Experiment No.

3:
Objective:
Determination of closed loop characteristics of a proportional control using the PID control.
Equipment:
Pressure control and regulation module.
Theory:
Proportional Controller:
The proportional controller produces an output signal (pressure in the case of a pneumatic
controller, current or voltage for an electronic controller) that is proportional to the error E.
This action may be expressed as;

P = Output signal from controller

Kc = Gain or sensitivity
Ꜫ = Error = Set point - measured variable
Ps = A constant
The error E, which is the difference between the set point and the signal from the measuring
element, may be in any suitable units. However, the units of set point and measured variable
must be the same, since the error is the difference between these quantities.
In a controller having adjustable gain, the value of the gain K, can be varied by moving a knob
in the controller. The value of Ps is the value of the output signal when E is zero, and in most
controllers Ps can be adjusted to obtain the required output signal when the control system is
at steady state and E = 0.
Proportional Gain:
The Proportional Gain is the most important tuning parameter. It affects the responsiveness of
the system. A low gain makes the system sluggish and unresponsive. A gain that is too high
makes the axis oscillate or vibrate.
Proportional Band:
The term proportional band is commonly used among process control engineers in place of the
term gain. Proportional band is defined as the error (expressed as a percentage of the range of
measured variable) required to move the valve from fully closed to fully open. A frequently
used synonym is bandwidth.
It is defined as “The percentage pf change in the control variable which causes the final control
element to go through 100% of calculating range.”
I.E. The proportional band is the band of controller output over which the final control element
(a control valve, for instance) will move from one extreme to another. Mathematically, it can
be expressed as:

Or
𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑙 𝑣𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 % 𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒
𝑃𝐵 =
𝐹𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑙 𝐸𝑙𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 % 𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒
Also,

So if , the proportional gain, is very high, the proportional band is very small, which means
that the band of controller output over which the final control element will go from minimum
to maximum (or vice versa) is very small.
However, the width of the proportional band determines how much of a control variable change
is required to cause the final control element to move by a determined amount.
For example;
PFD of the Unit:

Procedure:
Initially, we fill the buffer tank with compressed air coming directly from the compressor. The
pressure of the air is regulated via pressure regulators embedded on the system before the buffer
tank. The pressure of the buffer tank is maintained at 2 bar. Once the buffer tank has filled and
pressure regulated we open the valve between buffer tank and main feed tank, the air flows into
the feed tank.
Now we run the CRP software on the computer connected to the Control unit of the equipment.
Following options are selected on the software;
 Exercise type = PID regulator.
 User = Session 2015(Group 6),
Date = Todays date
Test Number = 1
 Set point set-up;
Type = DC
Parameters
Amplitude =0%
Offset = 50 %
Period = 120 s
  PID Parameters;
Proportional = 100 %
Band
Integrative = 0.1 min*
Time
Derivative = 0 min
Time
*Note: Although the integrative time for this experiment should be kept zero because it is a
proportional controller experiment only. However, due to the manufacturing fault of the
software the value of Integrative Time will not go below 0.1 min. Hence we have to cope up
with that fault and have to improvise which is explained in the procedure.
Once all these options are set and selection according to our requirements, we start the process
by clicking start on the final screen displaying on the computer screen. As the process starts
the proportionally controlled valve will response according to the given setpoint value which
is 50% or 1bar. As the process is running we keep our eye on the computer screen for the
control variable value to reach the given offset of 50%. The offset value will fluctuate at first.
But as it reaches the steady 50% value we will note that time.
Also, we repeat the same procedure for different bandwidths or proportional band values
(80,100,120 etc).
Conclusion:
As the value of proportional band or band width is increased, the response time also increases
or in other words proportional gain is decreased respectively hence completing the given
objective.