THE COPPERBELT UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF MINES AND MINERAL SCIENCES

CHEMICAL ENGINERING DEPARTMENT

CONTINUOUS ASSESSMENT

Assignment: Part 2

CE 560/ MT 580: Process control

Investigation of the effect of process time constant and tuning parameters on a

proportional-integral-controlled stirred tank heater

Due date: 13th June 2022 before 17:00 hrs

1.0 Problem statement
The proportional-integral-controlled stirred tank heater system (STH), is shown in the Fig. 1.0.
The tank is initially operating at steady state with the following conditions.

Fi (L/min), Ti (oC)

Thermocouple

_ T
Q
TSP +
F (L/min), T (oC)
e
Condensate
Integral control
Fst (kg/s)
Steam

Figure 1 Integral-controlled STH

Ti

Ti,S

T0 Time (s)

Figure 2 Step increase in inlet temperature

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Table 1 STH operating conditions and parameters

operating conditions

Inlet temperature 20 oC

STH liquid temperature 20 oC

Feed flow-rates 12, 1.2, 0.12 L/min

Process parameters

Volume of liq. in STH 8L

liquid density in the tank 1000 kg/m3

liquid specific heat capacity 4200 J/kg oC

During operation, some process varibles (disturbances) may change and affect operation of the
STH. One such variable is the feed temperature. For a particular case where feed temperature

suddenly increases from steady state 𝑇𝑖𝑠 = 20 oC to 50 oC, it is desired to control the STH
temperature. This can be achieved by performing the following.

a) Predicting the temperature response when the STH is controlled using a proportional-
integral control.
b) For a given integral-time constant, investigate the effect of the process time constant on
behaviour of STH.
c) For a given time constant, investigate the effect of the controller tuning parameter
‘controller gain and integral time’ on the STH’s response.

Assignment guidelines

 Report should be typed and about10-15 pages.

 The format should follow that of a technical report (Introduction, problem statement,
hypothesis, objectives, methodology, results & discussion, conclusion).

 The objectives should be in line with what is given above in the assignment.

 A manual is provded on how to use MATLAB to solve differential equations resulting

from process modelling.

 Additional MATLAB code is provided for for I-only controlled STH. The code can be run
in MATBLAB to get a general idea of how MATLAB works.

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  MATLAB software can be downloaded from MathWorks MATLAB R2021a Free
Download (getintopc.com) and a video containing instruction on how to install can be
found from the same website or ‘ReadMe Win’ in the downloaded MATLAB folder.

Integral control

Process model for the STH

𝑑(𝑇 − 𝑇𝑠 )
𝑉𝜌𝐶𝑝 = 𝐹𝜌𝐶𝑝 [(𝑇𝑖 − 𝑇𝑖,𝑠 ) − (𝑇 − 𝑇𝑠 )] + 𝑄 − 𝑄𝑠 (1)
𝑑𝑡

Integral control law

𝐾𝑐
𝑄 = 𝑄𝑠 + ∫ 𝑒(𝑡)𝑑𝑡 (2)
𝜏𝐼

Where 𝑒(𝑡) = 𝑇𝑠 − 𝑇

Defining the deviation variables as 𝑥 = 𝑇 − 𝑇𝑠 then

𝑑𝑥
𝑉𝜌𝐶𝑝 = 𝐹𝜌𝐶𝑝 [(𝑇𝑖 − 𝑇𝑖,𝑠 ) − 𝑥] + 𝑄 − 𝑄𝑠 (3)
𝑑𝑡

And dividing by 𝜌𝑉𝐶𝑝

𝑑𝑥 1 𝑄 − 𝑄𝑠
= [(𝑇𝑖 − 𝑇𝑖,𝑠 ) − 𝑥] + (4)
𝑑𝑡 𝜏 𝜌𝑉𝐶𝑝

Or

𝑑𝑥 1 1 𝑄 − 𝑄𝑠
= (𝑇𝑖 − 𝑇𝑖,𝑠 ) − 𝑥 + (5)
𝑑𝑡 𝜏 𝜏 𝜌𝑉𝐶𝑝

Where 𝜏 = 𝑉⁄𝐹

Since 𝑒(𝑡) = 𝑇𝑠 − 𝑇 = −(𝑇 − 𝑇𝑠 ) = −𝑥, then the integral control law can also be written as

𝐾𝑐
𝑄 = 𝑄𝑠 − ∫ 𝑥𝑑𝑡 (6)
𝜏𝐼

And

𝐾𝑐
𝑄 − 𝑄𝑠 = − ∫ 𝑥𝑑𝑡 (7)
𝜏𝐼

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Let 𝑦 = 𝑄 − 𝑄𝑠 = − ∫ 𝑥𝑑𝑡 then equations (5) and (7) become
𝑑𝑥 1 1 𝑦
= (𝑇𝑖 − 𝑇𝑖,𝑠 ) − 𝑥 + (8)
𝑑𝑡 𝜏 𝜏 𝜌𝑉𝐶𝑝
𝐾𝑐
𝑦=− ∫ 𝑥𝑑𝑡 (9)
𝜏𝐼
Differentiating (9) with respect to t
𝑑𝑦 𝐾𝑐
=− 𝑥 (10)
𝑑𝑡 𝜏𝐼

Equation (8) and (10) are the two differential equation in 𝑥 and 𝑦 and can be solved simultaneously
using MATLAB.

MATLAB codes for I-controlled STH

Function file
function I_ctrl = I_ctrl_STH(t,x)
T1 = x(1); %Assignment of the intial values for temperature and heat
supply
y1 = x(2);
T2 = x(3);
y2 = x(4);
T3 = x(5);
y3 = x(6); %the deviation in heat supply Q-Qs = y

V = 8e-3; %STH volume in m3

F = 2e-5; %Feed flow-rate in m3/s
F2 = 2e-5;
F3 = 2e-6;
tau = V/F; % process time constant
Kc = 0.5; % Controller gain
rol = 1000; %liquid density in kg/m3
cp = 4200; %specific heat capacity in J/kgoC
I1 = 0.5; %integral time constant, units /s.
I2 = 2;
I3 = 10;
Tis = 20; %steady state inlet temperature, though no change in inlet
temp
Ts = 20; %steady state temperature of liquid in the tank
Ti = 50; %Step increase in inlet temp, i.e. from 20 to 30 oC.

%differential equations

dTdt1 = (Ti - Tis)/tau - T1/tau + y1/(rol*V*cp);

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dy1dt = -Kc*T1/I1;

dTdt2 = (Ti - Tis)/tau - T2/tau + y2/(rol*V*cp);

dy2dt = -Kc*T2/I2;

dTdt3 = (Ti - Tis)/tau - T3/tau + y3/(rol*V*cp);

dy3dt = -Kc*T3/I3;

I_ctrl = [dTdt1; dy1dt; dTdt2; dy2dt; dTdt3; dy3dt];

End

Script file
tspan = [0 10000];
x0 = [0 0 0 0 0 0]; % initial values of T and Heat supply
[t,x] = ode45(@I_ctrl_STH,tspan,x0);

p1 = x(:,1);
p2 = x(:,3);
p3 = x(:,5);

plot(t,p1,'r','linewidth',1.5);
hold on
plot(t,p2,'g','linewidth',1.5);
hold on
plot(t,p3,'b','linewidth',1.5);
xlabel('Time (s)','Fontname','times new
roman','fontsize',16,'fontweight','bold');
ylabel('Temperature (oC)','Fontname','times new
roman','fontsize',16,'fontweight','bold');
legend('I = 0.5','I = 2','I = 10','fontname','times new
roman','fontsize',12,'fontweight','bold');
title('load disturbance response for first-oder PI-controlled
STH','fontname','times new roman','fontsize',16);
grid on