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Evaporatorfinal
Evaporatorfinal
Introduction
Solutions often consist of a solvent and a dissolved solid substance. By simple thermal separation the
solvent can be vaporized leaving the solution with an increased concentration, this process is
evaporation. The purpose of thermal separation can vary, but most often it is a matter of concentrating
the solution, recovering the solvent or recovering the dissolved substance (Davidsson & Hedenberg,
2015). Evaporator is one of the equipment used to concentrate solute in the industry by means of thermal
separation. As one of the most energy intensive processes used in the dairy, food and chemical
industries, it is essential that evaporation be approached from the viewpoint of economical energy
utilization as well as process effectiveness. This can be done only if the equipment manufacturer is able
to offer a full selection of evaporation technology and systems developed to accommodate various
product characteristics, the percent of concentration required, and regional energy costs. With this
statement, process control is usually the resort to optimize the equipment’s productivity and efficiency.
Process control is important in evaporator to regulate the disturbances in the system and guarantee a
higher quality product. Also with the presence of process control, hazards can also be controlled in the
work place.
In this paper, a manual and automatic control program was developed using MATLAB R2013a
Simulink that can simulate the liquid level and the product concentration inside a single-effect evaporator.
The later part of the paper discussed the process dynamics of the designed equipment, the Simulink
methodology and the features of the developed program.
The model of the system assumes that the only disturbances in the system were the feed flow rate
and the feed concentration. Other assumptions include constant vapor output and equal concentration of
the product and liquid in inside. In evaporator, the most important consideration in controlling the
quality of concentrate from an evaporator is forcing the vapor rate to match the flow of excess solvent
entering in the feed (Perry & Green, 1997), with this statement, varying the feed flow rate can
significantly affect the product concentration. To control the flow rate, valves is installed in the stream.
In this study, the allowable level of liquid inside the evaporator is set to control the flow rate.
B. Derivation of Process Dynamic Model
Material balance
d L L
F F P P V V
dt
Component balance
d L x L L
F x L F P x p P 0
dt
d L x L L
F x L F P x p P
dt
dx L H
A F x L F P x p P
dt
dH F x L F P x p P
dt A P x p
III. Simulink Method
2. After starting a Simulink Model, Open Library Browser where the blocks needed for the
simulation can be found.
3. Insert a signal builder block by dragging the icon from the Library Browser to the Simulink
Model window. This will be the source of the input data.
4. To create a signal, open Microsoft Excel and create random data for the flowrate and product
composition.
5. Save the file then import the file in the Simulink model.
6. Based mathematical evaporator model that was developed, continue adding blocks from the
library to the Simulink model. Use constant blocks for constants and mathematical operators for
the calculations. Integral to determine the desired output and scope to display the output. For the
manual control, slider gain will be connected on the input block that needs to be controlled.
7. For the automatic control, the slider gain and one of the flowrate signal will be removed and
replaced with a PID controller which will compare the output with the set point and will make
necessary adjustments to achieve the desired output.
8. After the diagram is finished, run the simulation then double click on scope to display the
results.
IV. Program Features
1. Simulink Model
2. Model Simulation