Scope of business

Automatic control system


An automatic control system refers to the use of automated control devices to automatically regulate certain critical process parameters during production. When these parameters deviate from their normal operating ranges due to external disturbances (disturbances), the system can automatically adjust them to bring them back within the range required by the process. In the course of production, various process conditions are never completely static. Particularly in chemical production—where most processes are continuous—the equipment is interconnected; thus, when the process conditions of one piece of equipment change, it can cause fluctuations, to varying degrees, in other equipment’s parameters, leading them to deviate from their normal operating conditions. Of course, automatic regulation means that no direct human intervention is required.

Automatic control systems have been widely applied in various fields of human society.

In the industrial sector, there are corresponding control systems for various physical quantities encountered in production processes such as metallurgy, chemical engineering, and mechanical manufacturing—including temperature, flow rate, pressure, thickness, tension, speed, position, frequency, and phase. Building on these systems, digital computers have been employed to develop digital control systems with even better control performance and higher degrees of automation, as well as process control systems that combine both control and management functions. In agriculture, applications include automatic water-level control systems and automated operating systems for agricultural machinery.

In the field of military technology, examples of automated control applications include various types of servo systems, fire-control systems, and guidance and control systems. In the areas of aerospace, aviation, and marine navigation, in addition to various forms of control systems, application areas also encompass navigation systems, remote-control systems, and a wide range of simulators.

Moreover, automatic control technology finds practical applications in office automation, library management, transportation management, and even daily household chores. As control theory and control technology continue to advance, the scope of applications for automatic control systems keeps expanding, encompassing virtually all fields—including biology, medicine, ecology, economics, and society.

Automatic control system