscannersforI/OandcommunicationsanditwascalledaPLC3.ThecontrolLogixplatformisamultiprocessor,multiscanner(althoughEthernetwas
notaroundin1980inindustrialautomation),anditiscalledaPAC.What'sdifferent?Methodology,notfunction.

Controlengineersstillprograminladderlogicbecauseofthemaintenancetroubleshooterguys.Theydonotwanttobecalledat3a.m.becausetheprocessis
down.AnOMACsurveyfoundthatover80%ofcontrolprogramsuseladderlogic.HardwareplatformsthatuseIEC61131basedprogramstogeneratethe
applicationprogramstilluseladderlogic,notfunctionblockorstructuredtext.

Theintegrationofstufflikevisionandmotioniseasier,andwithinthesameconfinesofthecontroller,whichallowsforeasiercontrol.ButIamnotsureitisbetter.

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