(21f) Distributed Control System Implementation for Undergraduate Labs

A Honeywell Experion DCS system was recently acquired and configured as part of a multi-year plan to expand and remodel the Lamar University Chemical Engineering Department’s Unit Operation and Process Control Labs.  The first phase is complete:  a new “Control Center” with 10 Flex Stations was established and the Department’s two Process Control Experiments were converted from independent single loop control to DCS based control.  Those Control Experiments were used by our undergraduates for the first time during the spring 2011 semester.  The next phase will involve extending the DCS system to the Unit Operations laboratory which is located in a separate building.  This presentation will include some of configuration choices made and the lessons learned during the acquisition and configuration of this industrial DCS system for academic use.