ECB4233 – January 2015 Semester Lab Session 1 - Flow

LAB SESSION 1
Exp 9: Simple PID Flow Control (FIC- 413 - POS)
STUDENTS’ MANUAL

Level Process Pilot Plant - SIM305-LW1LS-X-BATCH (Plant 4)

Plant Process Control Laboratory

Electrical and Electronics Engineering Department

Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS

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ECB4233 – January 2015 Semester Lab Session 1 - Flow

LAB SESSION 1

Exp 9: Simple PID Flow Control (FIC- 413 - POS)

OBJECTIVES

This experiment is divided into THREE (3) sections:

 Section A: To identify a simple model of the flow system using process reaction curve.
 Section B: To determine initial controller settings using Ziegler-Nichols closed loop tuning
method.
 Section C: To operate the flow control system and compare performance for the different
controller modes.

INTRODUCTION

The SIM305-LW1LS-X-BATCH (Plant 4) is a scaled-down liquid phase Level Process Pilot Plant. It is a
self-contained unit designed to simulate real liquid level-flow processes found in industrial plants. The
plant consists of two process tanks, VE-410 and VE-420. VE-410 acts as the source tank, supplying flow
of water to VE-420. The flow is pumped using P-412 and water is collected in VE-420 before it is returned
to the source tank via HV-420. The schematic of the plant is shown in FIGURE 1. Such flow systems are
ubiquitous in process plants; from transporting feed materials to a reactor, to conveying products to
storage or intermediate output for further processing. Flow control systems are important in regulating the
production rate and to ensure a smooth plant operation.

The first section of the experiment is to identify a process model for the flow system using the step test. In
this method, a step change in the input is introduced to the process and the output, known as the process
reaction curve (PRC), is recorded. The process output obtained can be in several different forms (refer to
Appendix A). Depending on the shape of the output, we can determine the process model by standard
techniques.

The initial values of controller parameters (KC, TI and TD) can be determined by either, (i) an open loop
tuning method or (ii) a closed loop tuning method. For this experiment, the Ziegler-Nichols closed-loop
tuning method, also known as the ultimate sensitivity test, will be employed. The flow system is initially
operated in a closed loop (controller is switched on) using only the proportional mode. The proportional
gain, KC is increased in steps until the process oscillates continuously. This gain is called the ultimate
gain, KU and the period of continuous oscillation is called the ultimate period, PU. Ziegler and Nichols have
recommended suitable values of KC, TI and TD based on the ultimate gain, KU, and the ultimate period, PU .

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ECB4233 – January 2015 Semester Lab Session 1 - Flow

FIGURE 1 Level Process Pilot Plant (Plant 4)

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ECB4233 – January 2015 Semester Lab Session 1 - Flow

GROUP REPORT SPECIFICATIONS

 Concise report, submitted as a group.

 Due date: The day a specific experiment is completed.
 Consists of:
1) Experiment title & objectives
2) Piping & Instrumentation Diagram (P&ID) of the control loop used in the experiment.
3) Results
a. DCS-generated trending of the process reaction curve.
b. Tabulated calculations of process model parameters
c. Tabulated calculations of PID controller settings
d. DCS-generated trending of the ultimate sensitivity test and response for each controller
mode to a step set point change.
4) Observation on the performance of each controller.
5) Conclusion on the most suitable controller for the system and adjustment to further improve the
control system (if any).
 Will be followed by a short viva by Graduate Assistant (GA) demonstrator.
 Marks - Individual viva (50%) and group report (50%)

Refer to Appendix D for report and viva marking schemes / rubric.

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ECB4233 – January 2015 Semester Lab Session 1 - Flow

OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS

Step-by-step procedure for operating the pilot plant has been included under each experiment. As a
general guide, some common startup and shutdown procedure is shown here.

Start Up:
1.1 Switch on power to the Local Control Panel and Server Panel.
1.2 Turn the selector to DCS to run the experiment under Distributed Control. Set it to Local if the
experiment is to be run under local control by using the multi-loop controller only.
1.3 Switch on the Main air supply to the system located at the back of the plant. Check that the
supply is sufficient (around 6 – 7 bar) using the pressure regulator gauge before running any
experiment.
1.4 Switch on the DCS server and clients. The entire system should startup automatically. When
prompted, key in your user name and password to log- in. Consult the technologist for the correct
user name and password.

Hand Valves:
Always follow instruction in each experiment to open or close the various hand valves in the pilot plant. All
hand valves are to be fully closed or fully open. Do not leave any hand valve in its partially open or closed
position. Failure to operate the hand valves correctly will nullify your experiment.

Pumps:
3.1 All the pumps at the pilot plant may be operated directly from the DCS. If local control mode is
selected, then each pump must be started or stopped at the Local Control Panel.

3.2 While the pump may be operated with its outlet pipe closed without causing any
damage to the system, it is better to open the control valve partially BEFORE
starting the related pump.

3.3 DO NOT operate the pump until its suction is completely empty. This may damage
the pump. Stop the related pump when the liquid level in the tank is approaching its
minimum.

Shutdown:
4.1 To ensure orderly shutdown, put controller(s) to Manual position and switch off any pumps used
in the experiment.
4.2 Log off the system and shutdown the DCS first.
4.3 Switch off the main air compressor at the compressor room.

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ECB4233 – January 2015 Semester Lab Session 1 - Flow

PROCEDURES
Preparation
Step Action

1 Ensure that all Utility Services are ready.

 Switch on Power Supply to Control Panel and switch on Air Supply System to the Pilot Plant.

2 Make sure that vessel VE-410 is at High level (around 90 – 100%) with water.

3 Ensure that the DCS is ready (i.e. the selector at Local Control Panel is set to DCS).

4 Start up the DCS client computer. Go to the Home page and then perform the login experiment
operation.

Select Experiment 9: Simple PID Flow Control (FIC-413-POS). The Experiment page will
appear with the schematics of the flow loop.

 Obtain your username and password from the technologist in charge.

 Notice that some of the equipments are highlighted in green/red. Move the cursor over these
equipments to see which one can be selected.

5 Open or close hand valves at the Pilot Plant as follows:

- Open Hand Valve HV-411

- Open Hand Valve HV-400

- Open Hand Valve HV-420

- Close others

 Some hand valves should not be opened / closed fully – refer to the technologist/GA.

6 Set the controller FIC-413 to Manual mode.

 At Experiment 9: Simple PID Flow Control (FIC – 413 - POS) page, click on the PID Controller
FIC- 413 symbol. A faceplate will appear. An available button indicates whether the controller is in
Auto mode (green) or in Manual (red). Click on the button to change its status.

7 Close the Control Valve FY- 413A manually (0% open).

 Make sure the controller is set at its Manual mode. Then at the MV (Manipulated Variable) data
entry field, key in 0 and press Enter. The same instructions are used to open / close other Control
Valves manually.

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ECB4233 – January 2015 Semester Lab Session 1 - Flow

Step Action

 Manual mode, in process control terminology, means that the final element is adjusted by the
human operator. This can done by “manually” adjusting the element in the field or more commonly,
by sending a signal to adjust the element directly from the DCS. For this experiment, the latter
method is being used.

Section A Flow Process Model Identification using Step Response Testing

A.1 Start Experiment
Step Action

1 At the Controller Faceplate FIC- 413, manually open Control Valve FY- 413A to 50 %.

 Set MV to 50 and press Enter.

2 Start the pump P412 via the DCS.

 Select P412 from the Experiment Page and set the “RUN / STOP” Button to “RUN”.

3 Select “Trend” from the bottom toolbar and observe the Flow curve (FT- 413) from the Trend
Window and wait until it has stabilized to a constant value.

 Trending is a real-time display of the process responses that can be viewed from the DCS.

Trend Window

A lot of information can be obtained from the Trend Window (FIGURE 2). It can also be adjusted to
accommodate the responses from the plant.

 View and access to Controller Faceplate: Select Tuning on the bottom toolbar and click Tune
<Controller Tag>. The faceplate will appear on one side of the Trend Window. Now, you can view
the trending and have access to the Controller Faceplate at the same time.

 Freeze the Trend Window (for printing): Double-click on any white space on the Trend Window. A
Trend Viewer toolbar will appear. Select Freeze Mode icon and the current trending will be
captured. Copy the trending using Print Screen and save it in a WordPad file. Now, you can print
trending for your reports.

 Adjust the time axis: From the Trend Viewer toolbar, select Trend Edit Period. Under Custom
Edit Period, the time display can be adjusted.

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ECB4233 – January 2015 Semester Lab Session 1 - Flow

 Adjust the process data axes: From the Trend Viewer toolbar, select Edit Pens > Trend Pen
Configuration. Choose the process variable that you wish to adjust and select Edit > Ranges tab.
The axes can be adjusted by specifying the high and low limits of the display.

Continue with the experiment…

4 Manually increase the opening of FY- 413A by an additional 10 %.

 Set MV to 60 and press Enter.

5 Observe the Flow curve (FT- 413) from the Trend Window and wait until it has stabilized to a
new constant value, then Freeze the trend window.

This is the process reaction curve (PRC).

6 Print out the Process Trend response.

7 Stop the Pump P412 via DCS.

A.2 Model Parameter Estimation

Step Action

1 Compare and match the Flow curve with a set of expected process reaction curves provided in
Appendix A of this manual.

2 Make several measurements as per the reaction curve chart. Tabulate your results using
Appendix B, Table B-1 as an example.

3 Sketch a Block Diagram to represent the process model and note down the process
parameters.

 The model should have a steady-state gain, dead time and time constant (if any).

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ECB4233 – January 2015 Semester Lab Session 1 - Flow

FIGURE 6 Trend Window

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ECB4233 – January 2015 Semester Lab Session 1 - Flow

Section B Controller Tuning using Ziegler-Nichols Closed Loop Method

B.1 Start Experiment
Step Action

1 At the Controller Faceplate FIC- 413, set it to Manual mode and close the valve (0 %).

2 Set the Controller Gain (P) to 0.5, the Integral time (I) to 9999, and the Derivative time (D) to 0.

3 Manually increase the opening of FY- 413A by to 50 %.

4 Start the Pump P412 via the computer.

5 At the Controller Faceplate FIC- 413, adjust the Set Point (SP) to 1.5 m3/h.

 Set SP to 1.5 and press Enter.

6 Slowly increase the opening of the Control Valve FY- 413A to bring the Process Value (PV) to
almost equal to the Set Point.

7 Observe the Process Value (PV) from the Trend Window and wait until it has stabilized to a
constant value.

8 Set the Controller (FIC-413) to Auto mode. Wait for the Process Value (PV) to stabilize.

9 Make a small step change to the Set Point by increasing it to 2.0 m3/h.

10 Observe the Process Value (PV) from the Trend Window. If the PV response is not oscillatory,
set the Controller back to Manual mode. Double the controller gain (P) value and repeat steps
5 – 11 until PV becomes oscillatory.

 PV should oscillate across the Set Point reference line.

11 If the PV response is oscillatory, observe whether the magnitude of PV is increasing or

decreasing.

 If PV is increasing, reduce the controller gain (P) by 1.5 times.

 If PV is decreasing, increase the controller gain (P) by 1.5 times.

Aim to obtain an oscillatory response with almost constant amplitude. The controller gain (P)
needed to achieve such conditions is the ultimate gain, KU.

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ECB4233 – January 2015 Semester Lab Session 1 - Flow

Step Action

12 When constant amplitude oscillation is achieved, allow up to 3 or more oscillation cycles to be

recorded and freeze the trend window.

The average period of an oscillation is the ultimate period, PU.

13 Print out the process response.

14 Stop the Pump P412 via the computer.

B.2 Tabulation and Calculation of PID Controller Parameters

Step Action

1 Using the printed graph obtained from Section B.1 above, note down the ultimate gain, KU and
determine the ultimate period, PU.

Tabulate your results using Appendix B, Table B-2 as an example.

2 Based on the Ziegler-Nichols closed loop tuning correlations in Appendix C, Table C-1,
calculate the controller tuning parameters for the following modes :

 Proportional-only (P-only)

 Proportional-Integral (PI)

 Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID)

Tabulate your results using Appendix B, Table B-3 as an example.

3 You are now ready to test the performance of each controller and the flow control system.
Proceed to Section C to continue.

Each mode must be tested, using the tuning parameters for one controller mode at a time.

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ECB4233 – January 2015 Semester Lab Session 1 - Flow

Section C Control Loop Performance Test

C.1 Start Experiment

Step Action

1 At the Controller Faceplate (FIC- 413), set it to Manual mode.

2 Set the controller parameters using those tabulated in Table B.3, starting with P-only controller.

3 Adjust the Set Point (SP) of FIC- 413 to 1.5 m3/h.

4 Manually increase the opening of FY- 413A to 50 %.

5 Start the Pump P412 via the computer.

6 Adjust the controller output (MV) until its Process Value (PV) is close to its Set Point (SP).

7 Set the Controller to Auto mode.

8 Observe the PV curve (FT- 413) from the Trend Window and wait until it has reasonably
stabilized to a constant value.

9 Change the controller Set Point (SP) to 2.0 m3/h.

10 Observe the PV curve (FT- 413) from the Trend Window and look for some typical response
characteristics (oscillations, overshoot, offset, etc.).

11 Capture the important process responses (transient and steady-state) and print out the trend
curve.

12 Repeat steps 1 – 11 for the next controller parameter set from Table B.3.

13 At the end of the experiment, stop the Pump P412 via the computer.

C.2 Tabulation and Analysis of Controller Performance

Step Action

1 Using the printed graph obtained from Section C.1, determine relevant performance measures
to help analyze and compare the performances (eg. decay ratio, MV overshoot, settling time,
rise time, etc.). Tabulate and report these results in the Group Report.

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ECB4233 – January 2015 Semester Lab Session 1 - Flow

APPENDICES
APPENDIX A

Process Block Diagram

Gp(s)

Process Process
input Gv(s) Gp0(s) output

Fig. A-1: Overall Process Model (inclusive of control valve)

Process Reaction Curve 1

Process
Output, Y

Time, t

Process
Input, X

Time, t

Fig. A-2: Resistive Process Reaction Curve

Process Reaction Curve 2

Process
Output, Y

Time, t
1
Process
Input, X

Time, t

Fig. A-3: Integrating / Capacitive Process Reaction Curve

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Process Reaction Curve 3

Process
Output, Y


Time, t

Process
Input, X

Time, t

Fig. A-4: Resistive Process Reaction Curve with Dead Time

Process Reaction Curve 4

Slope,
S
Steady-state
Process
0.63
Output, Y
0.28 
Time, t

Process
Input, X

Time, t

Fig. A-5: First-Order Process Reaction Curve

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Process Reaction Curve 5

Steady-state

0.63

Process
Output, Y


Time, t

Process
Input, X 
Time, t

Fig. A-6: Second-Order Process Reaction Curve

Process Reaction Curve 6

2nd order
curve
Steady-state

Process
Output, Y Higher order
curve


Time, t
Fig. A-7: Higher Order Process Reaction Curve

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APPENDIX B: Tabulation of Results

Table B.1: Results for Process Reaction Curve (either Method I or Method II can be used)

Measurement Value

Change in perturbation / MV, 

Change in output / PV, 

Maximum slope, S

Apparent dead time, 

Calculations Value

Steady State Process Gain, KP = /

Apparent time constant,  = KP / S

or  = 1.5(0.63 - 0.28)

*Fraction dead time, R =  /

* The fraction dead time mentioned here is slightly different than one being used for Ciancone correlations.

Table B.2: Results for Closed Loop Tuning

Measurement Value

Ultimate gain, Ku

Time for 3 oscillation periods

Calculations Value

Ultimate Time, Pu

(Time for 1 oscillation period)

Table B.3: PID Controller Parameters

Tuning Parameters: P-only PI PID

Proportional Gain, Kc

Integral Time, TI (minutes/repeat)

Derivative Time, TD (minutes/repeat)

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APPENDIX C

Table C.1: Ziegler-Nichols Closed Loop Correlations

Control Modes Kc TI TD

P only 0.5Ku - -

P+I 0.45Ku Pu /1.2 -

P+I+D 0.6Ku Pu / 2 Pu / 8

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 ECB4233 – January 2015 Semester Lab Session 1 - Flow

APPENDIX D

Table D.1: Group Report Rubric

Experiment: Date:

Group ID:
Members:

Unacceptable Marginal Acceptable Exceptional Weight

Topic Pts
(0) (1) (2) (3) (X)

Introduction
 Title
   
Unable to state the State the introduction Able to state the Able to state the 1
 Objectives
introduction clearly with limited introduction with introduction clearly
information minor error

   
Unable to draw P&ID not clearly Major elements of P&ID clearly drawn
P&ID 1
P&ID for the drawn or accurately P&ID are covered but and accurately
experiment tagged still missing some tagged
important details

   
Calculations & No results or unable Minimum results are Results are presented Results are clearly
3
Results to obtain presented or with but with minor error presented using
calculations major errors and could still be relevant tool such
improved as graph, table, etc.

   
No analysis or Minimum results are Analysis is presented Analysis is clearly
Observation &
plagiarized work are analyzed, important but with minor error explained. Student 4
Analysis
presented observations not and could still be highlighted
presented improved important
observations.

   
Report is too Report is easy to Report well written Report very well
Report difficult to understand with few but occasionally some written and easy to
1
Organization understand with grammatical error points are difficult to understand
many grammatical and moderately understand. Minor
error and not well organized grammatical error
organized

TOTAL (out of 30)

Examiner:

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ECB4233 – January 2015 Semester Lab Session 1 - Flow

Table D.2: Lab Viva Assessment Rubric

Experiment: Date:

Student: Student ID:

Unacceptable Marginal Acceptable Exceptional Weight

Topic Pts
(0) (1) (2) (3) (X)

   
Demonstrated little Demonstrated Demonstrated Demonstrated
Execution of or no ability to some ability to adequate ability to superior ability to
2
Procedures conduct conduct conduct conduct
experiments. Did not experiments. experiments. experiments.
collect meaningful Collected some Collected most of Collected all the
data meaningful data the needed data appropriate data

   
Focus of Results No insight. Entirely Little insight. Adequate insight. Excellent insight.
4
and Discussion missed the point of Analyzed only the Missed some Results and
the experiment most basic points important points discussion well
focused

   
No understanding or Serious Sound Complete
appreciation of deficiencies in understanding of understanding of
Safety & Health safety and health addressing health health and safety health and safety
1
Issues related issues and safety issues issues. Mostly issues leading to
leading to a effective in sound and
unsupported achieving supported results
and/or infeasible supported results
result

   
Demonstrated little Demonstrated Demonstrated Demonstrated
Participation in or no ability to some ability to adequate ability superior ability to
Teamwork function effectively function effectively to function function effectively 3
(if applicable) as leader/team as leader/team effectively as as leader/team
member during member during leader/team member during
experimental work experimental work member during experimental work
experimental work

TOTAL (out of 30)

Examiner:

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