INDUSTRIAL VISIT REPORT
The Department Of
Mechatronics had organized an Industrial Visit to Automation and Control
Systems, Pune on 27th January, 2016. The Company is a developer of
On-site installation automation systems as well as training institute for
Automation and Instrumentation Engineers. ACS deals with PLC softwares, AC
Drives and SCADA controllers along with many sub-categorized interfaces and
machine languages. Automation and Control Systems uses the Automation products
of Allen Bradley, Siemens, Mitsubishi and ABB Systems. They handle
distinguished clients like Ashok Leyland, Fiat, Mahindra, Godrej Sara Lee,
BHEL, etc. They have also been known to provide Start-up and Commissioning
Assistance.
Mr. Mangal Bilakhia gave an introduction about
the functionality of ACS in the Automation Sector. He inspired us to be above
average and social rather than only be technical. There was an enthusiastic
discussion on ever changing and developing technology how the students should
focus their interest in right way, keeping in fact that the college curriculum
and the real requirement is never going to be met. Mr. Mangal stressed that the
college topper was not the only one meant to succeed and that the backbenchers
are the most to turn the table their way and in this competitive world it is
only the survival of the fittest.
In ACS, first we were
introduced to a Six-Axis Robot Arm built by ABB controllers. A Six-Axis
Movement meant it could move sideways, up-down movement, extend-withdraw action
and rotate about its axis. It could almost complete any action a human can,
connected through microcontrollers and based on a complete pneumatic system.
The specialty of this robot arm was that once an action is completed through
manual operation, the user can save the same set of coordinates in it and the
arm will follow the same path unless it is reseted. Thus, reducing the
breakdown time and speeding up the operation time and neglecting the human
error.
Next we moved to SCADA
(Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) Systems. It is a virtual system for
remote monitoring of a complete machinery by controlling through PLCs so that
the machine and the user remained in contact over communication channel. The
only drawback of using SCADA system was that the user cannot override the
system through the network once it has malfunctioned, that’s where DCS comes
into picture. DCS (Distributed Control System) is a control system for a whole
process which uses a single controller at a central locations. DCS uses HMI
(Human-Machine Interface) for overlooking the distributed controllers with the
central controller. The differences between DCS and HMI are merged through HMI
and Allen Bradley (PLC5).
Basically all types of
platforms can perform the same operation but as a programmer we have to work
with the user specifications and within their budget limit. For example, for a
small scale industry owner working with the DCS and HMI can be a bit costly, on
the other hand, for a precision related system working with only PLC can be a
little tough. Sometimes we have to use a fusion of SCADA and PLC to complete a
certain process because of the different controllers compatibility.
As an application of
these system, they had a small scale RO filtering and bottle filling module,
which indicated where each of the sensors were used in order to bring the
bottle right below the filler and the sensor to prevent bottles from getting spilled,
before putting on the cap. Will there be any error? (Asked some students) No,
because it is an automated machine.
Overall, an Industrial
Visit was an enriching experience, there was a lot learnt and yet a lot to
learn. I would like to thank our Prof. Vinod Jain, the Head of Department for
providing us the opportunity to expose us to industry at this early stage. And
we will be looking forward to many such visits in the coming future.
Rohan Deepak Patil
H038
B.Tech Mechatronics
Year II
