Experiment 2 Gas Flow Plant Control

Process Dynamics & Control Lab

EXPERIMENT NO. 2 Air Flow Process Control (AF 922)

OBJECTIVES 1. To identify the important components of the air pressure control system and to mark them in the P&I Diagram. 2. To carry out the start-up procedures systematically. 3. To study gas volumetric flow rate measurement using orifice plate. 4. To study gas mass flow rate measurement using orifice plate and perfect gas law to compute the gas density from the pressure and temperature measurements. 5. To study gas mass flow rate (Fm) control using PID controller. 6. To design a PID controller using Ziegler Nichols closed loop method. KEYWORDS Gas flow rate, gas flow measurements, PID controller, Controller tuning 1.0 INTRODUCTION The air flow process control training system (Model AF922) uses air to simulate a gas or vapor phase flow process. Gas/vapor volumetric flow can be measured either by the differential pressure across orifice or by a variable area flow meter. Compensation for pressure and temperature variation using Perfect Gas Law can be made to the flow measurement by the differential pressure measurement. 2.0 EXPERIMENTAL EQUIPMENT 2.1 AIR FLOW PROCESS PLANT (AF 922) The equipment uses in this experiment is the air flow process control training system, Model AF922. The model consists of a main pipeline, PLI where process air flows from vessel T90 and then discharge to atmosphere via the process vent manual valve, VF or to another air process control training system (Air Pressure, AP 922). If the air flow through PLI too low, the air will flow through second pipeline, PLII automatically. Air flow is measured using an orifice plate (FE91) and a differential pressure transmitter with a square foot function (FT91). A variable are flow meter (rotameter, FI91) is also provided to measure volumetric flow rate of the air.

2.2 CONTROL SYSTEM AND INSTRUMENTATIONS Gas volumetric/mass flow measurement system 1. Integral orifice flow element, FE91. 2. Differential pressure flow transmitter with square root function, FT91. 3. Absolute pressure transmitter, PT91. 4. RTD temperature transmitter, TE91/TIT911. Control System 1. PID Flow Control: A) Measurement: Flow computation inside FIC91 using the measurements from FE91, FT91, PT91, TE91/TIT911. B) Controller: FIC91, panel mount PID controller. C) Final Control Element: FCV91, control valve with current-to-air converter, FCY91 and a pneumatic positioner. 2. ON/OFF Flow Control: A) Measurement: Flow computation inside FIC91 using the measurements from FE91, FT91. B) Controller: FIC90, panel mount ON/OFF controller within FIC91. C) Final Control Element: FCV90, ON/OFF control valve with solenoid valve FSV90 as ON/OFF. 3. Temperature Control: A) Measurement: TE91/TIT911, RTD temperature transmitter. B) Controller: TIC911, panel mount ON/OFF controller, within FIC90. C) Final Control Element: TCV911, control valve with solenoid valve TSV911 as pilot. 4. Flow Recorder: FPTR91 with 3 pens. 5. Variable area flow meter (Rotameter), FI911. 6. Pressure Gauges: PG900, PG902. 7. Temperature Gauge: TG900.

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Experiment 2 Gas Flow Plant Control

Process Dynamics & Control Lab

3.0 EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES 3.1 IDENTIFICATION OF MAJOR COMPONENTS IN THE PLANT 1. Walk around the experimental equipment, IDENTIFY and MARK the following major components of the system in the P&I Diagram provided at the end the lab manual. a. T90 AirTank b. FE91 Orice meter c. FT91 Differential Pressure Transmitter, with a square root function. d. PT91 Absolute Pressure Transmitter. e. TE91 RTD Temperature Sensor. f. TIT911 Temperature Transmitter. g. FIC90 ON/OFF controller. h. FIC91 Flow Controller (PID). i. FCV90 Pneumatic ON/OFF control valve with Solenoid valve, TSV90. j. FCV91 Control valve with FCY91 current-to-air (I/P) converter and pneumatic positioner, PP. k. FPTR91 Recorder. 3.2 START-UP PROCEDURES 1. The following steps constitute the start-up procedure. Go through these steps before starting any experiment. 2. Switch the "PANEL, SCADA/DDC" selector switch at the front of the cubicle to "PANEL,SCADA"position. Switch ON the main power supply at the front of the cubicle. All the panel instruments will lit up. 3. If any annunciator gets activated, press the ACKNOWLEDGE button to silence the buzzer. 4. Set the instrument air supply regulator to the pressure indicated at the air regulators at the pneumatic control valves FCV90 and FCV91. Purge if there is any condensed water in the air regulators. 5. From the process air supply, trace the two pipelines, PLI and PLII as follows: Pipeline I (PLI): AR900-MV900A-T90-MV900D-PLI-FI911-TE911-FE91/FT91-FCV91-FCV1-VF Pipeline II (PLII): AR900-MV900A-T90-MV900D-PLII-FCV90-PG902-V

6. Open fully the pipelines PLI and PLII at their various manual valves. Close fully the manual by-pass valve around the control valve FCV91 and the ON/OFF control valve FCV90. 7. The pipeline PLI has two discharge manual valves, VF and MV901. Open the vent VF and close the valve MV901. 8. Make sure the valves MV900A and MV900D are open and valves MV900B and MV900C are shut. 9. Place the panel controller FIC91 in the Manual (M) mode. Make sure the control valve positioner PP is connected (i.e. Not by-passed). 10.Open fully the control valve FCV91 by setting the MV of FIC91 to -6.3%. 11.Shut fully the manual valve MV900A and set AR900 to the pressure indicated at AR900. 12.Adjust the manual valve MV900A till the air flow rate is about 50 kg/hr (Read the flow rate from PV of FIC91). 13. Step (10), (11) and (12) have set the process air supply pressure and flow rate. DO NOT re-adjust AR900 and MV900A hereafter. 14. Check that vent valve and bottom drain valve of vessel T90 are shut. Set MV = 106.3% at FIC91 to fully shut the control valve FCV91. 15. Check control valve FCV91 (in the plant) is fully shut and FI911 reads the air volumetric flow rate as ZERO. Also check the mass flow rate Fm at FIC91 is ZERO. 16.Now set the MV = 50% at FIC91 and check control valve FCV91 (in the plant) is 50% opened. 17. Note the variables that are recorded in each channel of the recorder FPTR91. Red Pen - Mass flow rate (kg/hr) Green Pen - Volumetric flow rate (m3/hr) Blue Pen - Temperature (C) 3.3 AIR FLOW MEASUREMENT This experiment is carried out with the air is the medium and at ambient conditions. 1. Make sure that you have gone through the start up procedures carefully. 2. Set the MV = -6.3% (in Manual mode) so that control valve FCV91 is fully opened. 3. Record the reading/data in Column I of the tabular column as shown in results section. Data to be taken AT THE CONTROL PANEL: i) Access the following data by pressing the corresponding push buttons in FIC91 and FIC90:

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Experiment 2 Gas Flow Plant Control

Process Dynamics & Control Lab

FIC91 PID1(main page): I/O DATA: PV - Fm, kg/hr X1 - FT91, % of

II PB = 150%

III PB = 100% TI = 6 s TD = 0 s

, 0 - 100

TI = 6 s TD = 0 s

X2 - TIT911, % of 0 - 120C X3 - PT911, % of 0 - 60 psia FIC90 P/T REGISTER: PO1 - Fv, m3/hr

DO NOT FORGET TO MARK THE PID VALUES AND THE SET-POINT ON THE CHART PAPER WHENEVER THE VALUES ARE CHANGED. ALSO MARK ON THE CHART THE BEGINNING OF EACH PART OF THE EXPERIMENT. 9. Repeat the experiment for the above 3 sets of PID trial values with step change in

(ii) At the Recorder: Fv (Channel 2, Green) and Fm (Channel 1, Red) Data to be taken AT THE PLANT: Locate the rotameter FI911 and pressure gauge PG900. Take both instruments readings and also note the units used. (Rotameter reading should be taken as 0.5 Nm3/hr) 4. Now, take another sets of readings for MV = 50% and MV = 70% and record them in the tabular column in the results section. 3.4 CONTROL OF AIR FLOW SYSTEM 1. If your are starting this experiment in a new session, then go through the start-up procedures given in Section 3.2. 2. With FIC91 in Manual (M) mode, open the control valve FCV91 fully with MV = -6.3%. (For confirmation, check the stem position indicator of control valve FCV91. FCV91 is an Air-To-Close (ATC) valve) 3. With FIC91 still in Manual mode, adjust its setpoint, SV = 25 kg/hr. 4. Access the PID parameters of FIC91 and set the first (I) PID trial values: PB = 200%, TI = 6 s, TD = 0 s 5. Start the recorder chart drive by pressing RCD pushbutton at FPTR91. 6. Switch FIC91 to Auto (A) mode and watch the recorder response (i.e. air flow response) until the air flow (red pen) is fairly steady. 7. Introduce a pulse disturbance by quickly opening and shutting fully the by-pass valve around control valve FCV91. Observe the response till it becomes fairly steady. 8. Repeat step (7) (i.e. introducing pulse disturbaance) with the second (II) and third (III) sets of PID trial values:

setpoint for the mass flow rate by changing the present setpoint of FIC91 from SV= 25 kg/hr to SV = 30 kg/hr. Observe and record the response till it becomes fairly steady. 10. Switch back the setpoint SV = 25 kg/hr. Use the first (I) PID trial value but now with TD = 20 s. Mark the PID values on the chart paper simultaneously. 11. Apply the disturbance by opening and shutting fully the by-pass valve around control valve FCV91 and observe the response. 3.5 PID CONTROLLER TUNING 1. Set FIC91 in Manual (M) mode with setpoint SV = 25 kg/hr. Adjust the PID values to the following: PB = about 100%, TI = 9999 s (Maximum), TD = 0 s (Minimum) By setting TI to maximum value and TD to minimum value, we can eliminate these two modes in a PID controller (use PB only). 2. Adjust MV in FIC91 until the PV value closes to the setpoint SV value (SV = 25 kg/hr). 3. Transfer FIC91 to Auto (A) mode. Introduce a setpoint pulse disturbance as follows: i) Set increase SV to 28 kg/hr ii) Hold the value for a few seconds iii)Bring back the SV to 25 kg/hr 4. Observe the mass flow rate (red pen) response. Repeat the Closed Loop Tuning Method as above with a decreasing PB value until uniform oscillation (constant amplitude) is observed. (To increase oscillation, decrease PB value and vice versa)

Figure 2.1: Uniform oscillation

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Experiment 2 Gas Flow Plant Control

Process Dynamics & Control Lab

5. Examine the chart response for the uniform oscillation. New PID value from tuning procedures can be obtained as follows: i) PB corresponds to uniform oscillation = PB* ultimate (correspons to ultimate gain, Kcu) ii) Distance between two adjacent peaks = Tn* ultimate (ultimate period, Pu) Tn* can be calculated from this formula:

Tn * ( sec s ) =
are:

measurement ( mm ) ! 3600 chartspeed (500 mm hr )

iii) The approximate PI controller settings by using Ziegler Nichols formula PB = 2 x PB*, TI = Tn*/1.2 6. To test this new PI controller settings, set this value into FIC91 (in Auto mode). Perform the test with a pulse disturbance. Increase PB value to damp the oscillation and fine tune the PB and TI values to get as close to Quarter Amplitude Damping response. 4.0 SHUTDOWN PROCEDURES 1. Stop the recorder chart by pressingRCD pressbutton at recorder FPTR91. 2. Switch FIC91 to Manual mode with MV = 0%. 3. Switch off the main power supply. 4. Shut off the process air supply at AR900. 5. Shut off the instrument air supply. 5.0 RESULTS 1. The recorder FPTR91 records the results of the experiments. Suitable portions of the recorder chart paper should be submitted as RESULTS of the experiment. 2. The report should contain: i) The P&I Diagram with all major components marked clearly. ii) The instruments readings taken simultaneously and recorded for different valve opening positions. iii) Comparison between direct instrument data with calculated data for Fvb and Fm. iv) The PID ow control responses for disturbances and setpoint changes for different controller settings. v) Discussion on the response characteristics for different controller settings. vi)Tuning by Ziegler Nichols method and its response. Figure 2.2: Quarter Amplitude Damping Response (Blue pen)

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Experiment 2 Gas Flow Plant Control

Process Dynamics & Control Lab

Calculation: Volumetric ow rate (with or without pressure and temperature compensation): Without P/T compensation: With P/T compensation:

h = differential pressure, mm H2O P = absolute pressure, psia T = temperature, K For the given 6.35 mm bore orice plate: k1 = 0.256 kvb = 1.356 km = 1.753

Fv = k1 h

Fvb = kvb

hP T
Fm = km hP T

Based on perfect gas law, mass ow rate:

Figure 2.3: P&I Diagram for Air Flow Process Control Plant

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