CHE 510: PROCESS CONTROL & INSTRUMENTATION
ASSIGNMENT 2
[1.] (i) Explain the principle of cascade control indicating
under what circumstances you would consider using
it.
(ii) The figure shows a cascade control system having a
proportional action slave controller with a gain of 2.
Determine the Ziegler Nichols for the master
proportional plus integral controller.
d
+
r + + + y
PI 2
_ _
Fig.1
[2.] A heat exchanger uses cooling water to cool a process
stream. A temperature control loop manipulates cooling water
flow control exchanger outlet temperature and can be
described by the following transfer functions:
Exchanger: The exchanger outlet temperature response to
cooling water flow rate has a gain of 1.5 oC/(1min-1) and a
time constant of 2.0 min.
Sensor/Transmitter: The sensor/transmitter has a unitary
gain. Its output is however delayed by 1.5 min.
Control Valve: The control valve (linear characteristics) has a
gain of 0.5 min-1/% and a time constant of 0.2 min.
The controller: The controller is PI, given by
(a) Draw the block diagram for the control loop,
(b) Determine the PI controller settings by using
(i) Tyreus-Luyben tuning rule
(ii) Ziegler-Nichols tuning rule
(iii) IMC tuning rule
(c) Determine the GM and the PM with each of the controller
parameters above in use.
(d) Comment briefly on (c).
[3.] The dynamic behavior of a heater is believed to be
described by the transfer function
where T and Tin are respectively the exit and inlet
temperatures (in K) of the stream being heated. FH the
flowrate of the heating medium (in Kg/min), and s the Laplace
transform parameter (in min-1)
(a) Sketch the response of T to:
(i) a 5K change in Tin
(ii) a -1Kg/s change in FH
(b) It is desired to install a feedforward controller that will
provide perfect rejection of all disturbances in Tin. The
available inlet temperature measurement is instantaneous and
linear with a gain of 5 mA/K. The valve on the heating
medium line has a time constant of 3 min with a gain of 0.2
Kgs-1/mA.
Draw an annotated block diagram for this system.
(c) Derive an appropriate transfer function for the above
feedforward controller. Comment on the feasibility of its
implementation.
(d) More accurate identification of the heater dynamics
reveals that the actual time delay between FH and is 3 min
(instead of the 2 min implied by the above transfer function).
Is it possible for a feedforward controller to provide perfect
disturbance rejection under these circumstances?
Sketch the response of T to +5K change in Tin if the controller
derived in (c) is installed on the heater.
[4.] A water tank heating process shown in Fig. 2 controls the
outlet temperature at a desired set point TSP by manipulating
the steam pressure PS of steam sent to the tank heat
exchanger. The steam delivery pressure Pin is subject to
variations that affect PS. Disturbances in the inlet stream
temperature Ti are the primary disturbance to the process.
The transfer functions of the system in Fig. 2 are
Fig.2
a) Assuming that a PI controller with τI = 0.2 min is used,
fid the range of Kc values for which the system is stable for
a standard single control loop configuration.
(b) Suppose a cascade control strategy is implemented to
handle variations in upstream steam pressure. How should the
second loop be configured? Draw the block diagram for the
process using this strategy and label the process variables.
(c) For the flowrate measurement, Gm = 0.4, and an inner
loop proportional controller, compare the cascade controller
closed-loop response with that of the standard PI
controller (Kc1 = 2 and τI1 = 5) for a unit step disturbance in
steam pressure. For the cascade controller,
use Kc1 = 2, τI1 = 5, and Kc2 = 2.
[5] The figure below (Fig.3) shows the P & I diagram of a
heat exchange process. The dynamics behavior of the heat
exchanger can be described by the following transfer
functions:
Process: Process disturbance:
Control valve:
Temperature sensor-transmitter
Pc
+ +
Steam
TC1
TC2
PT
TT1
TT2
T
Process fluid
Condensate
Fig. 3 Trap
The valve lift x is measured in inches. Other symbols have
consistent units.
(a) Draw the block diagram of the above with appropriate
variable labeling
(b) Find the Zeigler-Nicholas settings for a PI controller TC1
(c) Calculate the corresponding gain and phase margins
(d) Design a feedforward controller TC2 and discuss about its
implementation.
