CHEMICAL PROCESS CONTROL LAB

OPEN-LOOP DYNAMICS OF THREE STIRRED TANKS IN SERIES

Experiment
The objective of the experiment is to study the open-loop dynamic response of the solute
concentration in three stirred tanks in series to step change and impulse change in feed
concentration.

Procedure:

Equipment:
The experiment set up is shown in figure 2. The equipment consists of three transparent
vessels in series. Each vessel is provided with stirrer driven by electric motor system. The
two feed tanks contain solutions of potassium/sodium chloride of 0.1M and 0.0001M
(actually it is just tab water) respectively. The conductivity of the solution in each tank
can be measured by a conductivity bridge which is connected to three-way selector
switch. The conductivity can be related to the concentration as follows:

To convert conductivity measurements to concentration values, you need to prepare a

series of standard solutions that can be used to build a correlation between concentration
(in M) and conductivity (in mS) for each tank. Fill in the table below:

Concentration
Conductivity 0.0001M 0.001M 0.01M 0.1M
Tank – 1
Tank - 2

Tank - 3

Then, for every tank, fit a suitable function (for each tank) to express the relationship
between concentration and conductivity. The following table gives the numerical values
of the process parameters:

Diameter Steady state Cell

(cm) height (cm) Constant
Tank - 1 10.5 11 1.46
Tank - 2 10.5 10.8 1.45
Tank - 3 10.5 10.5 1.35
Preparation:

1. Feed the system with 0.0001M solution first until tanks are full and the liquid
levels have established. Keep the feed flow constant at 60 lt/hr.
2. Record the initial conductivity for each tank and denoted as Gi(0), i=1,2,3.

Experiment steps:

1. Using the three-way valve, suddenly switch from 0.0001M to 0.1M solution and
keep at flow rate of [60 lt/hr ] for 30 seconds only and return to 0.0001M solution.
2. Record the conductivity in each tank simultaneously every minute until the
concentration return back to steady state.
3. Using the three-way valve, switch from 0.0001M to 0.1M and keep the flow rate
constant at [20 lt/hr ].
4. Record the conductivity in each tank simultaneously every 30 seconds till new
steady state is reached.

Results:

1. Derive the dynamic model for the three stirred tanks.

2. Derive the time response of the first tank for step change and impulse change in
the feed concentration.
3. Plot the system response of all tanks, (concentration versus time) for step and
pulse changes.
4. Compute the experimental time constant and static gain for the first tank from the
step change experiment.
5. Compute the theoretical time constant and static gain of the first tank and
compare it to the experimental one.
6. Compute the experimental static gain and time constant for the first tank using the
impulse change response.
7. Approximate the step response for the second and thirst tank with first-order
system with delay and estimate the time delay in each case.
Figure 1: Schematic of Experiment (Stirred Tanks System)