Instrumentation and Process Control

CHE 314

Dr. Iftikhar A. Salarzai

School of Chemical & Materials Engineering

National University of Sciences and
Technology, Islamabad
Basic Control Concepts

Lecture # 1
 WHY PROCESS CONTROL?

 As competition becomes stiffer in the chemical

marketplace and processes become more
complicated to operate, it is advantageous to make
use of some form of automatic control.
 Automatic control of a process offers many
advantages, including
• Enhanced process safety
• Satisfying environmental constraints
• Meeting ever-stricter product quality specifications
• More efficient use of raw materials and energy
• Increased profitability
 CONTROL SYSTEMS

• Control systems are used to maintain process

conditions at their desired values by manipulating
certain process variables to adjust the variables
of interest.
• Example: the home thermostat
• This control system is designed to maintain the
temperature in the home at a comfortable value
by manipulating the fuel flow or electrical input
to the furnace.
 Home Thermostat
• The furnace control system must deal with a
variety of disturbances to maintain
temperature in the house, such as heat losses,
doors being opened and hopefully closed, and
leaky inefficient windows.
• The furnace must also be able to respond to a
request to raise the desired temperature if
necessary.
Generalized process control system

The controller compares the measurement signal of the

controlled variable to the set point (the desired value of the
controlled variable). The difference between the two values is
called the error.
 Basic Terms Used in a Control System
• The concept of using information about the
deviation of the system from its desired state to
control the system is called feedback control.
• Closed-loop refers to the fact that the controller
automatically acts to return the controlled
variable to its desired value.
• An open-loop system would have the
measurement signal disconnected from the
controller, and the controller output would have
to be manually adjusted to change the value of
the controlled variable.
 Hot water tank control system

The thermostat (controller) determines

the error as

o If the error is positive, the

measured temperature is lower
than desired and the thermostat
opens the fuel valve to the burner
which adds heat to the tank.
o If the error is zero or negative, the
thermostat closes the fuel valve
and no heat is added to the tank.
Block diagram of a hot water heater
control system
 Types of Controllers

• The thermostat on the hot water heater is called an “on/off ”

type of controller. Depending on the value of the error signal,
the output from the controller is either “full on” or “full off ”
and the fuel valve is full open or full closed; there are no
intermediate values of the output.
• In fact, we are completely satisfied only when the error is
exactly zero.
• Based on these considerations, it is natural to suggest that the
controller should change the heat input by an amount
proportional to the error. This is called proportional control.
 offset
• If the set point is 130 F and a disturbance occurs that drops
the temperature to 120 F, if we use only a proportional
controller, then we will never be able to get the tank
temperature to exactly 130 F. Once the system stabilizes
again, the temperature will not be exactly 130 F, but
perhaps 127F or 133 F. There will always be some residual
steady state error (called offset ).
• For a home water heater, this is probably good enough; the
exact temperature is not that critical.
• In an industrial process, this may not be adequate, and we
have to resort to a bit more complicated controller to drive
the error to zero.
 Integral Control
• Considerable improvement may be obtained over proportional
control by adding integral control. The controller is now
instructed to change the heat input by an additional amount
proportional to the time integral of the error.
• This type of control system has two adjustable parameters: a
multiplier for the error and a multiplier for the integral of the
error. If this type of controller is used, the steady-state error will
be zero. From this standpoint, the response is clearly superior to
that of the system with proportional control only.
• One price we pay for this improvement is the tendency for the
system to be more oscillatory. The system will tend to overshoot
its final steady-state value before slowly settling out at the
desired set point.
• So what is the best control system to use for a particular
application? This and related questions will be addressed later in
this course
 Some Further Complications

o From a physical standpoint, some measuring

device such as a thermocouple will be required to
measure this temperature.
o The temperature of a thermocouple inserted in
the tank may or may not be the same as the
temperature of the fluid in the tank.
o Since the controller will receive measured values
of the temperature, rather than the actual values,
it will be acting upon the apparent error, rather
than the actual error.
 Task

• Draw a block diagram for the control system

generated when a person drives a car at NUST
where speed limit is 40Km/hr
Modeling for Process Dynamics

Lecture # 1
 Modeling Tools for Process Dynamics

• Understanding process dynamics (how

process variables change with time) is very
important to our studies of process control.
• We need to explore process dynamics and
review some mathematical tools for solving
the resulting process models.
 PROCESS DYNAMICS
A CHEMICAL MIXING SCENARIO

Two process streams are mixed to produce one of the feeds for a
chemical reactor. After mixing, the blended stream is fed to a
heating vessel before being sent to the reactor.
 A CHEMICAL MIXING SCENARIO (cont…)
• The process is running along at steady state. The
concentration of A in stream 1 is 1 g/L and in stream 2 is 4
g/L. At 3:00 P.M. the shift changes at the plant.
• The new operator on the unit misreads the flow meters for
the process and switches the flow rates of the two streams.
Stream 1 is switched to 20 L/min, and stream 2 is switched
to 10 L/min.
• At 3:30 P.M. the shift supervisor hurries to the control room
to determine the source of the problem now being
experiencing with the reactor.
• Use your knowledge of chemical engineering to determine
what has happened to the exit concentration from the
heating vessel over the first half-hour of the shift.
 A CHEMICAL MIXING SCENARIO
(cont…)
• Before the change, we can calculate the original
steady-state concentration into the heating vessel

After the change, the new feed concentration to the

heating vessel is?
 A CHEMICAL MIXING SCENARIO (cont…)
• After the change, the new feed concentration to the heating
vessel is
 A CHEMICAL MIXING SCENARIO (cont…)

• To analyze how the exit from the heating vessel (the

feed to the reactor) varies with time, we must
perform a mass balance on component A around the
heating vessel.

volumetric flow rate v is constant into and out of the

heating vessel at v3 . Thus the volume of fluid in the
tank V is constant.
 A CHEMICAL MIXING SCENARIO (cont…)

The coefficient of the derivative term is the residence

time of the heating vessel , which in this process is 5
min.
A CHEMICAL MIXING SCENARIO (cont…)
Plot of the exit concentration from the heating vessel

• As expected, the concentration starts at the original steady-state

concentration of 3 g/L and exponentially decreases to 2 g/L.
 Conclusion
• Modeling the mixing process enables us to
determine the concentration of component A
in the stream being fed to the reactor.
• Being able to determine or predict the
dynamic behavior of a process is crucial to
being able to design a control system for it.
 Energy Balance for the Mixing
Process
• Prior to 3 P.M. the process conditions are
depicted as:
 Energy Balance for the Mixing
Process (cont…)
• Stream 1 (at 25 C) mixes with stream 2 (at 55 C),
producing stream 3, the feed to the heating
vessel. The heater adds energy to the vessel to
bring the outlet stream to 80 C.
• Before we look at the effect of the disturbance
caused by the operator, it is necessary to
determine the steady-state process conditions
prior to the upset.
• An energy balance around the mixing tee will
enable us to calculate the steady-state feed
temperature to the heating vessel T 3 .
 Energy Balance for the Mixing
Process (cont…)

o Assume that the stream density and specific heat remain

constant, independent of the concentration of component A in
the stream.
o Assume a reference temperature for the enthalpy calculation.
 Energy Balance for the Mixing
Process (cont…)
• The energy balance can be simplified to

We can now determine the steady-state heat input required from the
heater by performing a steady-state energy balance around the heating
vessel (next slide)
Energy Balance for the Mixing
Process (cont…)

Solving for the heater input gives

 Energy Balance for the Mixing
Process (cont…)
• The energy balance for the original steady-state case is
summarized as
 Energy Balance for the Mixing
Process (cont…)
• The inlet temperature to the heating vessel after the 3:00 P.M.
disturbance can be determined from the steady-state energy
balance around the mixing tee using the new flow rates
 Energy Balance for the Mixing
Process (cont…)
• To determine the effect of this inlet temperature disturbance on the feed
to the reactor, an unsteady-state energy balance on the heating vessel is
required.
• We can logically predict that if the heat input stays constant, as well as the
process flow rate, when the inlet temperature falls by 10C, the outlet
temperature from the heating vessel will correspondingly decrease by 10
to 70 C. The energy balance on the heating vessel is
 Energy Balance for the Mixing Process (cont…)

• Simplifying yields

Substituting values for the scenario we are considering gives

Separating and integrating, we have

Energy Balance for the Mixing
Process (cont…)
 Energy Balance for the Mixing Process (cont…)
• A plot of the outlet temperature from the heating vessel as a
function of time is:
 Energy Balance for the Mixing
Process (cont…)
• Notice the shape of the temperature response is
the same as the shape of the concentration
response that we saw previously.
• By appropriate modeling of the process, we can
predict how the system will respond to changes
in the operating conditions.
• Our ability to model the process will be extremely
valuable as we design controllers to automatically
control the process variables at their desired
settings.
 Response of first order system
• As we just saw in our analysis of the chemical
mixer, the unsteady-state material and energy
balance models that we wrote required us to
solve differential equations to obtain the
concentration and temperature versus time
behavior for the process.
• We solved the equations by separation and
integration. A couple of other useful tools for
solving such models are Laplace transforms and
MATLAB/Simulink.
 Response of first order system
• Before we discuss a complete control system, it is
necessary to become familiar with the responses
of some of the simple, basic systems that often
are the building blocks of a control system.
• The systems for which a transient must be
calculated may be of high order and require
calculations that are time-consuming if done by
hand.
• Several software packages exist for streamlining
this effort.
 TRANSFER FUNCTION

It is the ratio of the Laplace transform of the

deviation in thermometer reading (output) to the
Laplace transform of the deviation in the
surrounding temperature (input).
 Transfer Function example: Mercury
Thermometer
• We develop the transfer function for a first-order system by
considering the unsteady-state behavior of an ordinary
mercury-in-glass thermometer.
• Consider the thermometer to be located in a flowing
stream of fluid for which the temperature x varies with
time.
 Transfer Function example: Mercury
Thermometer

Our problem is to calculate the response or the time

variation of the thermometer reading y for a particular
change in x.
 Transfer Function example: Mercury
Thermometer
• The following assumptions will be used in this
analysis:
All the resistance to heat transfer resides in
the film surrounding the bulb (i.e., the
resistance offered by the glass and mercury is
neglected).
All the thermal capacity is in the mercury.
Furthermore, at any instant the mercury
assumes a uniform temperature throughout.
Transfer Function example: Mercury Thermometer (assumptions)

• Making these first two assumptions is often referred to as the lumping of

parameters because all the resistance is “lumped” into one location and
all the capacitance into another.
• These assumptions make it possible to represent the dynamics of the
system by an ordinary differential equation.
Transfer Function example: Mercury Thermometer (assumptions)

• If such assumptions were not made, the analysis would lead to a partial
differential equation, and the representation would be referred to as a
distributed-parameter system.
• Distributed parameter systems will be considered later in detail.
 Transfer Function example: Mercury Thermometer
(Assumptions)

o The glass wall containing the mercury does not

expand or contract during the transient response.
 In an actual thermometer, the expansion of the
wall has an additional effect on the response of
the thermometer reading.
 The glass initially expands and the cavity
containing the mercury grows, resulting in a
mercury reading that initially falls. Once the
mercury warms and expands, the reading
increases.
 Transfer Function example: Mercury
Thermometer
• It is assumed that the thermometer is initially at
steady state. This means that, before time 0, there is
no change in temperature with time.
• At time 0, the thermometer will be subjected to
some change in the surrounding temperature x ( t ).
• By applying the unsteady-state energy balance
 Transfer Function example: Mercury
Thermometer
• We get the result
 Transfer Function example: Mercury
Thermometer
o The rate of flow of heat through the film
resistance surrounding the bulb causes the
internal energy of the mercury to increase.
o The increase in internal energy is manifested
by a change in temperature and a
corresponding expansion of mercury, which
causes the mercury column, or “reading” of
the thermometer, to rise.
 Transfer Function example: Mercury
Thermometer
o The coefficient h will depend on the flow rate
and properties of the surrounding fluid and
the dimensions of the bulb. We will assume
that h is constant for a particular installation
of the thermometer.
o Before we solve this equation by means of the
Laplace transform, deviation variables will be
introduced.
Transfer Function example: Mercury
Thermometer
 Transfer Function example: Mercury
Thermometer
• If we define the deviation variables to be the differences
between the variables and their steady-state values
Transfer Function example: Mercury
Thermometer

Taking the Laplace transform

Transfer Function example: Mercury
Thermometer
 TRANSFER FUNCTION

It is the ratio of the Laplace transform of the

deviation in thermometer reading (output) to the
Laplace transform of the deviation in the
surrounding temperature (input).
 Steps for Determining Transfer
Function
To summarize the procedure for determining the transfer
function for a process:
• Step 1. Write the appropriate balance equations
(usually mass or energy balances for a chemical
process).
• Step 2. Linearize terms if necessary
• Step 3. Place balance equations in deviation variable
form.
• Step 4. Laplace-transform the linear balance equations.
• Step 5. Solve the resulting transformed equations for
the transfer function, the output divided by the input.
 FORCING FUNCTIONS

• STEP FUNCTION. Mathematically, the step

function of magnitude A can be expressed as
 STEP RESPONSE

If a step change of magnitude A is introduced into a

first-order system, the transform of X ( t ) is
 Step Response (cont.….)
• Expanded by partial fractions

Solving for the constants C 1 and C 2

Step Response (cont.….)
 Example
• A thermometer having a time constant of 0.1 min is
at a steady-state temperature of 90°F. At time t 0,
the thermometer is placed in a temperature bath
maintained at 100°F. Determine the time needed for
the thermometer to read 98°F.
Example (Cont.….)
Example (Cont.….)
Example (Cont.….)
Effect of ta on the step response of a
first-order system.
 Standard Form for First-Order
Transfer Functions

The general form for a first-order system is

where y is the output variable and x ( t ) is the input forcing

function. The initial conditions are

Introducing deviation variables gives

Standard Form for First-Order Transfer Functions
(cont…)

standard first-order transfer function

 Standard Form for First-Order Transfer
Functions (cont.…)
• The important characteristics of the standard
form are as follows:
 Task
• Place the following transfer function in
standard first-order form, and identify the
time constant and the steady state gain.
 Task
• A thermometer at a steady-state temperature of 85°F. At time
t = 0, the thermometer is placed in a temperature bath
maintained at 105°F. Determine the time needed for the
following thermometer readings and draw a combine graph:
 92°F, 96°F, 98°F, at time constant of 0.1 min
 93°F, 95°F, 100°F, at time constant of 0.2 min
 98°F, 99°F, 102°F, at time constant of 0.4 min
 96°F, 98°F, 103°F, at time constant of 0.6 min

 Draw the same combined graph through the MATLAB

code provided
Combine Graph
SINUSOIDAL INPUT & RESPONSE
SINUSOIDAL INPUT
 SINUSOIDAL RESPONSE (cont.…)
• To investigate the response of a first-order
system to a sinusoidal forcing function, the
example of the mercury thermometer will be
considered again.
SINUSOIDAL RESPONSE (cont.…)
 syms t s w A ta
f=(A*w/(s^2+w^2))*(1/ta/(s+1/ta))
F= ilaplace(f)
• Partial fraction expansion

trigonometric identity
SINUSOIDAL RESPONSE (cont.…)
SINUSOIDAL RESPONSE (cont.…)
SINUSOIDAL RESPONSE (cont.…)
SINUSOIDAL RESPONSE
Thank you