Example (1) : The Interaction of Control Loops in A Stirred Tank Heater
Example (1) : The Interaction of Control Loops in A Stirred Tank Heater
F, T
However, if the temperature of the inlet stream or the desired value
of temperature (set point) changes, loop (2) will adjust steam flow
rate to compensate for the changes. This will leave the liquid level
undisturbed.
Therefore, loop (1) affects loop (2) but not the vice versa.
Example (2): The interaction of control loops in a CSTR
If the inlet concentration or F, cAi,Ti
desired output concentration Set Point
TC
(set point) changes, loop (1)
manipulates the feed flow Loop (2)
rate, which in turn disturbs Coolant cA,T CC Set Point
the reactor temperature. Loop (1)
Effluent
Loop (2) attempts to compensate for the change in temperature by varying
the coolant flow rate, which in turn affects the effluent concentration.
If the feed temperature is changed or the desired set point of the reactor
temperature is changed, this causes the effluent concentration to vary. Loop
(1) attempts to compensate for the change in effluent concentration by
varying the feed rate, which disturbs the reactor temperature.
TC
Example (3): The interaction of control loops in a distillation column
When a distillation column is controlled by conventional control loops, it is
not advisable to specify the composition of both products as controlled
variables, though the design of the column itself is usually based on the a
priori specification of these compositions. This is completely legitimate
from the static point of view.
Regulating the top product composition by increasing the reflux rate will
affect the bottom product composition (temperature). The bottom product
composition controller will attempt to remedy the situation by increasing
the boil up rate (steam input rate) which will in turn affect the top product
temperature (composition). This will be reflected as sustained oscillations
with each controller attempting to counter act the effect of the other one.
Block Diagram of Interacting Control Loops
m1(s) +
Consider the shown process with H11(s) y1(s)
+
two controlled outputs and two
manipulated inputs, the input- H21(s)
output relationships could be
given by the following equations: H12(s)
+
m2(s) +
H22(s) y2(s)
Process
y 1 (s) H 11 (s) m 1 (s) H 12 (s) m 2 (s)
(A)
y 2 (s) H 21 (s) m 1 (s) H 22 (s) m 2 (s)
It is clear that a change in m1 or m2 will affect both y1 and y2.
Two control loops are formed by coupling m1 with y1 and m2 with y2
as shown in the figure below.
The transfer functions of Loop 1
measuring devices and final + - 1 m1(s)
+ y1(s)
control elements in both y1,SP Gc1(s) H11(s)
+
loops are assumed to be
H21(s)
equal to unity for simplicity.
H12(s)
+ 2 m2(s)
H22(s) + + y2(s)
y2,SP Gc2(s)
-
Loop 2
D1 H12(s)
+ 2 + m2(s) +
+
y2,SP Gc2(s) + H22(s) y2(s)
-
Loop 2
H12 H 21
D1 (s) D2 (s)
H11 H 22
H12
y1 ( y1,sp y1 )G c1H11 ( y2,sp y2 )G c 2 H11 ( y2,sp y2 )G c 2H12
H11
H
y2 ( y2,sp y2 )G c 2 H 22 ( y1,sp y1 )G c1 21 H 22 ( y1,sp y1 )G c1H 21
H 22
As seen from the above equations, y1 depends only on y1,sp and y2
depends only on y2,sp.
G c1H11 G c 2H 22
y1 y1,sp and y2 y2,sp
1 G c1H11 1 G c 2H 22
It is clear from the above equations that the modified control system
structure in which the two decouplers (D1) and (D2) have been
incorporated result in complete decoupling. The equations show that
the system dynamics after introduction of the decouplers is thus
reducible to the non-interacting independent control loops shown
below.
Loop 1
-
y1,SP + Gc1 H11 y1(s)
1 1 1 11 1
6 𝑎 5 3𝑏 2
0.35𝑒 −𝑠 0.5𝑒 −2.5𝑠
𝑥𝐷 = 𝑅− 𝑉
(1 + 20𝑠)(1 + 25𝑠) (1 + 15𝑠)(1 + 10𝑠)
𝐻12 (1 + 𝑎𝑠)
𝐷1 = − = 1.43
𝐻11 (1 + 𝑏𝑠)
1 1 1 1 11
𝑎 25 20 1510𝑏
7. Adaptive Control
As mentioned previously, process plant parameters are likely to
change during plant operation e.g. non-linearities affect the
system parameters on changing steady-states in addition to other
parameter variations.
Plant Model +
Actuator
Gm -
U
+ E P
R Gc Gv G C
-
B
H
R + E Controller Process C
B-
Inner Loop
An idealized form of what should be the response of the process to a
reference input variation (or a program of such variations in batch
processes) is generated through a model. This is compared with the actual
response and the controller parameters modified in order to minimize:
t
m
( ( t )) 2
dt
0
Self Tuning Regulators
The self tuning regulator estimates first the parameters corresponding
to an approximate model transfer function by analyzing the dynamic
relation between an input and an output of the process.
U
Actuator Model X +
-
R +
Gc Gv G Y
-
B
H
Original loop dynamics is given when Y=X as:
U
𝐺 𝐺𝑐 𝐺𝑣 𝐺 Actuator Model
X +
𝑋= 𝑈+ 𝑅 -
1 + 𝐺 𝐻 𝐺𝑐 𝐺𝑣 1 + 𝐺 𝐻 𝐺𝑐 𝐺𝑣
+
The model should mimic this loop and R Gc Gv G Y
-
the difference used to modify 𝐺𝑐 to B
required.
Assuming that 𝐺𝑣 and H are not changed and considering reference input changes
only, it can be shown that the actuation should change 𝐺𝑐 to 𝐺𝑐′ such that 𝐺𝑐′
′ 𝐺′
= 𝐺𝑐 𝐺/𝐺 . Considering load changes, 𝐺𝑐 should be modified to such that
𝐺
1+𝐺 ′ 𝐻 ′ 𝐺𝑐′ 𝐺𝑣′
=
1+𝐺 𝐻 𝐺𝑐 𝐺𝑣
8. Inferential Control
When it is difficult to measure the controlled variable of interest,
another variable affected by the same disturbance and the same
manipulated variable is measured. Based on a reasonable plant model,
the measurements are used to estimate the value of the difficultly
measurable controlled variable to be handled by the control system.
D Unmeasured
Disturbance
Y G p1 M G d1 D
Gd1 Gd2
Z Gp 2 M Gd 2 D + E M + Unmeasured Control
R Gc Gp1 + Y
- Variable
1 Gp2 Ye + Secondary
D Z M Gp2 + Z
Gd2 Gd2 Measurement
G d1
G p1 G p2
G d1 Gd
Y G p1 G p 2 M 1 Z
G d2
G d2 G d2
Estimate of unmeasured + G d1
output y + G d2
Estimator
D Unmeasured
Disturbance
Gd1 Gd2
+ E M + Unmeasured Control
R Gc Gp1 + Variable
Y
-
Ye + Secondary
Gp2 + Z
Measurement
G d1
G p1 G p2
G d2
Estimate of unmeasured + G d1
output y + G d2
Estimator
D Gd1
+
+ E Gc M Gp1 + Y
R
-
Ye
Sheet 2, Continued
8. Construct an inferential control system to regulate the distillate composition of a
distillation column operating under constant feed flow rate when the following
transfer functions are provided:
x D 0.9e 2s x D 1.2e s T1 0.2e 2 s T1 1.0
x F 70s 1 R 30s 1 xF 60s 1 R 20s 1
xF is the composition of the feed, xD the distillate composition, R the reflux flow,
and T1 the temperature at the top tray. Assume that concentrations cannot be
measured and that R is the manipulated variable.
•Draw the resulting block diagram and place all relevant transfer functions.
•Since the parameters of the transfer functions above may change, augment
the inferential control system with an adaptation mechanism. This mechanism
can use intermittent measurements of xD and adjust accordingly the parameters
of the inferential controller.
𝑋𝐷 0.9𝑒 −2𝑠 𝑋𝐷 1.2𝑒 −𝑠 𝑇1 0.2𝑒 −2𝑠
𝐺𝑑1 = = 𝐺𝑝1 = = 𝐺𝑑2 = =
𝑋𝐹 1 + 70 𝑠 𝑅 1 + 30 𝑠 𝑋𝐹 1 + 60 𝑠
𝑇1 1
𝐺𝑝2 = =
𝑋𝐷 = 𝐺𝑑1 𝑋𝐹 +𝐺𝑝1 𝑅 𝑅 1 + 20 𝑠
𝑋𝐹
𝑇1 = 𝐺𝑑2 𝑋𝐹 +𝐺𝑝2 𝑅
1 𝐺𝑝2 Gd1 Gd2
𝑋𝐹 = 𝑇1 − 𝑅 E
𝐺𝑑2 𝐺𝑑2 SP + Gc Gv R Gp1 +
+
𝑋𝐷
-
X
1 𝐺𝑝2 De
Gp2 +
+
𝑇1
𝑋𝐷 = 𝐺𝑑1 ( 𝑇1 − 𝑅) + 𝐺𝑝1 𝑅
𝐺𝑑2 𝐺𝑑2 Hm2 Hm1
xF and f are the composition and flow rate of the feed, xD the distillate
composition, r the reflux flow, and t1 the temperature at the top tray.
Assume that concentrations cannot be measured and that r is the
manipulated variable.
•Draw the resulting block diagram and place all relevant transfer
functions.
•Since the parameters of the transfer functions above may change,
augment the inferential control system with an adaptation mechanism.
This mechanism can use intermittent measurements of xD and adjust
accordingly the parameters of the inferential controller.
𝑋𝐷 10𝑒 −10𝑠 𝑋𝐷 25𝑒 −5𝑠 𝑋𝐷 5𝑒 −0.5𝑠 𝑋𝐷 0.05
𝐺𝑑1 = = 𝐺𝑑3 = = 𝐺𝑝1 = = =
𝐹 1 + 10 𝑠 𝑋𝐹 1 + 5 𝑠 𝑅 1+ 𝑠 𝑇1 1 + 0.5 𝑠
𝐹 𝑋𝐹
𝑋𝐷 = 𝐺𝑑1 𝐹 + 𝐺𝑑3 𝑋𝐹 +𝐺𝑝1 𝑅
𝑇1 = 𝐺𝑑2 𝐹 + 𝐺𝑑4 𝑋𝐹 +𝐺𝑝2 𝑅 Gd1 Gd2 Gd3 Gd4
1 𝐺𝑑2 𝐺𝑝2 R + + + + 𝑋𝐷
𝑋𝐹 = 𝑇 − 𝐹− 𝑅 Gp1
𝐺𝑑4 1 𝐺𝑑4 𝐺𝑑4 + +
Gp2 + + 𝑇1
1 𝐺𝑑2 𝐺𝑝2
𝑋𝐷 = 𝐺𝑑1 𝐹 + 𝐺𝑝1 𝑅 + 𝐺𝑑3 ( 𝑇 − 𝐹− 𝑅)
𝐺𝑑4 1 𝐺𝑑4 𝐺𝑑4
𝐺𝑑3 𝐺𝑑2 𝐺𝑑3 𝐺𝑝2 𝐺𝑑3
𝑋𝐷 = 𝐺𝑑1 𝐹 + 𝐺𝑝1 𝑅 + 𝑇 − 𝐹− 𝑅
𝐺𝑑4 1 𝐺𝑑4 𝐺𝑑4
𝐺𝑑1 𝐺𝑑4 − 𝐺𝑑2 𝐺𝑑3 𝐺𝑑3 𝐺𝑝1 𝐺𝑑4 − 𝐺𝑝2 𝐺𝑑3
𝑋𝐷 = 𝐹+ 𝑇1 + 𝑅
𝐺𝑑4 𝐺𝑑4 𝐺𝑑4
𝑇1 𝑋𝐷 𝑋𝐷 5𝑒 −0.5𝑠 1 + 0.5𝑠 (1 + 0.5𝑠) 𝑒 −0.5𝑠
𝐺𝑝2 = = ÷ = = 100𝑒 −0.5𝑠
𝑅 𝑅 𝑇1 1 + 𝑠 0.05 1+ 𝑠
𝑇1 𝑋𝐷 𝑋𝐷 10𝑒 −10𝑠 1 + 0.5𝑠 (1 + 0.5𝑠)
𝐺𝑑2 = = ÷ = = 200𝑒 −10𝑠
𝐹 𝐹 𝑇1 1 + 10 𝑠 0.05 1 + 10 𝑠
𝐹 𝑋𝐹
E
SP + Gc G R Gp1 + + + + 𝑋𝐷
-
v
XDe + +
Gp2 + + 𝑇1