CHE184-1P Process Dynamics and Control

2nd Quarter SY 2018-2019

On/Off Level Control of a Water Tank

Cuenca, Ashley Mae; Diaz, Danica R.; Sollano, Lorraine Joy

School of Chemical, Biological, and Materials Engineering and Sciences

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Abstract

The on/off control is a type of control method commonly applied to process control applications such as liquid
level control. It is the simplest and often least expensive type of automatic process control. On/Off control, or
two-position control, examines the value of a process variable and gives an output that is either fully on (100%)
or fully off (0%). There are no intermediate settings with on/off control. The difficulty of a Water Tank Level
Control System (WTLCS) is often operates under unstable condition such as above setpoint level or below
setpoint level. The unstable condition normally contributes to damage of devices and equipment of a process
plant. However, this problem can be solved by introducing feedback controller by visualizing it using
interactive simulator. One of the feedback controllers is a Proportional (P) controller. Nonetheless, the P
controller has drawbacks to control the non-linearity of a water level. The aim of this paper is to present the
implementation of a PID controller to control virtual WTLCS.

Keywords: Proportional, Controller, Control, Level, Condition

I. Introduction

As an important parameter in process

control, the impact of liquid level on production
cannot be ignored. In order to ensure safety in
production and quality and quantity of products,
effective and timely control of liquid level is
necessary. Liquid level control of water tank is a
key issue in the level control system, and it is
common, representative and practical in industrial
processes. In previous industry, people controlled
liquid level through a fixed liquid level switch.
When liquid level is up to a certain height, the Figure 1. Relay-Based On/Off Controller
switch is automatically closed or disconnected to
control liquid level. With the constant development Industrial applications of liquid level
of automation, continuous control of liquid level, control abound, e.g., in food processing, beverage,
that is, observing liquid level at all times is often dairy, filtration, effluent treatment, and nuclear
required in industry. power generation plants; pharmaceutical
industries; water purification systems; industrial
chemical processing and spray coating; boilers; and
automatic liquid dispensing and replenishment
devices. The typical actuators used in liquid level
control systems include pumps, motorized valves,
on-off valves, etc. In addition, level sensors such as
displacement float, capacitance probe, pressure
sensor etc. provide liquid level measurement for
feedback control purpose.

When comparing the 4 major process

variables: temperature, pressure, flow, and level in
a large-scale continuous process like a distillation
column chain, the importance of the level loop is
often over-looked. Typically, the level loop is
controlled by manipulating the inflow or outflow
of the operating unit and is considered an easy loop
to control.

II. Methodology

2.1) Equipment Utilized

Figure 3. Base Unit of the UCP
The main equipment used in this
experiment was the Computer Controlled Process 2.2) Procedure
Control System (UCP). It has a Base Unit which can
work with one or several sets and a Control Before performing the experiment, the
Interface Box connected to a National Instruments group familiarized the equipment and take note on
Acquisition board to a computer. The computer the necessary details needed. The group only made
runs SCADA which Is responsible for the use of the computer program.
management, processing, comparison, and storage
of data. Initially, the UCP control panel was turned
on and the SCADA icon was selected in the
The setup for this experiment was shown in desktop computer. The “CONTROL 2” tab was
Figure 2. In this experiment, the group focused on clicked followed by the “ON-OFF 1” tab on the
the On and Off System of the Level Control. The feedback control. The “LEVEL” was selected from
SN-1 values were recorded for 10 seconds interval the pull-down tab and the setpoint was set at
in 5 minutes. 60mm. On the other hand, “ACTION AB-2”
checkbox was tick on and the tolerance was set at 3.
The “AVS-1”, “AVS-2”, and “AVS-3” checkboxes,
however, were tick off. Moreover, at the graph
panel, the “SN-1” and the “Set Point” was tick on.
The “AR-1”, “AA-1”, “AB-1”, and “AB-2” was set
to “off” position” whereas the “AVS1” and “AVS2”
to opened, and “AVS3” to closed. Lastly, the
“Start” button was clicked and the value of “SN-1”
sensor was recorded during the run. SN-1 values
were recorded for every 10 seconds in 5 minutes.
Figure 2. Setup of the experiment.
Having these followed, the group was able
to successfully gather the necessary data and graph
the value of SN-1 with respect to time.

2.3) Treatment of Results

The obtained data of SN-1 on the

experiment was graphed with respect to time.
On-Off controller is the simplest of all the
The graph that was generated was made controllers. It can also be considered as a
using the MS Excel. proportional controller with a very high gain. As
the name suggests the controller sets the
There are no equations used in this manipulated variable either at full value or at zero
experiment. value. The difference between upper and lower
limit of the controlled variable is known as the
differential gap. The controller does not take any
III. Results and Discussion action between these two limits. Depending on the
settings when the controlled parameter reaches the
In this experiment, the SN-1 values were upper limit the manipulated variable is fully on (if
obtained during the 5-minute run. The Table 1 it was off till that time) or it is fully off (if it was on
shown below consists of the data gathered in the till that time). For the liquid level control system, in
experiment. the present case, we have made output flow rate
from the tank as the manipulated variable. The
Time SN-1 Time SN-1 upper level and the lower level limits can be set by
0 99 2:40 98 adjusting the electrodes suitably. As long as the
10 109 2:50 108 level in the tank remains below the upper limit the
20 106 3:00 107 solenoid valve be opened and liquid level will start
30 103 3:10 104 falling down. (for this to happen it is obvious that
40 101 3:20 102 the output flow rate from the tank has to be greater
50 98 3:30 99 than the input flow rate). As the liquid level falls to
1:00 109 3:40 100 the lower limit the solenoid valve will close and no
liquid can flow out from the tank. Since there is still
1:10 107 3:50 108
the liquid input to the tank liquid level in the tank
1:20 104 4:00 105
will start rising and the cycle will repeat.
1:30 102 4:10 103
1:40 99 4:20 100
Further we observe that an on-off controller
1:50 98 4:30 97
is not very accurate to maintain the set point and
2:00 109 4:40 109 can be used in places where very prompt control is
2:10 106 4:50 106 not needed. These kinds of controller can be very
2:20 103 5:00 104 widely used in domestic overhead water tanks.
2:30 100
Table 1. Data obtained from the experiment V. References
Based on the data gathered, [1] Essays, UK. (November 2013). Water Level
Control System Of The Tank Engineering Essay.
SN-1 vs Time Retrieved from
110 https://www.ukessays.com/essays/engineering/
water-level-control-system-of-the-tank-
105 engineering-essay.php?vref=1
SN-1

100
[2] R. N. Bateson, Introduction to Control System
Technology, Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ,
95
-20 0 20 40 60
1999, 6th Ed., pp. 304–307.
Time
[3] Cybosoft. CA 95670 USA. Retrieved from
Graph 1. SN-1 vs Time http://www.cybosoft.com/solutions/levelcontrol.
html
IV. Conclusion
[4] Sun, H., Yan, D., Li, B.: The Level Control of Three
Water Tanks Based on Self-Tuning Fuzzy-PID
Controller. Electrotechnical Application 25(8), 97–99
(2006).