DCS is a distributed control system (Distributed Control System) of the English acronym. The so-called distributed control system is a new type of computer control system relative to the centralized control system, which is based on the centralized control system development, evolution. It is a multi-level computer system composed of process control level and process monitoring level with communication network as the link, integrating the 4C technologies of computer, communication, display and control, etc. Its basic idea is decentralized control, centralized operation, hierarchical management, flexible configuration and convenient configuration.

Development of DCS

After the 1960s, with the large-scale production projects and complexity, the birth of a computer centralized monitoring and control of centralized control systems.Centralized control facilitates monitoring, operation and management, but also makes the danger highly concentrated, once the system fails, the impact on the device and the danger is very large.

The first stage of development: 1975 to 1980 (initial stage)

Due to the limitations of hardware and software technology, the performance of the DCS system at this time is not very perfect, the hardware structure is not very mature.

The second stage of development: 1981 to 1987

This period of fault-tolerant, redundant technology has matured the use of system reliability is very high, the performance is very superior, a variety of control functions are very rich. In this phase DCS from pure industrial process automation control to production management automation development. This generation of DCS mainly introduced LAN (Local Area Network) technology, so that the network function of DCS was greatly strengthened.

The third stage of development: 1987 to the present

Manufacturers use the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) open system interconnection (OSI) structure based on the manufacturing automation protocol (MAP) standard to solve the interconnection problem of different models.

Main features of the DCS

High reliability

Openness

Flexibility

Easy to maintain

Coordination

Complete control functions