Teaching Distributed Process And Manufacturing Control On Large System Trainers

Manufacturers are adding automation to meet the pressure for increased productivity, quality, and production flexibility. While the automation techniques used by central Pennsylvania companies varies, they have some common elements: a high degree of distributed control and increased use of programmable logic controllers and electro-mechanical devices. In addition, many companies require technology graduates to work on applied engineering problems. As a result of the these changes, the Engineering Department at PennState University Altoona Campus added a Bachelor of Science degree in Electro-mechanical Engineering Technology (BSEMET). An automation laboratory in a new Automation Technology Center was added to support three new controls courses taught in the last year of the BSEMET program. The development of the controls laboratory presented some unique problems. The laboratory was required to support a standard laboratory class size of 16 students while delivering laboratory training over a wide range of manufacturing control problems. A laboratory system was required that permitted eight teams of two students each to have equal access to control and operation exercises on the single large manufacturing system. At the same time the laboratory system had to support fundamental control exercises on single machines and trainers. This paper describes the development of a controls laboratory system that permits student laboratory groups the opportunity to develop unique solutions for single large system trainers in the context of the standard laboratory class size.