Scribd
Upload
1 views

Process Control Introduction

An introductory lecture on process control

Uploaded by

Yazan Ahed
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
1 views

Process Control Introduction

An introductory lecture on process control

Uploaded by

Yazan Ahed
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 5

1

Lecture 1 – Introduction

• Known attempts to control physical systems dates back to ancient


Greeks.1 1
Ctesibius Builds the First Truly Auto-
matic Self-Regulatory Device : History
of Information. https://www.history-
ofinformation.com/detail.php?id=1946
The Scope of Process Control
• In any industrial plant the aim is to produce standard and high
quality products and sell them at prices which make profit.

• These purposes can be achieved in a successfully designed and


controlled processes.

Motivation for Process Control


• Safety First:

– people, environment, equipment


Figure 1: Reconstruction of Ctesibius’s
water clock. It includes on of oldest
• The Profit Motive:
known feedback control system for
water level.
– meeting final product specs
– minimizing waste production
– minimizing environmental impact
– minimizing energy use
– maximizing overall production rate

• In recent years, these motives have become more difficult to sat-


isfy due to stronger competition, tougher regulations, changing
markets.

Loose vs. Tight Control


• Consider an example where a constraint must be met (e.g., the
maximum concentration of a pollutant).
Figure 2: Control dashboards used
• It takes more processing to remove impurities, so greatest profit analog systems. Now adays, digital
systems are used widely to monitor
is to operate as close to the maximum impurities constraint as
and control processes.
possible without going over

• On the other hand, tight control allows operation closer to the


constraint.

• A well controlled process has less variability in the measured


process variable (PV), so the process can be operated close to the
maximum profit constraint.

Exercise 1

Think about the example given above. Why would the profit
be less in the case of poor control? Can you come up with

ChE 551: Process Control Dr. Yazan Hussain


2

Loose

Tight
Process variable Set point Operating Constraint

Figure 3: Process variability from poor


control means lost profits.

another example in which poor control affects the proces


economy?

How Control Works: Steering a Car

Example 1

Think about your method for steering a car. Consider the


following questions:

a Could you drive a car without looking out the wind-


shield?
There is a need to sense the car surroundings to be able
to decide where to steer.

b What must be provided by the car designer?


For steering, the driver needs to have a ability to see the
surroundings of the car and to communicate steering
command to the car.

c Can a ‘‘good design’’ eliminate the need to steer?


No! Steering is needed as a response to the surround-
ings. As long as the surroundings requires the car to
be change direction, you will always need a steering
mechanism.

ChE 551: Process Control Dr. Yazan Hussain


3

d What are good characteristics of a steering wheel?


Some good characterisitics are: good sensitivity and
timely. Can you think of others?

The Control Process: Terminology


The control objective for a process is to keep the measured process vari-
able at the set point value in spite of unmeasured disturbances.
• Controlled Variables (CVs): The process variables that are con-
trolled. The desired value of a controlled variable is referred to as
its set point.

• Manipulated variables (MVs): The process variables that can be


adjusted in order to keep the controlled variables at or near their
set points. Typically, the manipulated variables are flow rates.

• Disturbance variables (DVs): Process variables that affect the con-


trolled variables but cannot be manipulated. Disturbances gen-
erally are related to changes in the operating environment of the
process: for example, its feed conditions or ambient tempera-
ture. Some disturbance variables can be measured on-line, but
many cannot such as the crude oil composition for Process (c), a
thermal cracking furnace.

Figure 4: Typical control system for


home heating.

Example 2

Consider the home heating system demonstrated in Figure 4.

• Control Objective: Keep the house heated at a given set


point.

• Controlled Variable (CV): House temperature.

• Set Point (SP): Desired house temperature.

ChE 551: Process Control Dr. Yazan Hussain


4

• Controller Output (CO): electric signal to heating unit.

• Manipulated Variable (MV): gas flow to heating unit.

• Final Control Element (FCE): fuel flow valve.

• Disturbances (DV): heat losses, people actions, weather


changes, etc.

• A key factor in control engineering is the design of the process so


that it can be controlled well.

• For this purpose systems should be responsive and few distur-


bances should occur.

• A responsive control system means the controlled variable responds


quickly to adjustments in the manipulated variable.

• Frequency and magnitude of disturbances should be reduced.

• A key factor in control engineering is the design of the process so


that it can be controlled well.

• For this purpose systems should be responsive and few distur-


bances should occur.

• A responsive control system means the controlled variable responds


quickly to adjustments in the manipulated variable.

• Frequency and magnitude of disturbances should be reduced.

ChE 551: Process Control Dr. Yazan Hussain


44

References

[1] Ctesibius Builds the First Truly Automatic Self-Regulatory De-


vice : History of Information. https://www.historyofinforma-
tion.com/detail.php?id=1946.

[2] Dale E. Seborg, Thomas F. Edgar, Duncan A. Mellichamp, and


Francis J. Doyle III. Process Dynamics and Control. Wiley,
November 2016.

ChE 551: Process Control Dr. Yazan Hussain

You might also like