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In order to produce a product with consistently high quality, tight process control is necessary. A simple-to-understand example of process control would be the supply of water to a number of cleaning stations, where the water temperature needs to be kept constant in spite of the demand. A simple control block is shown in Figure "a", steam and cold water are fed into a heat exchanger, where heat from the steam is used to bring the cold water to the required working temperature. A thermometer is used to measure the temperature of the water (the measured variable) from the process or exchanger. The temperature is observed by an operator who adjusts the flow of steam (the manipulated variable) into the heat exchanger to keep the water flowing from the heat exchanger at the constant set temperature. This operation is referred to as process control, and in practice would be automated as shown in Figure "b".

Process control is the automatic control of an output variable by sensing the amplitude of the output parameter from the process and comparing it to the desired or set level and feeding an error signal back to control an input variable (in this case steam). See Figure "b". A temperature sensor attached to the outlet pipe senses the temperature of the water flowing. As the demand for hot water increases or decreases, a change in the water temperature is sensed and converted to an electrical signal, amplified, and sent to a controller that evaluates the signal and sends a correction signal to an actuator. The actuator adjusts the flow of steam to the heat exchanger to keep the temperature of the water at its predetermined value. The diagram in Figure "b" is an oversimplified feedback loop. In any process there are a number of inputs, i.e., from chemicals to solid goods. These are manipulated in the process and a new chemical or component emerges at the output. The controlled inputs to the process and the measured output parameters from the process are called variables. In a process-control facility the controller is not necessarily limited to one variable, but can measure and control many variables. A good example of the measurement and control of multivariables that we encounter on a daily basis is given by the processor in the automobile engine. Most of the controlled variables in engine are six or eight devices depending on the number of cylinders in the engine. The engine processor has to perform all these functions in approximately 5 ms. This example of engine control can be related to the operations carried out in a process-control operation.

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