Engineering Report on Control Systems

Engineering Report

COntrol Systems

Contents Page

Title Page            1

 Page            2

 Introduction           3

Research

Nuclear Control Systems         4

Control Systems in Elevators         5

Control System in Automobiles       6

Control System 4          7

Drawings

 IPO Chart 1          8

IPO Chart 2          9

IPO Chart 3          10

IPO Chart 4          11

Conclusion and Design Choice         12

Bibliography            13

Introduction

Situation:

The Herro-Fontana Nuclear Power Plant has been plagued with problems ever since it was commissioned in 2016.  The builders of the Plant – Calavassy Nuclear Pty Ltd are said to have cut corners, used low quality materials, failed to follow designs and plans and even left out certain critical safety systems.  In August, 2018, the Plant went into meltdown causing the release of radioactive materials into the surrounding areas.  There are many tasks to be completed in order to secure the plant, stop the meltdown and ensure critical infrastructure is maintained.  This also includes rescuing trapped personnel.

Brief:

Your group has the prime responsibility of building and working a robot capable of achieving the tasks given.  Your group will be given a specific site plan of the plant with the location of all hazards and personnel. Your group will also be required to use remote control apparatus (blue tooth interface) to direct your robot to protect the plant from extreme nuclear meltdown and radiation poisoning of the entire area surrounding the plant.  You will be given the tasks on a chosen day, with a designated practice time allowed.

Limitations:

• Your group must work together to satisfy the requirements of the brief and a team leader will be appointed by your teacher.
• It is up to each group to protect the equipment entrusted to them. Each group will be liable to lost parts or breakages caused by mistreatment or negligence.
• A practice “track” will be made available to groups to test programs and interfaces.

Deliverables:

• A built robot.
• Robot that completes set tasks in a given time using a blue tooth interface device.
• Engineering Report.
  • Each student is to complete an Engineering Report – see CANVAS for the template.  There are parts of the report which must be constructed as a group.

REsearch

Control Systems in Nuclear Power Plants ­­

History –

 A nuclear power station contains tens of thousands of unique components and equipment that all require well-coordinated commands from a system or a person, because a person cannot handle all of these commands at once while they are unorganised, we employ a control system to organise and even automate some processes us, these control systems allows for plant personnel to monitor the nuclear power plant more effectively, providing the ability to see how different processes are being handle and their conditions. Essentially a control system is a nuclear power plant’s brain or nervous system.

Who Produces the System and What form does it Take –

Control systems in nuclear power stations are usually comprised mainly of a computer that receives different outputs from different sensors in the nuclear power station and displays the information on a display, this allows plant personnel to manually control or allow the computer to automatically control different processes in the power plant such as the fission rate or also known as the decay rate for radioactive substances such as uranium and plutonium, which are both extremely common materials used in nuclear power plants. These control systems are always kept in the control room and is usually linked to an emergency operations facility.

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How the control system performs its tasks and how it has assisted in production environments ­–

A common example of a control system in nuclear power plants are Control Rods within Nuclear Reactors. Control rods are located inside the nuclear reactor and they are an extremely important component within a nuclear reactor as they keep the fissioning process between Uranium and Plutonium at a safe level by controlling the power of the reaction. Control rods are composed of numerous chemical elements such as Boron, Silver, Indium and Cadmium, which are capable of absorbing large masses of neutrons without them fissioning. Control rods can be either removed or placed into the reactor core to increase or decrease the reactivity of the reactor. This changes the level of neutron power which in turn affects the amount of electricity produced thus making the control rod a good means of safety within nuclear reactors.

Control Systems in Elevators –

History –

Elevator history begins around the third century BC and were called hoists. These hoists were powered by human and animal power and were later improved to be powered by water driven mechanisms. It was not until the 1800’s, when the first modern elevators began to be developed. These elevators were powered by steam and slowly evolved to hydraulic power and they were commonly used in factories for the transportation of materials. In 1852, Elisha Graves Otis introduced the first safety apparatus for elevators and later established a company for manufacturing elevators and went on to dominate the elevator industry. His factory is still the largest manufacturer of elevators today.

Who Produces the System and What form does it Take –

A common control system used for safety purposes are electromagnetic breaks that engage when the car comes to a stop. As the elevator is running, the motor keeps the breaks open with electricity, causing the magnets to repel each other whilst the elevator is running. With this approach, the breaks will automatically clamp shut in the event that the elevator loses power. This mechanism will stop the elevator from falling at high speeds with passengers and or cargo inside it. Elevators are also manufactured with automatic breaking systems, which act when the elevator travels too far in either direction.

How the control system performs its tasks and how it has assisted in production environments ­–

Elevators are equipped with many breaking mechanisms to avoid disaster and damage in the event of elevator failure and power outage. Minimising the risk of fatality and injury in elevators has assisted production environment as they make traveling upwards more efficient and they make transporting cargo more efficient as well. Elevators run efficiently as they are controlled by a computer, which interprets data such as where the elevator is located In the shaft, where each floor is located and where people want to go and with added safety systems in place.

REsearch

Control Systems in Automobiles –

History –

The automobile was first invented and perfected in the late 1800’s, in Germany and France, however, in the early 20^th century, America quickly dominated the automotive industry with Ford, General Motors and Chrysler, emerging as the big three automotive companies. When the effects of WWII cased automotive industries to funnel their resources towards the war effort, which allowed European and Japanese automotive companies to rise, meeting growing demands by 1980. 

Who Produces the System and What form does it Take –

A common form of control system found in automobiles is the traction control system. In the past, drivers had to feather the gas pedal to prevent the wheels of the car from slipping on wet pavement and tarmac. Traction control systems optimise stability and grip of the car on the road during acceleration, It does this by monitoring wheel rotation. The system is designed to allow the car to accelerate smoothly, even on slippery surfaces by stopping wheel spinning on wet surfaces by reducing engine power and or temporarily applying the breaks, allowing for the car to restabilise. Another system that is similar to traction control is the stability control system. This system is an advanced stability system that helps the driver maintain control of the vehicle. This system works by automatically breaking individual wheels and regulating torque distribution. As a result of these actions, the system influences the directional control of a vehicle when loss of control is apparent.
 

How the control system performs its tasks and how it has assisted in production environments ­–

Traction and stability control systems are an extremely important safety feature as it allows the driver to have complete control over the vehicles movements in dangerous situations. In essence. Traction control keeps the car in a straight line whilst stability control keeps the car cornering based on the drivers situation and needs. Since 2013, it has been compulsory for all new passenger cars sold in Australia to be fitted with traction control systems and ECU (Electronic Stability Control) systems as they allow for the driver to be in effective control of a vehicle in situations such as sudden change in road surface grip or the need for an emergency manoeuvre to avoid an oncoming car or object, allowing for safer roads in Australia and the world.

REsearch

Industrial Control Systems –

History –

Since the 1970’s, the PLC (programmable logic controller) has been the centre of controlling  manufacturing processes such as robotic devices an assembly lines. PLC’s were first developed in the automotive industry to provide an easily programmable controller as opposed to large hardwired computer systems. Many manufacturing organisations enjoyed the idea of a small programmable computer as it offered numerous advantages to the manufacture process as opposed to the hardwired relay logic circuits that had previously been used. By downloading new software, the PLC allowed for people to make functional changes quickly and efficiently. PLC’s quickly became a flexible, reliable and cost effective machine which began to spread across all manufacture industries.

Who Produces the System and What form does it Take –

The PLC takes the form of a wall mounted computers with small interfaces for controlling the processes that take place within manufacturing organisations. The PLC is equipped with input modules or points, a central processing unit (CPU), output modules and a programming device. There are many world-wide companies that manufacture PLC’s, such as ABB, a swiss multinational company that have been providing powerline carrier equipment for many years, B&R Industrial Automation, an Austrian PLC manufacturer and Devlo, a German company which specializes in the development of communications devices 

How the control system performs its tasks and how it has assisted in production environments ­–

A PLC operates by scanning and reading data from an input device, solving the program logic and then updates or writes to the output to the device. The PLC must first be programmed with specialized software provided by the manufacturer. Logic can be written in ladder logic, instruction list, sequential function charts or any other IEC languages. After the logic has been written for the CPU, the programmer will then upload the logic to the PLC by connecting the computer where the logic was written. This computer must stay connected to the PLC to ensure that the PLC remains connected and knows the process that it must undertake. Once the program is inside the CPU, the PLC is set to run and the PLC executes the action on a repetitive scale. As well as this, the CPU reads the status of the input devices and sends them to output devices. The input system senses real world inputs and translates them into values that can be understood by the CPU, which then spits out the values in the output section. The output system converts the output value into a real world change. For example, motor turning on/off, valve opens/closes etc. PLC devices allow factory functions to undertake automatically without human intervention, which makes productivity greater.

DRAWINGS

IPO Chart 1 – Control Rods in Nuclear Power Plants

DRAWINGS

IPO Chart 2 – Electro Magnetic Breaks in Elevators

DRAWINGS

IPO Chart 3 – Stability and Traction Control Systems in Cars

TRACTION CONTROL SYSTEM –

STABILITY CONTROL SYSTEM –

DRAWINGS

IPO Chart 4 – PLC device – Industrial Control Systems

Conclusion

After completing the practical component of the control systems there are many new skills and information I have gathered over this short time. Before we were able to complete the four task on the driving course using a robot we needed to as a group construct the robot. The brand of the robot is MakeBlock and had to construct the robot that used the arm. The construction phase of the robot took about 3-4 lessons and in my group was Nathan, Michael and Mathieu and as a group were able to efficiently build the robot that worked properly. The robot itself was control using an app and allow us to move in basic movement such as forward, backwards, left, right, arm up, arm down, clamp and unclamp. The robot was powered with six reusable batteries and allowed us to complete all four task to the best of our ability without any failures on the robot side.

Before heading into the first take our group worked together to navigate around the practice track to get a feel of the robot and controlling it on our phone. Doing this not only allowed to understand how the robot works but also improve our team chemistry. The first task was as a group move three red plastic bottles from one side of the track to the other. The drivers would control the robot with the phone and also have to stand behind a timber wall which had laptops setup with a live recording of certain angles on the other side. To assist the driver there was a spotter on the side of the track guiding the three drivers through the course. The second course involved each group member control the robot and take turns picking up small PVC pipes from a beaker still following the same principles of having a spotter that helps who is able to see the track and the driver at the time standing behind the timber wall looking at the cameras. 

Bibliography

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