University of Balamand
Faculty of Engineering
Chemical Department
Continuous‐Time Process Control
Systems
Ch. 0: Introduction
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1‐ Introduction
What is a control system?
• In our daily lives there are numerous
"objectives" that need to be accomplished.
• Regulate the temperature and humidity of
homes and buildings for comfortable living.
• Control the automobile and airplane to go
from one point to another accurately and
safely.
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• Control systems are in abundance in modern civilization.
• Automatic assembly lines, machine‐tool control, space
technology, transportation systems, robotics, and many
others.
• the objectives can be identified with inputs, or actuating
signals, u, and the results are also called outputs, or
controlled variables, y.
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2‐ Examples of control system:
Example 1: level control
• A large tank must be filled with liquid from a
supply line.
• One operator stands at ground level to operate
the feed valve.
• Another stands on the tank, gauging its level
with a dipstick.
• When the tank is near full, the stick operator
will instruct the other to start closing the valve.
• Overfilling can cause spills, but underfilling will
cause later process problems.
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• the liquid level h is important, and is called the controlled
variable.
• Our control objective is to bring h quickly to its target value or
reference hr and not exceed it. (To be realistic, we would
specify allowable limits ± δh on hr)
• The volumetric flow Fi is called the manipulated variable,
because we adjust it to achieve our objective for the
controlled variable.
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1‐ The existing control scheme is to measure the controlled
variable via dipstick, decide when the controlled variable is near
target, and instruct the valve operator to change the
manipulated variable.
• The scheme suffers from
– delay in measurement. Overfilling can occur if the stick operator
cannot complete the measurement in time.
– performance variations. Both stick and valve operators may vary in
attentiveness and speed of execution.
– resources required. There are better uses for operating personnel.
– unsafe conditions. There is too much potential for chemical exposure.
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2‐ A new scheme is proposed:
• put a timer on the valve. Calculate the time required for
filling. Close the valve when time has expired.
• However, the timing scheme abandons a crucial virtue of the
existing scheme: by measuring the controlled variable, the
operators can react to unexpected disturbances.
• Using knowledge of the controlled variable to motivate
changes to the manipulated variable is a fundamental control
structure, known as feedback control.
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3‐ A third scheme is proposed: an automatic controller that
behaves according to the following controller algorithm:
• is an idealization of what the operators are already doing:
filling occurs at maximum flow until the level reaches a value
hnear.
• Beyond this point, the flow decreases linearly, reaching zero
when h reaches the target hr.
• The setting of hnear may be adjusted to tune the control
performance.
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• We need a sensor to replace the dipstick, a valve actuator to
replace the
• valve operator, and a controller mechanism to replace the
stick operator.
• We imagine a buoyant object floating on the liquid surface.
The float is
• linked to a lever that drives the valve stem. When the liquid
level is low, the float rests above it on a structure so that the
valve is fully open.
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Example 2: heating system of a house.
• We need to maintain the house temperature at a certain
point.
• This is done by circulating hot water through a heat
exchanger.
• The temperature is determined by a thermostat that
compares the value of the room temperature to a desired
range.
• If the temperature is in the desired range, the pump halts
water circulation.
• The temperature can exceed the limits, because the furnace
and heat exchanger cannot respond immediately.
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3‐ Open‐Loop Control Systems (Non‐
feedback Systems
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4‐ Feedback Control Systems
• Feedback is used to reduce the error between the reference
input and the system output.
• Feedback also has effects on such system performance
characteristics as stability, bandwidth, overall gain,
impedance, and sensitivity.
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5‐ Continuous‐Data Control Systems
• A continuous‐data system is one in which the signals at
various parts of the system are all functions of the continuous
time variable t.
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