Department of Engineering Physics ITB June 2003

Instrumentation and
Controller Design

Dr. Mudathir A. Fagiri

1
Objectives:
1. To teach fundamental Process controller and its
design
2. To educate students the criteria for selection of
suitable transmitters (Sensor/Actuators)
3. To help students in enhancing their knowledge
about different controllers

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 Contents:
Introduction to process control
Elements of process control loop
Dynamic modelling
Analysis of dynamic systems
Design of P, PI, PD and PID for specific process objectives
or product specifications
Design of feedback, feedforward, cascade,
feedforward/feedback, feedforward/feedback + cascade
controls
Tuning & Autotuning

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First, we will visit all the block elements of the control
system, especially the controller
Then, analyze the whole system all together
Then, consider the variations of the elements

+
Controller
Controller Actuator
Actuator Process
Process

Sensor
Sensor++
Transmitter
Transmitter

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Department of Engineering Physics ITB June 2003

Lecture 1

Introduction to
Process Control

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 Outlines &
Department of Engineering Physics ITB June 2003

Objectives
Outlines
The importance of process control
Basic concepts of process control
Objectives
Understand what process control is
Know the terms of process control system
Identify the elements of process control system
Understand the importance of process control
Know the type of process control strategies
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 The History of Process Control
1960s Pneumatic analog instrumentation, controllers, and computing modules
1970s Electronic analog instrumentation, controllers, and computing modules
◦ Direct digital control with special algorithms programmed in main frame computer
1980s Electronic analog instrumentation and digital distributed control systems (DCS)
◦ Supervisory and model predictive control configured in special purpose computers
1990s Smart analog instrumentation, valves, and digital distributed control systems
◦ Supervisory and model predictive control configured in special purpose computers
◦ Neural networks, online diagnostics, and expert systems in special purpose computers
◦ Real time optimization using model libraries in special purpose computers
2000s Field bus based digital smart instrumentation, valves, and control systems
◦ Digital bus takes full advantage of smartness and accuracy of instrumentation and valves
◦ Some fast PID controllers such as flow and pressure go to the field transmitter or valve
◦ Model predictive control, neural networks, online diagnostics, and expert systems are
integrated into the graphically configurable field bus based control systems and move to PCs
◦ APC Infrastructure, interface, and engineering costs decrease by an order of magnitude
◦ APC projects use consultants more for front end and commissioning than for whole job
◦ APC software tools are easy enough for the average process and control engineer to use

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 Definition (1)
Process
◦ A series of interrelated actions which transform material
It covers all resources that are involved in the process and talks about
process “inputs” (e.g. resources, raw material) and “outputs” (e.g.
finished product)
Control
◦ To maintain desired conditions in a physical system by adjusting selected variables in
the system

Energies Out

Raw Materials Products

Process

Energies Out

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Definition (2)
Process Control
◦ To maintain desired conditions in a physical system by adjusting selected variables in
the system in spite of disturbances affecting the system and observation noise

Corrective Action Process

Data
Knowledge

Information

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Day life Example:
Department of Engineering Physics ITB June 2003

Driving a Car
Control Objective (Setpoint): Brain:
◦ Maintain car in proper lane Eyes:
Control Sensor
Controlled variable: calculation
◦ Location on the road
Manipulated variable:
◦ Orientation of the front wheels
Actuator:
◦ Steering wheel
Sensor:
◦ Driver’s eyes
Controller:
◦ Driver
Steering wheel:
Disturbance: Actuator
◦ Curve in road
Noise:
◦ Rain, fog

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Department of Engineering Physics ITB June 2003

Industrial Example #1:

Heat Exchanger
Control Objective (Setpoint):
◦ Maintain temperature
Controlled variable:
◦ Outlet temperature of product stream Product
Manipulated variable: Stream TC Steam
◦ Steam flow
Actuator: TT
◦ Control valve on steam line
Sensor:
◦ Thermocouple on product stream
Controller:
◦ Temperature controller
Disturbance: Feed Condensate
◦ Changes in the inlet feed temperature
Noise:
◦ Measurement noise

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Department of Engineering Physics ITB June 2003

Industrial Example #2:

Liquid Level Control
Control Objective (Setpoint):
◦ Maintain level
Controlled variable: Fluid
◦ Fluid level in the tank
Manipulated variable:
◦ Fluid flow
Actuator:
◦ Control valve on fluid line
Sensor:
LC
◦ Level transmitter on the tank
Controller:
◦ Level controller
Disturbance:
◦ Changes in the inlet feed flow LT
Noise:
◦ Measurement noise

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 Department of Engineering Physics ITB June 2003

Elements of Process
Control Loop
Sensor
◦ Measure process variable

Transmitter
◦ Convert the measured process variable into standard signal

Controller
◦ Drive actuator by giving an appropriate controller output signal

Actuator
◦ Adjust manipulated variable based on the value of the controller output signal

Process
◦ Physical system to be controlled

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The Terms I
Control Objective (Setpoint, SP)
Controlled Variable (CV) or Process Variable (PV)
Measured Process Variable (PVm)
Controller Output (CO)
Manipulated Variable (MV)
Final Control Element (Actuator)
Sensor/Transmitter
Controller
Disturbance Variable (DV)
Measurement Noise

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 Department of Engineering Physics ITB June 2003

Goal of Process
Operation
Safety & Reliability 24 hours process operation?
Hmm… I think, to achieve
Product Specification those, we need to continuously
monitor & control the process
24 hours a day,
Environmental Regulation 7 days a week!!!

Operating Constraint
Efficiency
Maximum profit

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 Department of Engineering Physics ITB June 2003

Safety and
Reliability
The control system must provide safe operation
◦ Alarms, safety constraint control, start-up and shutdown

A control system must be able to “absorb” a variety of

disturbances and keep the process in a good operating region
◦ Feed composition upsets, temporary loss of utilities (e.g., steam
supply), day to night variation in the process

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 Department of Engineering Physics ITB June 2003

Product
Specification
Quality
◦ Products with reduced variability
◦ For many cases, reduced variability products are in high demand and have high value added
(e.g. feedstocks for polymers)

Old Controller New Controller

Concentration
Concentration

Limit Limit

Impurity
Impurity

Time Time

Product certification procedures (e.g., ISO 9000) are used to guarantee product quality and place a
large emphasis on process control

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 Department of Engineering Physics ITB June 2003

Environmental
Regulation
Various government laws may specify that the
temperatures, concentrations of chemicals, and
flow rates of the effluents from a process be within
certain limit
Examples:
◦ Regulations on the amounts of SO2 that a process can eject to the
atmosphere, and on the quality of water returned to a river or a
lake

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 Operational
Department of Engineering Physics ITB June 2003

Constraint
All real process have constrained inherent to their
operation which should be satisfied throughout
the operation
Examples:
◦ Tank should not overflow or go dry
◦ Distillation column should not be flooded
◦ Catalytic reactor temperature should not exceed an upper limit
since the catalyst will be destroyed

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 Department of Engineering Physics ITB June 2003

Efficienc
y

The operation of a process should be as

economical as possible in utilization of
raw material, energy and capital

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 Department of Engineering Physics ITB June 2003

Maximizing the Profit of

a Plant (1)
The operation of a process may many times involves
controlling against constraints
The closer that you are able to operate to these
constraints, the more profit you can make
Example:
◦ Maximizing the product production rate usually involving
controlling the process against one or more process constraints

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 Department of Engineering Physics ITB June 2003

Maximizing the Profit of

a Plant (2)
Constraint control example: A reactor temperature control
◦ At excessively high temperatures the reactor will experience a temperature runaway and explode
◦ But the higher the temperature the greater the product yield
◦ Therefore, better reactor temperature control allows safe operation at a higher reactor
temperature and thus more profit

New Controller Improved Performance

Concentration
Concentration

Limit Limit
Impurity
Impurity

Time Time
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 Department of Engineering Physics ITB June 2003

Common Types of
Control Strategy
Manual vs. Automatic
Servo vs. Regulator
Open-loop vs. Closed-loop
Control strategies
◦ Feedback Control
◦ Feedforward Control
◦ Cascade Control

Single-Input Single-Output (SISO) vs. Multi-Input

Multi-Output (MIMO, also known as multivariable)

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 Department of Engineering Physics ITB June 2003

Manual vs. Automatic

Temperature indicator
Should I adjust
Manual the valve or
should I run?
◦ Human has to adjust the MV to obtain the
desired value of the PV based on observation
and prior experiences

Emergency
cooling

Automatic
◦ The computer (or other device) autonomously
controls the process and may report status
back to a operator

Question: Why manual override has to be included in every automatic control systems?

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 Department of Engineering Physics ITB June 2003

Regulator vs. Servo

Regulatory control Servo control
◦ Follow constant setpoint, overcoming the
disturbance
• Follow the changing
setpoint
o
7.00 AM: 80 C…
o
8.00 AM: 70 C…
o o
75.5 C… 9.00 AM: 60 C…
75.3o C…
o
75.4 C…

Question: How to achieve both objectives simultaneously?

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 Open-loop vs.
Department of Engineering Physics ITB June 2003

Closed-loop
DV

CO PV
Open-loop Process
Process
◦ Process is controlled based on Decisions

predetermined scenario Controller

Controller
Ex.: When food is done in an oven,
timers on outdoor lights SP

DV
Closed-loop
◦ The information from sensor is used to CO PV
Process
Process
adjust the MV to obtain the desired Decisions
value of the PV
Controller
Controller
SP
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 Department of Engineering Physics ITB June 2003

Control Strategies
(1)
Feedback Control
◦ Corrective action based on process variable (PV)
DV

SP
Feedback CO PV
Feedback Process
Process
Controller
Controller

Advantage
Requires no knowledge of the source or nature of disturbances, and minimal
detailed information about how the process itself works
Disadvantage
Controller takes some corrective actions after some changes occurs in process
variable PV

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 Control Strategies
Department of Engineering Physics ITB June 2003

(2)
Feedforward Control
◦ Based on the measurement of disturbance (DV)  feedforward controller can respond even
before any changes occurs in PV DV

Feedforward CO PV
SP Feedforward Process
Process
Controller
Controller

Advantage
Controller takes some corrective actions before the process output is different
from the setpoint  theoretically, perfect disturbance rejection is possible!
Disadvantage
◦ Requires process model which can predict the effect of disturbance on PV
◦ If there are some modeling error, feedforward control action will be erroneous (no
corrective action)
◦ Feedforward controller can be quite complex
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 Department of Engineering Physics ITB June 2003

Control Strategies
(3)
Feedback/Feedforward Control
◦ Feedforward controller will adjust CO as soon as the DV is detected
◦ If the feedforward action is not enough due to model error,
measurement error and etc., feedback controller will compensate the
difference
DV

CO PV
SP Feedforward/
Feedforward/ Process
Feedback Process
Feedback
Controller
Controller

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 Department of Engineering Physics ITB June 2003

Control Strategies
(4)
Cascade Control
◦ The disturbance DV1 arising within the inner loop are corrected by the inner controller
before it can affects the PV of the outer one
Example: Control valve + positioner

Outer loop
Inner loop DV1 DV

SP
Inner CO CO PV
Outer
OuterFeedback
Feedback InnerFeedback
Feedback Inner
Inner Outer
Outer
Controller
Controller Controller
Controller Process
Process Process
Process

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 Department of Engineering Physics ITB June 2003

Control Strategies (5)

Feedback/Feedforward + Cascade Control
Outer loop
DV
Inner loop DV1

SP Outer
OuterFeedback
Feedback Inner CO CO PV
Controller
Controller InnerFeedback
Feedback Inner
Inner Outer
Outer
Controller
Controller Process
Process Process
Process

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 Department of Engineering Physics ITB June 2003

SISO vs. MIMO

Based on how many PV and MV we have in a process

MIMO
SISO DVs
…
DV
… COs Process PVs
Process
CO PV Decisions …
Process
Process …
Decisions …
Controller
Controller Controller
Controller

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Department of Engineering Physics ITB June 2003

The Terms II
Manual control  Servo control
 Regulatory control
Automatic control
 SISO control
Open-loop control
 MIMO control
Closed-loop control  Transient response
Feedback control  Overshoot
Feedforward control  Oscillation
Cascade control

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 Department of Engineering Physics ITB June 2003

Development of a Control
System (1)
1. Open Loop Analysis
◦ What kind of system is considered?
2. Performance Specifications
◦ How is the system required to behave?
◦ The desired performance must be expressed in terms of the different
performance measures that are chosen
◦ Often, depends on the type of control problem to solve
3. Control Configuration
◦ Which signals are used to calculate the control signal?
◦ Depending on the plant the desired performance specifications and
the allowed complexity of the control system
◦ Depending on the type and the number of input signals to the
controller different configurations are recognized
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 Department of Engineering Physics ITB June 2003

Development of a Control
System (2)
4. Control Law
◦ Which algorithm is used to calculate the control signal?
5. Parameter Design (Tuning)
◦ Which are the parameters of the algorithm to calculate the control signal?
6. Evaluation
◦ How will the controlled system behave in theory?  simulation!
7. Implementation and Verification
◦ How will the control system be realized?
◦ How does the controlled system behave in practice?
◦ The controller will be implemented and one will verify whether the system
is controlled as expected

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