PID controller has new ramp and soak features

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Jun 5, 2001

The Dual Loop Controller (DLC) from Red Lion Controls is a full featured, dual input PID controller with new ramp and soak features, for the precise control of an application's heating rates.

The Dual Loop Controller (DLC) from Red Lion Controls is a full featured, dual input PID controller with new ramp and soak features, for the precise control of an application's heating rates.

The DLC can be used as a modular building block and is ideal for applications, such as those found in the plastics, metal finishing and textile industries, which utilize multi-zone temperature and process control.

Together with the high resolution TX700 touchscreen, the DLC is now being packaged by Red Lion as a total solution for control and monitoring in such applications.

The DLC has two independent, 'A' and 'B', PID control loops, with both inputs able to be configured to accept a wide range of thermocouple, RTD, 0-10 V, 0/4-20mA, or resistive signals.

The two time-proportioning or DC analogue outputs can be programmed to control two independent processes, and the two alarms per channel can be configured for various alarm modes, or provide a secondary control output for heat/cool applications.

The controller operates in the PID Control mode for both heating and cooling, with on-demand auto-tune that establishes the tuning constants.

A unique overshoot suppression feature allows rapid response times, without leading to excessive overshoot.

The DLC easily integrates into virtually any PC-based SCADA system but has been specifically designed to interface with the TX700 touchscreen for alarm and event logging, recipe handling, modem access and trending.

The TX700 is an ideal complement to the DLC, being designed for industrial applications, particularly in the process and control arenas.

A thin film transistor display, with twin tube backlighting, gives stunning resolution to its 640 x 480 VGA, 10.4 inch display.

A further advantage of this method of display is the exceptionally wide viewing angle which allows users to easily monitor displayed data from different positions.

An analogue resistive touchscreen with continuous resolution allows any area of the TX700 display to be configured as a key, and an Intel chipset, together with an accelerated graphics controller, ensures high speed graphic animation.

For protection in harsh environments the TX700 is fitted with a rugged anodised aluminium IP65/NEMA 4 front panel.

Configuration of the DLC and TX700 is made easy by Red Lion's RLCPro Windows-based software package and the latest version of EDICT-97 which enables users to edit display pages on a "what you see is what you get" basis.

With EDICT-97 supporting an open-ended architecture, users can configure systems dictated by either numbers of pages or amounts of data, the only constraint being available memory.

EDICT-97 is highly intuitive and menu driven and is therefore exceptionally easy to use, running within MS Windows 3.11, MS Windows 95 or MS Windows NT.