Introduction

In this work, we propose a PID control strategy based on Ziegler and Nichols
method for the control of pH processes. The control scheme proposed in the present
work consists of closed-loop identification based on the method uses. The close loop
method is establish uniform oscillation with the trial of PID value.
Closeloop system is based on feedback where signals from a process that can be used
to control it more effectively. The process inputs to a system have an effect on the
process outputs, which is measured with sensors and processed by the controller. The
result of the control signal is used as an input to the process, closing the loop.
The purpose of the experiment is to find the most suitable response control of
changing the PH of the solution, from the original point to a set point of 7. The pH of
a liquid stream which is the product is controlled by adding a flow of acid or base
which is the reactant in this case is given diluted sulphuric acid and sodium
hydroxide. To achieve the required product pH, a certain ratio of reactant is needed.
And here is the first key to pH control where we need to manipulate the ratio of
reactant flow to product flow.
The control of pH is at best very difficult with a conventional PID control loop. The
challenge results from variable product flow rates and the highly nonlinear pH
titration curve. We should not simply manipulate the reactant flow independently of
the product flow, because every time the product flow rate changes, the pH will first
go off spec and then the pH controller will change the reactant flow to return the pH
to its set point. With ratio control, if the product flow rate changes, the reactant flow
rate is changed immediately to maintain a constant ratio between it and the product
flow rate. The pH controller then manipulates this ratio to control the pH. As the pH
control is a very nonlinear process, the gain of the process changes with pH. The
process gain is very high around the equivalence point, and much lower elsewhere.
Because the process gain changes so significantly, we should dynamically adjust the
controller gain to compensate. This is done by implementing gain scheduling to adjust
the controller gain based on pH.
First, we compute the parameters (KC, KI, KD) of the PID controller using relay
feedback and apply these parameters to control the pH Process. The process of
setting the optimal gains for P, I and D to get an ideal response from a control system
is called tuning. There are different methods of tuning of which the guess and check
method and the Ziegler Nichols method will be discussed. The Ziegler-Nichols
method is a popular method of tuning a PID controller. It is very similar to the trial
and error method wherein I and D are set to zero and P is increased until the loop
starts to oscillate. Once oscillation starts, the critical gain Kc and the period of
oscillations Pc are noted. The P, I and D are then adjusted as the following.
PB=1.66PB*%,TI=o.5Tn*secs, TD=0125Tn*secs

Proportional control alone demonstrated control of mainly offset and response speed,
PI control cut out offset, but showed oscillations and overshoot, and PD control
indicated control over oscillations and overshoot, but still gave way to offset. An
optimal combination of proportional band (P), response time (I), and derivative time
(D) eliminated offset, overshoot, and oscillations, and response time was minimized
to a point where these errors in control do not arise.