College of Agriculture, Food and Climate Science

Department of Food Science and Postharvest Technology

Course: Introduction to Food Process Control and Instrumentation

By : Eshetie Gelagay ,Department of FSPT, Injibara University

Tuesday, March 25, 2025
 Chapter 1
Introduction
What is process?

Ans.
 The conversion of feed materials to products using chemical and physical operations.
 In practice, the term process tends to be used for both the processing operation and the
processing equipment.
Raw material Product
Process

By : Eshetie Gelagay ,Department of FSPT, Injibara University

Tuesday, March 25, 2025
 Introduction
Process control

 Control systems are used to maintain process conditions at their desired values by
manipulating certain process variables to adjust the variables of interest.

 A common example of a control system from everyday life is the cruise control on an
automobile
 The purpose of a cruise control is to maintain the speed of the vehicle (the controlled variable) at the
desired value (the set point) despite variations in terrain, hills, etc. (disturbances) by adjusting the
throttle, or the fuel flow to the engine (the manipulated variable).

By : Eshetie Gelagay ,Department of FSPT, Injibara University

Tuesday, March 25, 2025
 Advantages of process control
Automatic control of a process offers many advantages, including
 Enhanced process safety
 Satisfying environmental requirements
 product quality specifications
 More efficient use of raw materials and energy
 Increased profitability

By : Eshetie Gelagay ,Department of FSPT, Injibara University

Tuesday, March 25, 2025
 Another common example is the home hot water heater. The control system on the hot water
heater attempts to maintain the temperature in the tank at the desired value by manipulating
the fuel flow to the burner (for a gas heater) or the electrical input to the heater in the face of
disturbances such as the varying demand on the heater early in the morning, as it is called upon
to provide water for the daily showers.

 A third example is 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.

By : Eshetie Gelagay ,Department of FSPT, Injibara University

Tuesday, March 25, 2025
 Cont.….Int
► 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.

► For example, we might desire to raise the temperature by 5 ◦c , and we’d like the
system to respond smoothly and efficiently.

By : Eshetie Gelagay ,Department of FSPT, Injibara University

Tuesday, March 25, 2025
 Cont.….
☻ From these examples, we can deduce that there are several common attributes of
control systems:
 The ability to maintain the process variable at its desired value in spite
of disturbances that might be experienced (this is termed disturbance
rejection )
 The ability to move the process variable from one setting to a new
desired setting (this is termed set point tracking)

By : Eshetie Gelagay ,Department of FSPT, Injibara University

Tuesday, March 25, 2025
 Cont.…
• 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.

Error = (Set point value) - (Measurement signal of controlled variable)

♥ Depending upon the magnitude and sign of the error, the controller takes appropriate
action by sending a signal to the final control element, which provides an input to the
process to return the controlled variable to the set point.

By : Eshetie Gelagay ,Department of FSPT, Injibara University

Tuesday, March 25, 2025
 By : Eshetie Gelagay ,Department of FSPT, Injibara University
Tuesday, March 25, 2025
 Introduction
• The concept of using information about the deviation of the system from its desired
state to control the system is called feedback control.
• Information about the state of the system is “fed back” to a controller, which utilizes this
information to change the system in some way.
• The type of control system shown in Fig. 1–1 is termed a closed-loop feedback control
system.
• Closed-loop refers to the fact that the controller automatically acts to return the
controlled variable to its desired value.

By : Eshetie Gelagay ,Department of FSPT, Injibara University

Tuesday, March 25, 2025
 CONT…
• In contrast, 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.
◙ An open-loop system is sometimes said to be in manual mode as opposed to automatic
mode (closed-loop).
◙ Negative feedback is the most common type of signal feedback. Negative refers to the
fact that the error signal is computed from the difference between the set point and the
measured signal. The negative value of the measured signal is “fed back” to the
controller and added to the set point to compute the error.
By : Eshetie Gelagay ,Department of FSPT, Injibara University
Tuesday, March 25, 2025
• Example 1.1. Hot water tank control system. As a
specific example, let us consider a hot water heater
for a home ( Fig. 1–2 ) and examine its control
system, using the same type of diagram ( Fig. 1–3 ).
• The desired hot water temperature is selected by the
homeowner, and typically it is in the neighborhood of
120 to 140 ◦F. Let us assume that the set point is
130 ◦F. The thermocouple measures the temperature
of the water in the tank and sends a signal to the
thermostat indicating the temperature.
• The thermostat (controller) determines the error as
…Error = T
Tuesday, March 25, 2025
set point- T measured
By : Eshetie Gelagay ,Department of FSPT, Injibara University
FIGURE 1–2 Physical drawing of a hot water heater.

By : Eshetie Gelagay ,Department of FSPT, Injibara University

Tuesday, March 25, 2025
◙ 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.
◙ Many other types of controllers that we will study can modulate their output based on
the magnitude of the error signal, how long the error signal has persisted, and even how
rapidly the error appears to be changing.

By : Eshetie Gelagay ,Department of FSPT, Injibara University

Tuesday, March 25, 2025
 By : Eshetie Gelagay ,Department of FSPT, Injibara University
Tuesday, March 25, 2025
 Functions of control system
1. Reject disturbance: the primary job of that control system is to reject a disturbance.
• The objective is to maintain the height at a particular point

By : Eshetie Gelagay ,Department of FSPT, Injibara University

Tuesday, March 25, 2025
 If F in=F out, then the system does not need control action because the height is
maintained.
If there is some disturbances in the Fin or F out, the tank will either overflow or drain
out depending on the magnitude and sign of the error.
 If F out >F in then the tank will drain out
 If F out> F in then the tank will overflow
 Therefore to maintain the height we should manipulate the manipulated variables

By : Eshetie Gelagay ,Department of FSPT, Injibara University

Tuesday, March 25, 2025
 By : Eshetie Gelagay ,Department of FSPT, Injibara University
Tuesday, March 25, 2025
 Functions of control system
 A Control System should satisfy the following three general
classes:
Suppressing the influence of external disturbance
Ensuring the stability of a chemical process
Optimizing the performance of a chemical process

By : Eshetie Gelagay ,Department of FSPT, Injibara University

Tuesday, March 25, 2025
I. Suppressing the influence of external disturbances
Common objective of a controller to cancel negative impact of the
disturbance
Example 1: Consider tank heater
The operational objectives of
system
this heater are:
1. To keep the effluent temp. T
at a desired value Ts
2. To keep the volume of the
liquid in the tank at a desired
value Vs

By : Eshetie Gelagay ,Department of FSPT, Injibara University

Tuesday, March 25, 2025
 1. To keep the effluent temp. T at a desired value Ts

By : Eshetie Gelagay ,Department of FSPT, Injibara University

Tuesday, March 25, 2025
 2.To keep the volume of the liquid in the tank at a
desired value Vs

By : Eshetie Gelagay ,Department of FSPT, Injibara University

Tuesday, March 25, 2025
 II. Ensuring the stability of the
process

Which one requires external interventions for

stabilization ?
By : Eshetie Gelagay ,Department of FSPT, Injibara University
Tuesday, March 25, 2025
 III. Optimizing the performance of a
chemical process
Example: Consider the batch
reactor
Rxn

Both endothermic first order rxn: heat

supply (steam)
Desired Pdt : B,
Unwanted waste:
C
Objective: Max. profit

By : Eshetie Gelagay ,Department of FSPT, Injibara University

Tuesday, March 25, 2025
 Common Control Strategies
The different strategies in which we can control the
level inside this tank when there is some
disturbance in the inlet flow rate.

By : Eshetie Gelagay ,Department of FSPT, Injibara University

Tuesday, March 25, 2025
 Common Control Strategies
1. Feedback Control
If h value is less than the desired value then we want to hold liquid inside the tank. So we
will reduce the value of F out

This particular control strategy, measures the value of the

controlled variable, instantaneous value of the controlled
variable and accordingly it changes the manipulated variable.

By : Eshetie Gelagay ,Department of FSPT, Injibara University

Tuesday, March 25, 2025
2. Feed-forward control
 Measure the disturbance variable,
 Predict its effect on the controlled variable
 and based on that you take a control action such that the effect of that disturbance get
nullified.
 So this type of control system, where you predict the effect of the disturbance and try to
take an action before the system reacts to that disturbance is known as a feed-forward
control strategy
So in that case there is no need to measure the height inside the tank.

By : Eshetie Gelagay ,Department of FSPT, Injibara University

Tuesday, March 25, 2025
 By : Eshetie Gelagay ,Department of FSPT, Injibara University
Tuesday, March 25, 2025
3. Feedback + Feed-forward strategy

Third strategy can be a You measure the disturbance

combination of the two variable as well as controlled
which is known as the variable and take an action
accordingly.
feedback plus feed-
forward strategy.

By : Eshetie Gelagay ,Department of FSPT, Injibara University

Tuesday, March 25, 2025
 Hardware Elements of a Control
System
The Chemical Process: a chemical and physical phenomena takes
place
The measuring instruments/sensors: first element in the control
loop to measure the process variables (flow, pressure, temp,
level, composition, pH, humidity, viscosity etc.). It measures
the disturbances, controlled output variables.
Transducer: convert measurements to physical quantity (electrical
current or voltage, or a pneumatic signal). A device that
translates a mechanical signal into an electrical signal. E.g.
pressure transduce
Transmission line: carry the measurement signals from the
measuring device to the controller. device that converts a
reading from a sensor or a transducer into a standard signal
and transmits that signal to a controller or monitor (PT, LT, FT,
TT etc.)
By : Eshetie Gelagay ,Department of FSPT, Injibara University
TheMarch
Tuesday, controller:
25, 2025 device that receives data from a sensor, compares it
 Final Control element: device that receives data from a sensor,
compares it with set point and takes corrective action by
sending signals to the control element.
Actuator: part of the control element that physically changes the
final control element when signaled to do so. (pneumatically,
hydraulically, electrically)
Converter: A device that converts one type of signal into another
type. E.g.: analog to
to digital, current-to-pressure (4-20mA electric signal to 3-15 psig
pneumatic signal)

Recording Element: computer

By : Eshetie Gelagay ,Department of FSPT, Injibara University
Tuesday, March 25, 2025
 By : Eshetie Gelagay ,Department of FSPT, Injibara University
Tuesday, March 25, 2025
 Process variables
• A process variable is a condition of process fluid that can change the manufacturing
process in someway.
Some common process variables
 Pressure
 Flow
 Level
 Temperature
 Density
 PH
 Mass
 Conductivity

By : Eshetie Gelagay ,Department of FSPT, Injibara University

Tuesday, March 25, 2025
 Classification of variables
Variables
1.Input variable
2. OUTPUT VARIABLES
Manipulated/ Adjustable
Measured output variables
Variables
Values are known by direct
Values are adjusted by human operator/
measurement
control mechanism
Unmeasured output variables
Disturbance Variables
Values are not or can not be measured
Values are not the result of adjustment
directly
by human operator/ control system

By : Eshetie Gelagay ,Department of FSPT, Injibara University

Tuesday, March 25, 2025
 Exampl
Consider the following CSTR e
with Inlet comes from the
cooling jacket upstream unit/ no control:

Disturbances : CAi, Ti, Fi,

Coolant flowrate
controlled by a controlled
valve

Flowrate of the effluent

stream is controlled by a
controlled valve: F is man.
vari. Otherwise its output
var.
By : Eshetie Gelagay ,Department of FSPT, Injibara University
Tuesday, March 25, 2025
 Design aspects of a control
system

By : Eshetie Gelagay ,Department of FSPT, Injibara University

Tuesday, March 25, 2025
Design elements/steps of a control system

Design Elements of a control

Define control system
objectives

Select the
measurements

Select Manipulated
Variables

Select the control

configuration

Design the controller

 Process control terms
 Block diagram —Diagram that indicates the flow of information around the control
system and the function of each part of the system.

 Closed loop —In closed loop, the measured value of the controlled variable is fed
back to the controller

 Controlled variable —The process variable that we want to maintain at a particular

value.
 Controller —A device that outputs a signal to the process based on the magnitude of
the error signal. A proportional controller outputs a signal proportional to the error.

By : Eshetie Gelagay ,Department of FSPT, Injibara University

Tuesday, March 25, 2025
 Process control terms
 Disturbance rejection —One goal of a control system, which is to enable the system
to “reject” the effect of disturbance changes and maintain the controlled variable at
the set point.
 Disturbances —Any process variables that can cause the controlled variable to
change. In general, disturbances are variables that we have no control over.
 Error —The difference between the values of the set point and the measured
variable.
 Manipulated variable —Process variable that is adjusted to bring the controlled
variable back to the set point.
By : Eshetie Gelagay ,Department of FSPT, Injibara University
Tuesday, March 25, 2025
 Process control terms
 Negative feedback —In negative feedback, the error is the difference between the
set point and the measured variable (this is usually the desired configuration).
 Offset —The steady-state value of the error.
 Open loop —In open loop, the measured value of the controlled variable is not fed
back to the controller.
 Positive feedback —In positive feedback, the measured temperature is added to the
set point. (This is usually an undesirable situation and frequently leads to instability.)
 Set point —The desired value of the controlled variable.
Set point tracking —One goal of a control system, which is to force the system to
follow or “track” requested set point changes

By : Eshetie Gelagay ,Department of FSPT, Injibara University

Tuesday, March 25, 2025
 Process control terms
 Control algorithm: It is a mathematical expression of a control function
• example: fuel valve position is a function of error

By : Eshetie Gelagay ,Department of FSPT, Injibara University

Tuesday, March 25, 2025