Automatic computing engine

Turing AM. The automatic computing engine (ACE) report (1945). In Davies DW, editor, Com. Sci. 57, National Physical Laboratory, Apr. 1972. 

Least squares has played a prominent role in the chemical engineering literature, especially since the advent of automatic computation. Some further references to this literature and to least-squares algorithms are included at the end of this chapter. Multiresponse data require a more detailed error model and will be treated in Chapter 7. 

Schrage, R. W, The Automatic Computer in the Control and Planning of lanufacturing Operations, Advances in Chemical Engineering, vol. I, pp. 331-336, cademic Press, Inc., New York, 1956. 

David John Geiger, A Framework for the Automatic Design Computer Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, July 1984. 

Some plants have been using computer control for 20 years. Control systems in industrial use typically consist of individual feedback and feedforward loops. Horst and Enochs [Engineering h- Mining]., 181(6), 69-171 (1980)] reported that installation of single-variable automatic controls improved performance of 20 mineral processing plants by 2 to 10 percent. But interactions among the processes make it difficult for independent controllers to control the circuit optimally. 

Control of Crushers Lower-grade raw materials, higher energy costs, larger-scale operations, and more complex, capital-intensive plants make automatic control of size-reduction equipment more important (Suominen, 21st International Symposium—Applications of Computers and Operations Research in the Mineral Industry, 1011-1018). Benefits are increased productivity, process stability and safety, improved recoveiy of mineral values, and reduced costs [Horst and Enochs, Engineering Mining J., 181(6), 69-171 (1980)]. 

For many years, gear shifting in the automatic transmission has been controlled hydraulically, typically in response to vehicle speed and the position of the engine inlet throttle. In recent times that control has been reassigned to an electronic computer, which facilitates gi eater smoothness and flexibility in shift control. 

Chemical engineering is no longer confined to purely physical processes and the unit operations, and a number of important new topics, including reactor design, automatic control of plants, biochemical engineering, and the use of computers for both process design and control of chemical plant will be covered in a forthcoming Volume 3 which is in course of preparation. 

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