SAFETY CONSULTANTS & SOLUTION PROVIDERS are leaders in the protection of life, asset, environment, and business continuity in Sub-Saharan Africa. Engineering, procurement, construction, installation, commissioning, and maintenance of Fire Safety, Occupational Safety, Environmental Safety, Security, Building Management Systems, Technical Safety and Process Safety services.
The WIKIPEDIA describes Process Automation System (PAS) as a system used “to automatically control a process such as chemical, oil refineries, paper and pulp factories.” A typical PAS has network system (s) for interconnectivity; field devices (mostly sensors); controllers by means of control units, control modules, gates or consoles; operational terminals – mostly computers and software interfaces; and actuators. PAS is based on standards, unlike Distributed Control Systems (DCS).
Special application of the philosophy adopted in PAS applies to building services (building MEP systems) is the BUILDING MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS (BMS) often referred to as BUILDING AUTOMATION AND CONTROL (BACS).
Process monitoring systems in power control systems, lighting control systems, fire protection systems, security systems, chemical processes and automated manufacturing systems, HVAC systems, gas flow systems, water (hydronic) flow systems, and communication systems are responsible for monitoring status of systems for control or response purposes. The SCADA is closely associated with PAS as it adopts the technology in real-time monitoring of services through SCADA monitoring screens. Status of electrical power is monitored and controlled; status of fire and smoke incidents are monitored and automatically responded to via actuators for emergency evacuation and fire suppression equipment. Surveillance cameras are automated for security watch of premises within field of view and controlled with joysticks for zoom, pan, tilt, and rotate motions. Motion sensors detect by means of infrared, UV or other forms of magnetic waves, and respond with alarm and control equipment like automatic door and turnstile lock, or barring of access cards, fingerprints access, face recognition access or voice recognition access.
Environmental monitoring systems detect real-time environmental conditions through sensors for output in weather monitoring and forecasting using audio-visual systems. Gas sensing for monitoring if the natural threshold of gas compositions is exceeded, and some for monitoring if humans are exposed to toxic or hazardous gasses by means of single or multiple gas sensors sends signals to alarms and notification devices for response purposes. This helps in monitoring pipeline vandalization and prevention of fluid leakages in the oil and gas sectors over large oil and gas field coverage and monitored with systems like SCADA with physical or remote services over the internet.
HVAC monitors the environment for temperature, humidity, air-flow changes, and sends commands to transducers for visual display, and to controllers for automatic start, off, high, low controls of air handling equipment, chillers, ventilation extractor or exhaust fans, air dampers, thermostat equipment and device control, depending on type and composition of HVAC system.
PAS is used for integration of industry 4.0 for computer aided manufacturing (CAM) with the help of Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing and analytics, and artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning.
PAS makes it possible for seamless monitoring and control of systems engineered to a specific architecture or process logic. It helps in real-time data capturing, analysis, and report documentation through the logs in control units. It makes maintenance easy for troubleshooting and system history. It makes systems monitoring efficient for facility managers and emergency responders. Energy requirements of PAS systems are in most cases low due to the use of smart technologies that have good energy scores. The ease to upgrade and replace parts, devices, and equipment and still be able to integrate due to programmable features is there in PAS systems.
William Nwaogu, Technical Advisor SAFETY CONSULTANTS & SOLUTION PROVIDERS LIMITED
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