Industrial Process Control

(EMEg5171)

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION TO PROCESS CONTROL
Lecture-2
Lidiya A.

2022 gc
 OUTLINE
1. INTRODUCTION
2. PROCESS-CONTROL PRINCIPLES
3. PROCESS CONTROL BLOCK DIAGRAM
4. STANDARD SIGNALS IN PROCESS CONTROL
5. CONTROL SYSTEM EVALUATION
6. OTHER TYPES OF CONTROL SYSTEMS
 Chapter Objectives
At the end of this chapter students will be able to:

Define process control

Know frequently stated terms in process control systems
Identify self-regulating systems
Draw block diagram of simple process-control loop & identify each element.
Identify standard signals that commonly exists in process control system
Describe three criteria to evaluate the performance of a process-control loop.
Understand difference between process control and servomechanism
 STANDARD SIGNALS IN PROCESS CONTROL
 There are three common signals that exist for the process industry to transmit the
process variable measurement from the instrument to a centralized control system
1. Analog signal
2. Pneumatic signal
3. Digital signal
 In process control analog electronic signals and pneumatic signals are commonly
used transmission signals for control purpose.
The most common standard electrical signal is the 4–20 mA current signal.
The most common standard pneumatic signal is the 3–15 (pound per square inch)
pressure signal.
Digital signals are the most recent addition to process control signal technology. Digital signals are
discrete levels or values that are combined in specific ways to represent process variables
Cont…
Analog Signal
The most popular form of signal transmission used in modern industrial instrumentation
systems is the 4 to 20 milliamp DC standard.
 This is an analog signal standard, meaning that the electric current is used to proportionately
represent measurements or command signals.
Typically, a 4 mA current value represents 0% of scale, a 20 mA current value
represents 100% of scale,
 4 mA represents the lowest possible measurement, and 20 mA represents the highest possible
measurement.
 and any current value in between 4 and 20mA represents a equivalent percentage in between
0% and 100%.
 Other common standard electrical signals include the 1–5 V (volts) signal and the pulse
output.
Relating 4-20 mA signal to instrument variable
Calculating the equivalent milliamp value for any given percentage of signal range is quite
easy. Given signal percentage and milliamp,

Where: I is the equivalent current in milliamp output of the instrument; is the given percentage
of the span of instrument output signal (ex. Sensor output), m is the span of 4-20 mA range
(20-4 = 16), and the offset value, or 4 mA.
 Therefore the above equation become:
To calculate percentage of the span
For example if a sensor has a range of and its measured output is , then the measured value
as percent of measurement range (the span) can be obtained as:

where: b= measured value, its percentage of the span, and corespondes to its minimum and
maximum value, and
Cont…

Pneumatic Signal
 Pneumatic signals are signals produced by changing the air pressure in a signal
pipe in proportion to the measured change in a process variable.
The common industry standard pneumatic signal range is 3–15 psig.

The 3 corresponds to the lower range value (LRV) and the 15 corresponds to
the upper range value (URV)
pressure

pressure
Example
An electronic temperature transmitter is ranged 40 to 140 degree Fahrenheit
and has a 4-20 mA output signal. Calculate the current output by this
transmitter if the measured temperature is 60 degree Fahrenheit.
Solution
First convert the measured temperature (T=60) into a percentage of the
range as:

Next take the percentage value and translate it into a 4-20 mA current
value using the formula:
Therefore the transmitter outputs a process valu of 7.2mA at a temperature of 60)
Cont…
An electronic loop controller outputs a signal of 8mA to a direct-responding
control valve (where 4mA is shut and 20mA is wide open). How far open
should the control valve be at this manipulated variable signal level?
Solution
If represent controller output in percentage of span (percentage of valve
opening level); Since then
Thus

Therefore the control valve should be 25% open for 8mA controller output.
 CONTROL SYSTEM Evaluation
 A process-control system is used to regulate the value of some process variable.

 When such a system is in use, it is natural to ask, How well is it working?

 This is not an easy question to answer, because it is possible to adjust a control

system to provide different kinds of response to errors.
 The variable used to measure the performance of the control system is the error,
e(t), which is the difference between the constant setpoint or reference value, r,
and measured indication of the controlled variable, c(t).
 Since the value of the controlled variable may vary in time, so may the error.
Control System Objectives
 A practical statement of control system objective is best represented by three
requirements:

1. The system should be stable.

2. The system should provide the best possible steady-state regulation.

3. The system should provide the best possible transient regulation.

The question of how well the control system is working is thus answered by (1) ensuring
stability, (2) evaluating steady-state response, and (3) evaluating the response to setpoint
changes and transient effects.
There are many criteria for judging the response. In general, the term tuning is used to
indicate how a process-control loop is adjusted to provide the best control.
Cont…
Stability
 The purpose of the control system is to regulate the value of some variable.
This requires that action be taken on the process itself in response to
magnitude and direction of error signal.
 If this is not done correctly, the control system can cause the process to
become unstable.
 In fact, the more tightly we try to control the variable, the greater the
possibility of instability.
The first objective, then, simply means that the
control system must be designed and adjusted so that
the system is stable.
Typically, as the control system is adjusted to give
better control, the probability of instability also
increases.
Cont…
Steady State Regulation
The objective of the best possible steady-state regulation simply means that the steady
state error should be a minimum.
Generally, when a control system is specified, there will be some allowable deviation,
about the setpoint. This means that variations of the variable within this band are expected
and acceptable. External influences that tend to cause drifts of the value beyond the
allowable deviation are corrected by the control system.
For example,
 A process-control technologist might be asked to design and implement a control system
to regulate temperature at 150 ^oC within ±2^o C. This means the setpoint is to be 150^o
C, but the temperature may be allowed to vary within the range of 148^o C to 152^o C.
Cont…
Transient Regulation
What happens to the value of the controlled variable when some sudden transient
event occurs that would otherwise cause a large variation?
For example,
The setpoint could change. Suppose the setpoint in the aforementioned temperature
case were suddenly changed to 160C. Transient regulation specifies how the control
system reacts to bring the temperature to this new setpoint.
Another type of transient influence is a sudden change of some other process
variable. The controlled variable depends on other process variables. If one of them
suddenly changes value, the controlled variable may be driven to change also, so
the control system acts to minimize the effect. This is called transient response.
Evaluation Criteria
 There are many criteria for judging the response.
Damping Response
 One type of criterion applies to those cases in which the response to a setpoint change or
transient is as shown below.
 Note that the error is of only one polarity (i.e., it never oscillates about the setpoint).
 For this case, for setpoint change measures of quality are the duration, , and, for the
transient in addition to , the maximum error, for a given input.
 The duration is usually defined as the time taken for the controlled variable to go from
10% of the change to 90% of the change following a setpoint change.
 In the case of a transient, the duration is often defined as the time from the start of the
disturbance until the controlled variable is again within 4% of the reference.
Cont…
Different tuning will provide different values of and for the same excitation. It is up to
the process designers to decide whether the best control is larger duration with smaller
peak error, or vice versa, or something in between.

Damped response; (a) setpoint change, (b) transient

Cont…
Cyclic Response
Another type of criterion applies to those cases in which the response to a
setpoint change or transient is as shown below.
Note that the controlled variable oscillates about the setpoint.
In this case, the parameters of interest are the maximum error, , and the
duration .
The duration is measured from the time when the allowable error is first exceeded
to the time when it falls within the allowable error and stays.
Cont…

Cyclic response; (a) setpoint change, (b) transient

 OTHER TYPES OF CONTROL SYSTEMS
Servomechanisms
Another commonly used type of control system, which has a slightly different
objective from process control, is called a servomechanism.
In this case, the objective is to force some parameter to vary in a specific manner.
This may be called a tracking control system.
Instead of regulating a variable value to a setpoint, the servomechanism forces the
controlled variable value to follow variation of the reference value.
The strategy for servomechanisms is similar to that for process-control systems, but
the dynamic differences between regulation and tracking result in differences in design
and operation of the control system.
Cont…
For example,
In an industrial robot arm like the one shown, servomechanisms force the robot
arm to follow a path from point A to point B. This is done by controlling the
speed of motors driving the arm and the angles of the arm parts.

Today, applications of servomechanisms include their use in automatic

machine tool positioning, satellite-tracking antennas, automatic navigation
systems, and missile launcher, and so on….
Discrete-State Control Systems
This is a type of control system concerned with controlling a sequence of
events rather than regulation or variation of individual variables.
This sequence is described in terms of events that are timed to be started and
stopped on a specified schedule.
The starting and stopping of events is a discrete-based system because the
event is either true or false, (i.e., started or stopped, open or closed, on or off).
This type of control system can also be made automatic and is perfectly suited
to computer-based controllers.
These discrete-state control systems are often implemented using specialized
computer based equipment called programmable logic controllers (PLCs).
Cont…
For example,
The manufacture of paint might involve the regulation of many variables, such
as
 mixing temperature,
 flow rate of liquids into mixing tanks,
 speed of mixing, and so on. Each of these might be expected to be regulated
by process-control loops. But there is also a sequence of events that must
occur in the overall process of manufacturing the paint.
The mixture needs to be heated with a regulated temperature for a certain
length of time and then perhaps pumped into a different tank and stirred for
another period.
Example
Is driving an automobile best described as a servomechanism or a process-
control system? Why?
Solution
 Driving a car is servomechanism.
 Because the objective is controlling the motion of the vehicle rather than to
regulate specific value. Therefore the objective is to cause the vehicle to
follow a prescribed path.
However keeping the speed constant during a trip could be considered a
process control since the speed is being regulated.
Thank You