Control system
1. Cascade Control
2. Ratio Control
3. Feed forward Control
4. On-Off Control
5. Sequence control
Cascade Control
Cascade control is a powerful extension of
conventional 3-term feed-back control.
It is a strategy which compensates for specific
disturbances at source and largely prevents them
from affecting the process being controlled.
A cascade control scheme has two controllers, the
output of the master controller being used to adjust
the set point of the slave controller.
This is best illustrated by means of an example
Boiler drum level control with
simple feedback
Boiler drum level is notoriously difficult to
control.
One reason for this is that the steam pressure
in the drum can vary significantly.
Suppose the pressure in the vapour space
above the liquid in the drum suddenly
increases.
This will cause the pressure drop across the
control valve to fall.
Thus the water flow will be reduced,
irrespective of the level, even if the level is
below its set point.
Boiler drum level control with
cascade system
The effect of steam pressure disturbances can be
compensated for using a slave flow control loop.
The set point of the flow control loop uM is
manipulated by the level controller output.
If the level h is too low the set point of the flow
loop will be increased, and vice versa.
The flow loop controls the flow of water Fw
against this set point in the normal way.
Boiler drum level control with
cascade system
Again, suppose that the pressure in the drum Ps
suddenly increases, perhaps due to a transient
drop in steam load Fs, causing the flow of water
to decrease.
The flow loop will respond quickly by opening the
valve to maintain the water flow Fw at the rate
demanded by the level controller.
In effect, the flow loop is insulating the level loop
from, or rejecting disturbances due to, changes in
steam pressure.
P&I diagram of boiler level with
cascade control
Cascade Control of Jacketed Reactor
The choice of slave variable is not always straight-
forward.
Consider the jacketed stirred tank reactor.
Reagents flow into the reactor and displace
products through the overflow at the same rate.
The reaction is exothermic, heat being removed by
cooling water being circulated through the jacket.
Reactor temperature is
controlled by a conventional
feedback loop which
manipulates the flow of water
This scheme has a poor response because of the sluggish
dynamics of both the reactor and its jacket.
In particular, any disturbance in the cooling water supply
pressure will cause a change in jacket temperature which,
eventually, will affect the reactor temperature.
Only when the reactor temperature moves away from its set
point can the controller start to compensate for the disturbance.
Significant errors occur before compensation is complete.
This is a classical application for cascade control.
There is a choice of three slave loops using ether the water
1. flowrate,
2. pressure
3. temperature
as the controlled variable,
Cascade Control of Jacketed
Reactor – flowrate slave loop
Use of water flow rate as the slave variable is
essentially the same as in the example of the boiler
drum level control scheme.
The slave loop specifically rejects disturbances in
water flow rate due to changes in its supply pressure.
The slave loop has a fast response since it is
dependant only upon the hydrodynamics of the
water system and the dynamics of the
instrumentation and valve.
Cascade Control of Jacketed
Reactor – pressure slave loop
Use of the jacket pressure as the slave
variable also specifically rejects
disturbances in water flow rate and has a
fast response.
However, the scheme is counter-intuitive
and could confuse the operators!
Cascade Control of Jacketed
Reactor – pressure slave loop
1. The slave controller must be reverse acting.
For example, following an increase in supply pressure the jacket
pressure rises and the controller opens the valve.
Assuming most of the resistance to flow is due to the jacket and the
pipe work upstream of the valve, opening the valve increases the flow
and the pressure drop across the fixed resistances.
Hence the jacket pressure falls.
One would intuitively expect to close the valve to counter the effect
of an increase in supply pressure.
2. The master loop must be forward acting.
Thus, following an increase in reactor temperature, the master
controller reduces
the set point of the slave controller.
This results in the valve opening there by giving
the increase in cooling water necessary to
counter the temperature.
Cascade Control - Implementation
Cascade control can bring about substantial improvements in
the quality of control.
The benefits are critically dependant upon proper
implementation.
The control scheme should be designed to target specific
disturbances.
If possible choose slave loops that reject disturbances from
more than one source.
It is essential that the slave loop's dynamics are significantly
faster than master loop's to minimise the effects of interactions
between the loops.
Cascade Control - Implementation
As a rule of thumb, the dominant time constant in
the slave loop must be less than one third of the
dominant time constant in the master loop.
Because of the interactions between the loops,
any non-linearity introduced by the slave loop will
have an adverse effect on the behaviour of the
master loop.
The slave loop should not introduce non- linearity.
Cascade Control - Implementation
When tuning the controllers, the basic strategy is to
tune the inner loop first.
Switching the master controller into its manual mode
effectively disconnects the two loops.
By applying step changes to the master controller
output, the slave loop can be uned using the
continuous cycling method.
Alternatively, by switching the slave loop into its
manual mode, it can be tuned by the reaction curve
method.
Cascade Control - Implementation
Once the slave loop has been tuned, it can be
switched into its automatic mode and the master
loop tuned in the conventional way.
In effect, the slave loop is treated as if it were any
other element whilst tuning the master loop.
It may be necessary to slightly detune the slave
loop if its dynamics propagate into the master
loop to the extent that the interactions adversely
affect the master loop's performance.
Ratio Control
Ratio control is control strategy commonly used in
the process industries.
It is used when the flow rates of two or more
streams must be held in proportion to each other.
Typical applications are in blending , combustion
and reactor feed control systems.
There are essentially three approaches
1. Scaling approach, which is based upon the
simple scaling of signals
2. Direct approach based upon the PID controller.
3. Indirect approach based upon the PID controller.
Ratio Control – Scaling approach
Stream A is wild and stream B is manipulated to keep
it in proportion to stream A.
The flow transmitter is calibrated for the full range of
the manipulated flow.
Assume that the valve is carefully sized such that its
full range of flow corresponds to that of the
manipulated flow.
.
Ratio Control – Scaling approach
The flow transmitter output may be applied via an
I/P converter directly to the valve to achieve the
desired ratio control.
This is a simple and effective means of ratio control,
but is critically dependant upon the linearity of the
elements.
The flow transmitter may require square root
extraction, and the control valve must have a linear
installed characteristic.
Ratio Control – Scaling approach
In practice it is unlikely that the valve could be
sized such that the ranges of the wild and
manipulated flows are exactly in the desired
ratio.
A scaling factor is therefore necessary. This can
be realised by changing the calibration of the flow
transmitter, or by fitting a positioner to the valve
and adjusting its range.
Ratio Control – Scaling approach
An alternative is to use a so-called ratio station.
The ratio station, denoted by the code FFY, is
simply a device for applying a user definable
scaling factor K to a signal.
For example, if the station's I/O are 4-20 mA
signals, then its operation is de-scribed by: θ0 =
4 + K (θ1 - 4)
Ratio Control – direct approach
Stream A is assumed to be wild.
Both flow rates are measured.
The ratio controller FFC manipulates the flowrate of
stream B to produce the desired ratio of B to A.
Note that the ratio control loop rejects disturbances
in stream B due to changes in supply pressure Ps.
Ratio Control – direct approach
Most proprietary ratio controllers physically combine
the division, comparison and control functions into a
single unit.
Thus a ratio controller has two measured value inputs
and one output signal.
Typically the ratio of the measured values is displayed
on the faceplate alongside the manually set desired
ratio.
In most other respects a ratio controller is much the
same as a conventional 3- term controller.
For example, it provides P, I and D actions, has a
forward/reverse action switch and supports both
automatic and manual modes of operation.
Ratio Control – direct approach with
temperature and
pressure compensation
Ratio control of gas flows
subject to changes in
operating conditions may well
require pressure and/or
temperature correction.
In these circumstances it is
best to calculate the mass
flow rate of each stream, and
to control the ratio of the
mass flow rates.
Ratio Control – indirect approach
The indirect approach is both simple
and effective
The measured value ©a of the
flowrate of wild stream A is
operated on by the ratio station.
As-suming 4-20 mA signals it
calculates the desired value 0r for
the flowrate of stream B according
to the equation:
θR=4+RR(θA-4)
where RR is the desired
(reference) ratio.
A conventional feedback loop is then
used to control the flowrate of stream
B against this set point.
Ratio Control – Comments
The direct approach is commonly used
throughout industry although the indirect method
is superior.
First, with the direct ratio scheme there is the
potential for zero division by θA giving rise to
indeterminate ratios.
This is particularly problematic with low flows:
errors in
the flow measurement become disproportionate
and lead to very poor quality ratio control.
The problem does not arise with the indirect ratio
scheme because θ is multiplied.
Ratio Control – Comments