Please help

hi friends .. i wana ask that i am in final year of Electrical engineering ... i am taking the project related to PLC. i am controlling flow, level, temperature and pressure by using PLC.
but mu teacher is telling that Plc are now going to be obselete. they advise to me to do project on DCS(distributed contol system)
but my interest is in PLCs and i know very much about that please help me that whether i switch my mind from PLC to another project or do i still stick on it ... well also let me know that which latest projects are know gonna be control thru PLC

i shall be very thankful to you ... plz reply he quickly i wanna submit my project in 2 days......plz

Hello Adheel Mohsin;

When programmable controllers started to be used in industry, PLCs were more often dedicated to industrial automation applications (conveyors, bottlers, packers...) and DCS were more often deployed in process automation applications (refineries, pipelines...).
Basically, PLCs were seen as better at handling great numbers of digital I/Os, from a central controller, whereas the DCS was deemed better at establishing links between distributed, autonomous loop controllers, exchanging data over proprietary communication networks.
Today, the distinction between the 2 is blurring. Newer DCS (Emerson's DeltaV, for example) are now capable of handling rapid digital I/Os, and PLCs are now distributed in DCS format to handle large industrial plant (n Siemens' PCS7 configuration, for example). The power and programming of the chips that constitute the brains of both the PLCs and the DCS systems have increased in power and magnitute (as for desktop computers) recently, and now both are capable of handling much more information, at greater speeds, than ever before.
You will find in modern PLCs all the tools required for your flow, level and temperature controls, from integrated PID loop logic ( PID, auto-tuners, lead/lag logic) to dedicated networks for instrumentaion (Profibus-PA, HART, Fieldbus Foundation). You should have no problem solving such issues.
I do not believe anyone who predicts the demise of any existing, well established technology in the industrial realm. Eventually, I have a feeling they will merge more and more, and will be completed with computer-based controls for even more power and capacity, as this technology grows in the industrial world.
Hope this helps,
Daniel Chartier


Edit:
Have a look at the following discussion on the subject, on another forum; it may enlighten you on the level of discussion on the subject:
http://www1.control.com/1026233104/index_html#1026234033
Regards, D.C.

Your instructor is dreaming.

In the "REAL WORLD", there are plenty of people installing PLC's. The number of PLC's being installed is probably growing more then the number of DCS installings.

PLC's were to have replaced relays.

Ask your intuctor why relays are still being installed, ALL over the world. Sounds like they would be doubley obsolete.

Has your instructor EVER done anything besides teach???

How long has DCS been out. Honeywell was trying to get me to use it intheir hometown 11 years ago, and I don't know when it was introduced. If it was to obsolete PLC's, it hasn't done a very good job of it, and not very fast either.