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Control of Product Quality and Flow

Incuding Ratio Control
Snapshot of the front panel of the simulator:

What is needed to run the the simulator? Read to get most recent information!
Tips for using the simulator.
The simulator: quality_flow_control.exe (click to download). The simulator runs
immediately after the download by clicking Open in the download window. Alternatively,
you can first save a copy of the exe-file on any directory (folder) on your PC and then run the
exe-file, which starts the simulator.

Description of the simulated system

A process in the form of a tank blending cold and hot water is simulated. The product flow Fp and
the product quality, which is here assumed to be the product temperature Tp, are controlled by
adjusting or manipulating two feed flows, namely the cold water flow Fc and the hot water flow Fh.
Fc is manipulated directly by a flow controller, while Fh is manipulated using ratio control where
the ratio Kf is the ratio between the cold water flow and the hot water flow, i.e., Kf = Fh/Fc.

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In the simulator Fp and Tp can be controlled manually by manipulating Fc and Kf. They can also
be controlled automatically using feedback from measured Fp and Tp and using Fc and Kf as
control (or manipulating) variables.

Aim
The aim of this simulator is to get knowledge about controlling flow and quality of a simple, yet
representative, industrial process, and to experience the benefits of using feedback control in stead
of an open loop control strategy.

Motivation
The process in this simulator is in many aspects similar to industrial processes as combustion
processes and reactors which can be controlled analogously.

Tasks
In the text below values are given without any specific unit. You may however assume that the unit
is percent corresponding to some transformatin from physical units as degrees C or kg/min to
percent. The time unit may be interpreted as minutes.
1. Open loop control of Fp and Tp:
a. On the front panel of the simulator are shown formulas for calculation of Fc and Kf
(=Fc/Fh). Now, derive these formulas from a static energy balance. These values of Fc
and Kf may be used in open loop control of the product flow Fp and the product
temperature Tp using the cold water feed flow as one control variable and the hot
water flow as the other. (You may assume homogeous conditions in the tank when you
put up the energy balance.)
b. Start the simulator. Select "local setpoint" of Fc and Kf. Ensure that the FC controller
and the TC controller are set in manual mode (this will actually happen automatically
by selecting local setpoints of Fc and Kf).
Assume that Fp should have value 60 and that Tp should have value 45. Tc is assumed
to be 30, and Tv is assumed to be 70. What are the corresponding values of Fc and Kf?
(The simulator calculate these values.) Use these values as setpoint values Fc,SP and
Kf,SP for Fc,SP,local and Kf_SP_local. What is the static (steady state) control error for Fp
and for Tp?
c. Repeat task 1b, but now include model errors by setting Tc_error equal to 10. What is
now the static control errors of Fp and Tp?

2. Close loop control (automatic control) of Fp and Tp:

a. Continue Task 1c, where we included model errors with respect to Th, but select no
"external setpoint" for Fc and Kf. Ensure that the FC controller and the T controller are
set in automatic mode (this is happenig automatically by selecting "external setpoint "

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for Fc and Kf). What is the static control error for Fp and for Tp?
b. Change the setpoint of Fp and for Tp (select the new values yourself). Is the feedback
control system capable to bring the control error to zero?
c. The controllers TC, FCc og FCh have been tuned from the rule that the integral time of
the controller is set equal to the time constant of the controlled process, while the
control gains are given values giving proper stability of the control loops. For the
controller FC the integral time is set to 1 (which is slightly larger than the sum of the
time constants of the cold water tank and the hot water valve). Play with the PI
parameter values, and observe effects. Particularly try to obtain faster control of Tp.

[SimView] [TechTeach]

Updated 18. January 2008. Developed by Finn Haugen. E-mail: finn@techteach.no.

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