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PROCESS SIGNALS Introduction Process signals may be divided into two groups, namely communication and power signals. Communication signals are signals used for transmitting information and control of processes. Power signals are used to transmit energy and power in processes. Pneumatic, hydraulic, electrical, electromagnetic, and mechanical systems are common sources of power signals. Mechanical motion is often part of many electrical, hydraulic, and pneumatic control signals. Pneumatic, mechanical, electric, and electromagnetic signals are used as communication and power signals. Power and energy transmission needs proper control and control functions require communication. Process Signal Types The devices in a production system communicate through signals. Communication signals can be classified into analog and digital signals due to their waveform. Analog signals are continuous in value while digital signals are discrete in values. From the perspective of covered distance, communication signals could be described as short range, mid range, and long range. Short range signals are useful for short distance communication while others are good for long distance communication. Usually, communication signals and power signals are of the same form but differ in magnitude. Power signals could be several orders of magnitude above communication signals. Depending on the type of energy, process signals include pneumatic, hydraulic, electrical, electromagnetic, and optical signals. Pneumatic Signal Pneumatic signals are pressurized gases in motion within confined spaces. Pressure is the force over a unit area and is meassured in Pasca (Pa) in Metric units or pound per square inch (psi) in English uints. Pneumatic communication signals are generated commonly with a flapper-nozzle device depicted in Fig. 1.

Fig. 1: Pneumatic transmitter The flapper-nozzle device uses a supply air pressure of 20 30 psig to generate signal pressure in the range of 0.75 1.5 psig. A flapper plate in front of a nozzle with a restriction maintains a gap of 0.001 0.003 to generate the pressure signal. The back pressure in the nozzle increases when the flapper moves towards the nozzle but decreases when the flapper moves away. A relay unit on a supply pressure of 20 psig boots the output pressure of 0.75 1.5 psig to 20 100 kPa (3 15 psig). Pneumatic control signals can operate actuators which are used to control the linear motion of the control valve stems. They are used for relatively low load situations and fire from sparks is not a concern. Pneumatic communication signals when steady can travel up to 500 ft. Periodic calibration is necessary for pneumatic transmitters for reliability. Pneumatic signal is an analog type signal and is largely replaced now with digital signal. Today, pneumatic transmitters are usually found in older systems and have been largely replaced with electronic controllers. Pneumatic power signals use pressurized gas used to produce mechanical motion. The compressor is the equipment used to generate compressed gass with higher pressure values. Pneumatics power systems use an

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easily compressible gas such as air or a suitable pure gas. Most pneumatic power systems use pressures of about 80 to 100 psi (500 to 700 kPa).

Hydraulic Signals Hydraulic signals are pressurized liquids in motion within confined spaces. Fig. 2 shows the shematic of a hydraulic press. It consists of two cylinders (items 3 and 5) filled with oil, connected by a hose. Item 1 represents the effort applied by an operator and is labelled as the pump effort. The pump effort generates fluid pressure that is given by the force of the effort divided by the pump piston (item 2) head area. This pressure is transmitted to the load cylinder through the hose connection (item 4). The area of the load piston head (item 7) is much larger than that of the pump piston head. Hence the load cylinder is able to support a much higher load (item 8) than the effort at the pump. Practical hydraulic presses have valves and an oil reservior incorporated in the schematic of Fig. 2. The hydraulic press demostrates an important principle: the pressure in a hydraulic circuit can be generated fron a small cylinder and a little applied effort or force.

Fig. 2: Hydralic press Hydraulic control signals are used to operate spool valves and hydraulic actuators. Hydraulic actuators use pressurized liquids through piston motion to control the movement of valve stems. Large stem movement is possible with hydraulic actuators and they generate relatively larger forces compared to pneumatic actuators. Hydraulic control vavles may be designed for pressuers of 1000 psi, 2000 psi, 3000 psi, 5000 psi and above. Hydraulic power systems use pressurized liquid to produce mechanical motion. Hydraulics uses relatively incompressible liquid media such as oil to generate pressure from 1,000 to 5,000 psi (7 to 35 MPa) for most applications, but specialized applications may exceed 10,000 psi (70 MPa). Electrical Signals Electricity is the effect of electrons in motion. The flow of electrons results from a difference in electrical potential (pressure) between two points on a material. The electrical pressure is called voltage (V) and is measured in volts (V). The rate of electron flow is called current (I) and is measured in amperes or amps (A). The ease at which electrons can flow through a material is called resistance (R) and is measured in ohms ( ). Electronic devices generally run on small values of current and voltage. A smaller unit of the ampere is the milliamps (mA); that is one-thousandth of an amp. Voltage can also be expressed in millivolts (mV), a smaller unit than the volt, and kilovolts (kV), a larger unit. Electrical energy is the most portable form of energy today. Electric signals used in communication may be current, voltage, pulse, frequency, or tone. Electric current is used to transmit data in the standard range of 4 mA 20 mA but a range 10 50 mA DC is sometimes used

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because the latter range has higher tolerance to disturbances. Electric current signal can be used for relatively long distance transmission and it is largely immune to noise pick up. The set-up impedance is limited by the supply voltage and the maximum current in the circuit. Fig. 3 shows a schematic of a current transmission control loop. The power supply is normally a 24 VDC which can be obtained from an AC supply source through a transformer-rectifier device. Since the supply voltage is 24 VDC, and the maximum current allowed by the transmitter is 20 mA, then the maximum allowed total resistance in the loop is 1200 , excluding the transmitter resistance Rt. This includes the power supply resistance Rs, and the receiver resistance Rr and the resistances of other devices in the loop. A receiver instrument may be an indicator, recorder, transducer, etc.

Fig. 3: Current transmission Voltage transmission is very convenient but is prone to voltage drop or losses. Low wiring resistance and high input impedance (over 1 M ) help in minimizing voltage losses. Voltage variations from other sources can interfere with voltage transmission so it is used for short distance transmission. Standard transmission voltage is in the range of 1 5 VDC. Other range values are 0 5 VDC and 0 10 VDC.

Fig. 4: Voltage transmission Fig. 4 shows a setup for data transmission with voltage signal. The input impedance if the receiver resistance is Rr. To minimize line voltage drop, Rr is chosen to be over 1 M . If the line resistance R = 5 , and Rr = 1 M , then the line current is 4.95 mA. The line voltage drop will be 49.5 mV (0.0495 V). Thus the percentage voltage drop is about 1%. Further reduction in line voltage drop can be achieved by increasing the input impedance. Pulse electric signal has rapid voltage change from low value to high value and back to low value. It is a digital signal and can represent incremental quantity so that a summation over time yields the total transmitted load. Pulse signal provides greater accuracy in data transmission. Flow meters that generate pulse signals include turbine, vortex shielding, paddle wheel, coriolis mass, and positive displacement meters. Frequency signals use standard transmission voltage and current. The frequency is proportional to the data value transmitted and the common frequency ranges are 9 15 Hz and 18 30 Hz. Pure audible tone can

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also be used to transmit data and like frequency signal, standard transmission voltage and current are used. The duration of tone is proportional to the data value in tone transmission. Tone transmission is slow but can be carried over digital phone lines or microwaves. Electrical control signals act on actuators that convert electrical energy into linear or rotary motion. Linear motion can be transferred to the stem of a control valve. Electrical actuators include motorized valves, solenoid valves, etc. Limit switches are common features with motorized valves. Electric power signals are used to drive equipments and power tools. A popular prime mover in the industry is the electric motor whose power rating can be from 0.05 h.p. (horse power) to over 100,000 h.p. In many situations other forms of energy and signals are converted to electrical form because of its portability. Electromagnetic Signals Electromagnetic radiations include radio wave, microwave, infrared, visible light, ultraviolet, X-rays, and gamma rays. Electromagnetic (EM) radiation are waves created when a charged object, such as an electron, accelerates with a frequency in the electromagnetic spectrum. EM frequencies range from a few Hertz (radio waves) to about a million billion (1015) Hertz (gamma rays). The behavior of EM waves depend primarily on its frequency, but when EM waves interact with single atoms and molecules, its behavior is also influenced by the amount of energy per quantum (photon) it carries. EM waves are described by any of the following three physical quantities: frequency, f; wavelength, ; and photon energy, E. These parameters are related by the following equations: f =

(a)

f =

E (b) h

E =

hc

(c)

Eqn. 1

Where: c = 299,792,458 m/s (speed of light in vacuum) and h = 6.62606896(33)1034 Js (Planck's constant). Wavelength is inversely proportional to the wave frequency, so gamma rays have very short wavelengths that are fractions of the size of atoms, whereas radio wavelengths can be as long as a several thousand kilometers. Photon energy is directly proportional to the wave frequency, so gamma rays have the highest energy and radio waves have very low energy. Electromagnetic signals are used in wireless transmission. The three common types of electromagnetic signals for wireless transmission are microwave, infrared, and radio frequency waves. Microwave signal is a high radio frequency signal in the 3 GHz to 300 GHz range. It is used for short-range to long-range transmission. Infrared signals are light beams in the infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum. Infrared transmission is limited to short-range transmission because the transmitter and receiver must be in sight of each other. Radio is the transmission of signals by using electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. The frequency range for radio signals is 3 Hz to 300 GHz, though the commercial range is around 500 Hz to 1 GHz. A radio transmitter converts electric current into an electromagnetic wave using an oscillator. The wave is then passed through an antenna for wireless communication. Electric currents oscillating at radio frequency (RF) can ionize air to create a conductive path through space. Hence radio waves are able to be transmitted from a transmitter to a receiver. A radio receiver converts an electromagnetic wave into electric current. A transceiver is a device that functions as a transmitter and a receiver and is a standard device in radio transmission. Fig. 5 depicts a wireless transmission setup. In radio wave, electron or photon acceleration is caused by an alternating current in an antenna. By turning the frequency of an oscillator, the radio signal can be detected by an antenna and transformed into sound or other signals that carry data and information. Radio data is carried by systematically changing (modulating) some wave attributes such as amplitude, frequency, or phase. AM (Amplitude Modulation) radio modulates the amplitude of radio wave and FM (Frequency Modulation) modulates the frequency of the wave. Electrical power systems operate at 50 400 Hz frequencies and telecommunication systems operate in the kHz to GHz range. Wire characteristic impedance for low-voltage and high frequency transmission in telecommunication systems is between 50 300 ohms. The transmission capacity of analog signals is

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measured in bandwidth and it is the maximum frequency that can be transmitted in a medium without excessive attenuation. A drop in signal strength of 3 dB is used for cut-off frequency assessment.

Electromagnetic wave Transceiver

Fig. 5: Wireles transmission The capacity of digital signal transmission is measured in bits per second (bps). This is called the speed of transmission and is usually in millions of bits per second (Mbps). Higher bandwidth is required for digital transmission than analog transmission. Analog signals are converted to digital signals by an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) converts digital signals to analog signals. The digital bandwidth is the product of the converter bit-code and the sampling frequency. The sampling frequency is at least twice the maximum frequency in the analog signal. For example, an ADC of 8-bit code operating at a sampling frequency of 500 kH, has a bandwidth or data speed of 4 Mbps (8 x 500,000 = 4,000,000). Optical Signal Optical signal is an electromagnetic wave of laser light. A laser is a focused high energy light beam. A laser signal communication device consists of a laser beam generator, transmitter, timer, conductor, and receiver (Fig. 6). The transmitter converts electrical signal to light signal and the receiver converts light signal to electrical signal. Laser signals are transmitted using fiber optic cable. Connectors are used to make the fiber optic cable connect with other communication devices. The fiber optic cable or transmission medium or conductor is constructed of thin filaments or strands of glass through which light beams travel. The laser light signal has a single wavelength so that it can be totally reflected or refracted within the optical fiber tube.

Fig. 6: Optical signal transmission Optical fiber cables are made from fine fibers of 100 200 m in diameters. The cable consists of a core, cladding, and insulation. The core is a glass fiber, the cladding is a thin layer of plastic or glass, and the insulation is one or more layers of a dielectric material. The light wave travels through the core and the cladding keeps reflection or refraction of the light contained within the core due to its refractive index. The light source must be very tiny to be within the angle of total reflection and LEDs are the best light sources. Popular LED and laser light sources are generated from gallium (Ga), aluminum (Al), and arsenic (As)

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compounds. A wavelength of 750 900 nm is used for low-cost short-distance transmission. A 130 nm wavelength is used for medium-distance transmission and 1500 nm wavelength for long-distance transmission. Optical signals are digital signals and are free from electromagnetic interference. Signal Symbols Instruments in control system communicate through signals. Fig.7 shows a variety of signal symbols and their representation in instrumrntation systems.

Fig. 7 Signal symbols Summary Process signals may be classified by function into communication and power signals. Communication signals are used for transmitting data and control of processes. Power signals are used to transmit energy and power in processes. Power signals could be several orders of magnitude above communication signals. According to waveform, process signals can be divided into analog and digital signals. Analog signals are continuous in value while digital signals are discrete in values. On the range distance covered, communication signals could be described as short range, mid range, and long range. Short range signals are useful for short distance communication while the others are good for long distance communication. According to the type of enegy, process signals include pneumatic, hydraulic, electrical, electromagnetic, and optical signals.