Electrical Engineer,Electrician - The role of control systems

by Terrence White
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Control systems are an important part in contemporary everyday life. They are everywhere and work behind the scenes. Interaction of the system with its users is limited to the occasional adjustment via the control panel. Control systems are generally maintained by electrical engineers.

A control system is a device or a collection of devices that manage, direct, regulate or command the behavior of a system or other devices. Control systems are available in two classes: logic or sequential controls and feedback or linear controls. These two can have many combinations and variations. Fuzzy logic can also be considered as a control system and it combines logic with the utility benefit of linear control.

The term "control system" generally generates a picture of manual control that permits an operator to open and close a hydraulic press. This may include logic and cannot be shifted if safety guards are not present. The automatic sequential control system could initiate a series of mechanical actuators in the correct sequence to perform a task. In linear feedback systems, a control loop, that include sensors, control algorithms and actuators are arranged in such a way that tries to regulate a variable at a reference or set point value. Example of such activity is the fuel supply increase to a furnace when the temperature drops. It can loosely mimic automation like functionalities.

Logic control systems designed for commercial and industrial machinery were usually installed at mains voltage. This use interconnected relays that were designed using ladder logic. Nowadays, similar systems are constructed with programmable logic controllers (PLCs) or microcontrollers. Notation of ladder logic is still in use as a programming idiom for PLCs.

Logic controllers answer to light sensors, switches and pressure switches among many others. It can cause the machinery to start and stop a number of operations. They are used to sequence mechanical operations in a large number of applications. Control systems of this kind are used in washing machines, elevators and other similar systems that undergo interrelated stop-go operations. The boon of logic systems is that they can be designed easily and is capable of handling very complex operations. Boolean logic may be used in designing logic systems.

On-off control in control system can be best explained by the workings of a thermostat. It is a simple negative-feedback control. As soon as the temperature falls below a set point, the heater gets switched on. Another example is a pressure switch on an air compressor. As the pressure drops below the threshold, the pump gets powered. Refrigerators contain similar mechanisms- but operate in reverse. A refrigerator still provides negative feedback to correct errors.

Fuzzy logic is beyond the scope of a standard electrical engineer. An electrician should never attempt to repair systems of this kind. It emulates the easy design of logic controllers and tries to control continuously varying systems. A measurement in a fuzzy logic system can be partly true. It means if yes is one and no is zero, a fuzzy measurement can be between zero and one.

Terrence White is the author of this article. He is an electrical engineer and repairs logic controllers. Terrence loves to spelunking and boring people to sleep with his non-existent exploits.

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