National University of Science & Technology

PROCESS DYNAMICS MODELLING SIMULATION AND CONTROL TCE 5002

SESSION 1 [PART V] 2011

FOLLOW UP TO PART 2 PDC: Process Model Formulation And Solutions, Laplace

Transforms, Z Transforms, Fourier Transforms, Process Control Piping &
Instrumentation Diagrams, Open And Closed Loops P,PI & PID Controls, Feedback
And Feedforward Control Systems, Typical Control Systems - Cascade, Ratio,
Selective, Split Range, Safety Mechanisms, Alarms, Safety Trips And Interlocks,
Hazard Analysis, Operability Studies

An in-class discussion and revision of the work studied under part two course TCE
2207. This includes an introductory take home test that is meant to assess and
invoke the mind to recap on the previous studies and to relate it to the work the
students were exposed to during industrial attachment year.

Course outline
 Introduction to process dynamics, modelling, simulation and control
systems
 Design of Feedback Controllers, Control Systems Design techniques - Root
Locus Analysis, Frequency Response Techniques, More advanced design
techniques
 Optimization methods; direct search, climbing and elimination techniques,
linear and non-linear programming.
 Linearization of non-linear processes (Routh Hurwitz method, Ziegler
Method)
 Single-input/single-output control (SISO) & multiple-input/multiple-output
control (MIMO).
 The analysis, dynamics and modelling of chemical processes using either a
mechanistic or an empirical input/output approach and control of common
chemical process units such as heat exchangers, simple reactors, and
agitated vessels.
 Hardware implementation, analog and digital, of simple control algorithms
and designs. Introduction to Artificial Intelligence Control.

Course Staff
Contact / Consultation
E S ZIMUNGA (LECTR) [email protected]
/[email protected] E-mail
Tel: +263 773 253 348 or +263 714 362 526
T. C NKHOMA (TA) [email protected] / [email protected]
E-mail
 PROCESS DYNAMICS AND CONTROL NOTES LECTURE SERIES 1: TCE 5002
NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE & TECHNOOGY (ZW) – CHEM ENG

Tel: +263 773 781 131

H KAITANO (PRACT TECH) [email protected] E-
mail
Tel: +263 772 802 095
General Course Information
Process dynamics modelling simulation and control is concerned with optimal
operation of chemical processes. It is an effective approach to improve process
safety, product quality and the cost-effectiveness of process operation. The
automatic control system is an indispensable part of every modern chemical plant.
The objective of this course is to provide students with the fundamental
background of process control theory and working knowledge of automatic control
systems for chemical & process facilities.
Assessment
Assignments [3] 30%
Test / Prac / In-class Exam [2] 20%
Project [1] 20%
Final Exam 30%

Introduction
In every process plant, process control is an integral part of the process at all
project phases, i.e. design, construction & commissioning, operation and
development of plant. The tools of dynamic analysis are but one part of the
practising engineer’s bag of tools and techniques, albeit an increasingly important
one. Certainly a solid foundation in the more traditional areas of thermodynamics,
kinetics, unit operations, and transport phenomena is essential. In fact, such a
foundation is a prerequisite for any study of process dynamics. The mathematical
models that we derive are really nothing but extensions of the traditional chemical
and physical laws to include the time-dependent terms. Control engineers
sometimes have a tendency to get too wrapped up in the dynamics and to forget
the steady state aspects. Keep in mind that if you cannot get the plant to work at steady state you
cannot get it to work dynamically.

The Need for Process Control, Modelling & Simulation Systems

 More efficient processes
 Production accuracy and control
 Repeatability and reproducibility
 Flexibility
 Fault Finding
 Process History / Traceability

The Components of a Process Control System

Development of modern day process control has evolved over time from manual
control in the early
1940’s, feedback controllers in the 1950’s and dynamic analysis in the 1970’s to
date. The backbone on which process control is built is as illustrated below:

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NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE & TECHNOOGY (ZW) – CHEM ENG

Through these systems modern day control systems have to address the following:
a) High level control/process monitoring - HMI
b) Trending & Recipe entry
c) High level faultfinding
d) Process history
e) Long term Trending
f) Optimization
g) Analysis

General Concepts
Before we go into details in the subsequent chapters, it may be worthwhile at this
point to define some very broad and general concepts and some of the
terminology used in dynamics and control.
1. PROCESSThis refers to the physical process and action performed; the
chemical reaction, or the collection of equipment making up the plant
to carry out a process.
2. DYNAMICS Time-dependent behaviour of a process. The behaviour with no
controllers in the system is called the open loop response. The
dynamic behaviour with feedback controllers included with the
process is called the closed loop response.
3. VARIABLES The changing characteristics of any given process which are
subdivided into the following:
 Manipulated variables
Typically flow rates of streams entering or leaving a process that we can
change in order to control the plant.
 Controlled variables
Flow rates, compositions, temperatures, levels, and pressures in the process
that we will try to control, either trying to hold them as constant as possible or
trying to make them follow some desired time trajectory.
 Uncontrolled variables
Variables in the process that are not controlled.
 Load disturbances

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Flow rates, temperatures, or compositions of streams entering (but sometimes

leaving) the process. We are not free to manipulate them. They are set by
upstream or downstream parts of the plant. The control system must be able to
keep the plant under control despite the effects of these disturbances.
4. FEEDBACK CONTROL
The traditional way to control a process is to measure the variable
that is to be controlled, compare its value with the desired value (the
set point to the controller) and feed the difference (the error) into a
feedback controller that will change a manipulated variable to drive
the controlled variable back to the desired value. Information is thus
“fed back” from the controlled variable to a manipulated variable.
5. FEEDFORWARD CONTROL
A disturbance is detected as it enters the process and an appropriate
change is made in the manipulated variable such that the controlled
variable is held constant. Thus we begin to take corrective action as
soon as a disturbance entering the system is detected instead of
waiting (as we do with feedback control) for the disturbance to
propagate all the way through the process before a correction is
made.
6. STABILITY A process is said to be unstable if its output becomes larger
and larger (either positively or negatively) as time increases
deviating from the set point of the process variable.
7. MODELLING A model is a collection of symbols and ideas that
approximately represent the functional relationship of the elements
in a system. When modelling it is advisable to start with simple
models and evolve to complex ones. One should focus on important
issues and screen out unimportant issues
8. SIMULATION Simulation deals with the designing of a model for a real or
proposed system that is executed on a computer and analysed to the
execution output. The purpose of simulation is to evaluate the
behaviour of the system under different sets of conditions by using
the models to carry out groups of experiments

Selecting a Process Control System

The decision to invest in a given control system is a major CAPEX decision and
cannot be taken lightly and is usually done by an established Projects team
comprising of all engineering disciplines involved in the operation of the plant e.g.
Instruments Engineer, Electrical Engineer, Process/Chemical Engineer,
Manufacturing Engineer, QA personnel, plant operators e.t.c

1st stage
Identify what type of process we are trying to control. Establishing which type of
process is to be controlled will reduce the amount of equipment we need to
consider, and give a better understanding of what needs to be considered when
selecting equipment, as well as a better appreciation of the process itself. First we
should ask ourselves a basic question: Is the process continuous or cyclic? The
answer will generally determine what type of control is required. Cyclic control is
also known as on/off control, which possibly best describes the control type.

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Continuous control, sometimes known as analogue control, is, as the title

describes, a control which continually modulates something to keep a process
under control. Continuous control can be sub-divided into several control formats,
which we will cover later in this book. With any control application we need to
identify the major control requirements of the process, to make the selection of
control equipment which best suits the need.

2nd Stage
Categorise requirements in order to make life simple. In the case of different
control applications, however, it may not be very easy to categorise requirements,
around in all cases categorisation should be carefully undertaken, to avoid jumping
to wrong conclusions, and hence any potential error in identifying requirements.
Some control applications can be very grey as to recognition of their control type
so over the following pages hopefully we will clarify the information needed to
make an accurate assessment of requirements of all control equipment, in all
areas of process control application, and hence categorise the control aspects
correctly.

Examples of Basic Schematics of Control Systems

Field Piping & Instruments

Programmable Logic Controllers (Plc)

A PLC is a small microprocessor based device suitable for the control of a single
operation particularly a batch process. It operates by examining a set of input logic
signals derived from sensors in the plant, combines them with the appropriate
timing signals from its own clock and produces an output signal of various kinds.
Standard interfaces built in PLC’s allow them to be connected directly to process

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NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE & TECHNOOGY (ZW) – CHEM ENG

actuators and transducers without the necessity for intermediate circuitry. PLC’s
are employed primarily for:
1. Sequential control
2. As a fixed parameter in PID controllers for control of variables such as
temperature, pressure, flow-rate, level e.t.c
3. The analysis and manipulation of plant data
PLC’s have a high flexibility and ease with which they can be re-programmed, they
are very compact and can be installed on the plant without difficulty and are very
simple to maintain in their basic modular structure and the diagnostic provisions
built inside them.

Direct Digital Control (DDC) & Supervisory Control

Fixed parameter analog controllers are replaced by a microcomputer with an
equivalent digital control algorithm supplied in the form of appropriate software.
These systems are rarely used to control single lops or in isolation, but are used or
generally extended to multiple loops where the input and output of each loop is
sequentially linked to the computer via a multiplexer.
(See Schematic on next page)

Distributed Computer Control Systems

Concentration of all automation functions on a single computer may be possible
for a very simple plant but the configuration is very inefficient for more complex
systems/processes for which there could be many thousands of connections
between plant and computer. The current hierarchical system in many industrial
processes use a central computer used to solve central automation problems,
together with a series of peripheral computers (generally micro-processors/ front
end computers) which control different sections of the plant. This configuration is
called the decentralised computer system with the hierarchical arrangements for
the decentralised system forming the distributed computer control system.

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Supervisory Control & Data Acquisition (SCADA)

A microprocessor based control system that is marketed under a number of
acronyms. It is a form of a DCCS but not all SCADA’s are DCCS. SCADA describes a
communication system that whose principal function is to join instrumentation and
control into a cohesive package and particularly the supervision and management
of “remote” installations. Thus in a number of cases SCADA systems comprise of a
variety of data highways, operator workstations and remote terminals and will
typically manage data acquisition communications and processing, events and
alarm reporting and partial process control. Full process control functions may
then be provided by special control units connected to SCADA.

Summary Comparison of Different Process Control Schemes

MATHEMATICAL MODELLING

Example A perfectly mixed batch reactor container containing 3400kg of liquid with heat
capacity of 3.2 kJ/

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(kg.oC) is surrounded by a cooling jacket that is filled with 1125kg of perfectly mixed
cooling water. At the beginning of the batch cycle both the reactor liquid and the jacket
water are at 95oC. At this point in time catalyst is added to the reactor and the reaction
occurs which generates heat at a constant rate of 8000 kW/min. At this same moment in
time makeup cooling water at 20oC is fed into the jacket at a constant 380kg/min flowrate.
The heat transfer area between the reactor and the jacket is 13m2. The overall heat
transfer coefficient is 0.70W/ (oC.m2). Mass of the metal walls can be neglected. Heat
losses are negligible.
a) Develop a mathematical model of the process
b) Use Laplace transforms to solve the dynamic change in reactor temperature (Ti)
c) What is the peak reactor temperature and when does it occur?
d) What is the final steady state reactor temperature?
[25]

MODEL SOLUTION

Mi =3400kg, Cpi = 3.2 Mw= 1125kg Fw= 380kg/min

Cpw=4.2 To=Tw = 95oC H = 8000kw/min A = 13 m2
o
Tw0 = 20 C o 2
h = 0.7 W/ ( C.m ).
(a) Reactant is charged into the vessel. Cooling water must be added to the jacket to
remove the exothermic heat of reaction and to make the reactor temperature follow
the prescribed temperature-time curve. This temperature profile is fed into the
temperature controller as a set point signal. The set point varies with time.
Conceptually from THERMODYNAMICS & RACTION ENGINEERING knowledge this can be
schematically presented above
Assuming constant reactor liquid density, mass balance in the reactor is
dm d ( ρV ) dV
= = 0 − 0 There is no inflow and no outflow. Since p is constant, =0.
dt dt dt
Therefore the volume of liquid and the mass in the reactor is constant. Using a lumped
model for the liquid in the rector model the simple enthalpy equation is;

dTi
mC p = − H − hA(Ti − Tw ) ANSWER
dt

Ti = reactor / liquid temperature

Ti = inlet cooling-water temperature

Tw = temperature of cooling water in jacket

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(b) Changing into Laplace transforms to

dTi
mC p = − H − hA(Ti − Tw )
dt

dTi
(3200 )(3.2) = 8 x10 6 − 9.1(Ti − 95)
dt

dTi
10240 = 8000 + 864.5 − 9.1Ti
dt

dTi
= 0.866 − 8.89 x10 −4 Ti
dt

 dT 
[
L  i  = L 0.866 − 8.89 x10 − 4 Ti ]
 dt 

0.886
sTi ( s ) − Ti (0) = − 8.89 x10 − 4 Ti ( s)
s

0.886 + 95 s
Ti ( s ) =
s[ s + 8.89 x10 − 4 ]

Expressing as Partial fractions and solving for A and B

A B 974 .12 879.12

Ti ( s ) ≡ + −4
= −
s [ s + 8.89 x10 ] s [ s + 8.89 x10 −4 ]

−4
Ti (t ) = 974.12 − 879.12e −8.89 x10 t
ANSWER

…………………………………………………………………………………..Exercise. GO &

COMPLETE THE REST

Principles of Formulation
Basis
The bases for mathematical models are the fundamental physical and chemical
laws, such as the laws of conservation of mass, energy, and momentum. To study
dynamics we use them in their general form with time derivatives included.
Assumptions
Probably the most vital role that the engineer plays in modelling is in exercising
his engineering judgment as to what assumptions can be validly made. Obviously
an extremely rigorous model that includes every phenomenon down to
microscopic detail would be so complex that it would take a long time to develop
and might be impractical to solve, even on the latest supercomputers.

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An engineering compromise between a rigorous description and getting an answer

that is good enough is always required. This has been called “optimum
sloppiness.” It involves making as many simplifying assumptions as are reasonable
without “throwing out the baby with the bath water.” In practice, this optimum
usually corresponds to a model which is as complex as the available computing
facilities will permit. The assumptions that are made impose limitations on the
model and that should always be kept in mind when evaluating its predicted
results.
Mathematical Consistency Of Model
Once all the equations of the mathematical model have been written, it is usually a
good idea, particularly with SOLUTION OF THE MODEL EQUATIONS. The available
solution techniques and tools must be kept in mind as a mathematical model is
developed. In practice we shall use Laplace Transforms, Matrices and Partial
Derivatives.
Verification
An important but often neglected part of developing a mathematical model is
proving that the model describes the real-world situation. At the design stage this
sometimes cannot be done because the plant has not yet been built. However,
even in this situation there are usually either similar existing plants or a pilot plant
from which some experimental dynamic data can be obtained. The design of
experiments to test the validity of a dynamic model can sometimes be a real
challenge and should be carefully thought out.

 Take Home test

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INDIVIDUAL TASKS

 Revise Fourier Transforms and Z Transforms for Sampled signals and

digital / Electronic Control Overview.
 Be Conversant with the Software(s) – Matlab, AutoCAD, Ms Visio, PHA Pro

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