CHE 4400

Process Control
Process Dynamics, Modeling, & Control
Professor Cliff Henderson

Georgia Institute of Technology

School of Chemical Engineering

An Introduction
oduc o too Process
ocess Co
Control
o

Steady state doesnt happen by

accident and it isnt always that
steady!
Georgia Institute of Technology

School of Chemical Engineering

Process Control
The goal of process control is:
maintain safe operation
meet required production rates
maintain product quality specifications

Three key components

monitoring/sensing
i i /
i
deciding on a control action
implementing the control action
Georgia Institute of Technology

School of Chemical Engineering

Variables in a Chemical Process

DISTURBANCES
Measured

Unmeasured

Measured
Chemical Process
Manipulated
a pu ated
INPUT
Variables

Unmeasured
OUTPUT
Variables

DISTURBANCES invariably make processes dynamic

Georgia Institute of Technology

School of Chemical Engineering

Degrees of Freedom Analysis

NF = NV - NE
NF = # off ddegrees off freedom
f d
NV = # of variables (input & output)
NE = # of equations (algebraic & differential)
>0
NF = 0
<0

under
under-specified
specified
exactly specified
over-specified

Georgia Institute of Technology

School of Chemical Engineering

A Common Example
Your dorm room/apartment shower
Disturbances
water in the supply line is warming up or the
system begins to run out of hot water
your roommate or someone next door flushes
the toilet

Georgia Institute of Technology

School of Chemical Engineering

A Common Example
Types of control
Feedback = as you sense the water temperature
changing you gradually adjust the hot & cold
valves
Feedforward = you hear the toilet flush, so you
increase the cold water
ater supply
s ppl
Override Control = you jump out of the
shower when you hear the toilet flush
Georgia Institute of Technology

School of Chemical Engineering

Terminology

Process
Sensor
Controlled Variable
Setpoint
Manipulated Variable
Actuator or Final Control Element
Controller
D dti
Deadtime
SISO and MIMO

Georgia Institute of Technology

School of Chemical Engineering

Feedback Control
DISTURBANCES
Measured

Unmeasured
OUTPUT
Variables

Manipulated
INPUT
Variables

Unmeasured
Chemical Process
Measured

Final
Control
Element

S
Sensor
Controller

Georgia Institute of Technology

School of Chemical Engineering

Importance of Process Control

PC directly affects the safety and reliability
of a process.
PC determines the quality of the products
produced by a process.
PC can affect how efficiently a process is
operated.
t d
Bottom Line: PC has a major impact on the
profitability of a process & i.e. a company.
Georgia Institute of Technology

School of Chemical Engineering

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:
Thunderstorms, feed composition upsets, temporary
l
loss
off utilities
tiliti (e.g.,
(
steam
t
supply),
l ) day
d to
t night
i ht
variation in the ambient conditions

Georgia Institute of Technology

School of Chemical Engineering

Benefits of Improved Control

Impurity
n
Concentration

Old Controller
Limit

Time

Controller has noisy

performance!

Georgia Institute of Technology

School of Chemical Engineering

Benefits of Improved Control

Limit

Time

New Controller
Impurity
n
Concentration

Impurity
n
Concentration

Old Controller

Limit

Time

Better controller tuning

reduces process variation.

Georgia Institute of Technology

School of Chemical Engineering

Better Control Means Products

with Reduced Variability
F
For many cases, reduced
d d variability
i bilit
products are in high demand and have high
value added (e.g., feedstocks for polymers).
Product certification procedures (ISO 9000)
are used to gguarantee pproduct qquality
y and
place a large emphasis on process control.

Georgia Institute of Technology

School of Chemical Engineering

Benefits of Improved Control

New Controller
Impurity
y
Concentratiion

Impurity
y
Concentratiion

Old Controller
Limit

Time

Limit

Time

Impurity
n
Concentration

Improved Performance
Limit

Time
Georgia Institute of Technology

School of Chemical Engineering

Maximizing the Profit of a Plant

Many times involves controlling against
constraints.
The closer that you are able to operate to
these constraints, the more profit you can
make.

Georgia Institute of Technology

School of Chemical Engineering

Constraint Control Example

Consider a reactor temperature control example
for which at excessively high temperatures the
reactor will 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.

Georgia Institute of Technology

School of Chemical Engineering

Driving a Car: An Everyday

Example of Process Control
Control Objective (Setpoint): Maintain car in
proper lane.
Controlled variable- Location on the road
Manipulated variable- Orientation of the front
wheels
Actuator- Drivers arms/steering
g wheel
Sensor- Drivers eyes
Controller- Driver / Brain
Disturbance- Curve in road
Georgia Institute of Technology

School of Chemical Engineering

Schematic of Feedback Loop

Disturbance
Setpoint

+-

Controller

Actuator

Process
Controlled
Variable

Sensor

Georgia Institute of Technology

School of Chemical Engineering

Heat Exchanger Control:

ChE Control Example
Product
Stream

TC

Steam

TT

Feed
Condensate

Georgia Institute of Technology

School of Chemical Engineering

10

Heat Exchanger Control

Controlled variablevariable Outlet temperature of
product stream
Manipulated variable- Steam flow
Actuator- Control valve on steam line
Sensor- Thermocouple on product stream
Disturbance- Changes in the inlet feed
temperature
Georgia Institute of Technology

School of Chemical Engineering

FEEDBACK Control
The key feature of all feedback control
loops is that the measured value of the
controlled variable is compared with
the setpoint and this difference is used
to determine the control action taken.

Georgia Institute of Technology

School of Chemical Engineering

11

Types of Feedback Controllers

Manual Control- Used by operators and based on
more or less open loop responses
PID control- Most commonly used controller.
Control action based on error from setpoint.
Advanced PID- Enhancements of PID: ratio,
cascade, feedforward.
Model-based
M d l b dC
Controll Uses
U model
d l off the
h process
directly for control.

Georgia Institute of Technology

School of Chemical Engineering

A Career in Process Control?

Requires that engineers use all of their chemical
engineering
i
i training
t i i (i.e.,
(i provides
id an excellent
ll t
technical profession that can last an entire career)
Can become a technical Top Gun across
business units in a company
Allows engineers to work on projects that can
result
l in
i significant
i ifi
savings
i
for
f their
h i companies
i
(i.e., provides good visibility within a company)

Georgia Institute of Technology

School of Chemical Engineering

12

A Career in Process Control

Provides professional mobility
mobility. There is a
shortage of experienced process control
engineers.
Is a well paid technical procession for
chemical engineers.

Georgia Institute of Technology

School of Chemical Engineering

Evolution of Chemical Process Industries

Stone Age - 1960s Chemical Plant
process engineers
design engineers
control less important contracted out

1970s - Todays Chemical Plant

process engineers
control engineers
design done less on day-to-day basis contracted out

Georgia Institute of Technology

School of Chemical Engineering

13

Duties of a Control Engineer

Tuning controllers for performance and
reliability
Selecting the proper PID mode and/or
advanced PID options
Control loop troubleshooting
Multi-unit
Multi unit controller design
Documentation of process control changes

Georgia Institute of Technology

School of Chemical Engineering

Characteristics of Effective
Process Control Engineers
Use their knowledge of the process to guide
their process control applications. They are
process control engineers.
Have a fundamentally sound picture of
process dynamics
d
i andd feedback
f db k control.
l
Work effectively with the operators, process
engineers, and management.
Georgia Institute of Technology

School of Chemical Engineering

14

Operator Acceptance
A good relationship with the operators is a
NECESSARY condition for the success of a
control engineer.
Build a relationship with the operators based on
mutual respect.
Operators are a valuable source of plant data and
experience.
A successful
f l controll project
j should
h ld make
k the
h
operators job easier, not harder.

Georgia Institute of Technology

School of Chemical Engineering

Process Control and

Optimization
Control and optimization are terms that are
many times erroneously interchanged.
Control has to do with adjusting flow rates
to maintain the controlled variables of the
process at specified setpoints.
Optimization
O i i i chooses
h
the
h values
l
for
f key
k
setpoints such that the process operates at
the best economic conditions.
Georgia Institute of Technology

School of Chemical Engineering

15

Optimization and Control of a

CSTR
Temperature
Setpoint

O ti i
Optimizer
Flow Setpoint

Temperature
Controller

FC

Feed

FT

Steam

TT

Product
Georgia Institute of Technology

School of Chemical Engineering

Process Optimization
Typical optimization objective function, :
= Product values-Feed costs-Utility costs
The steady-state solution of process models is
usually used to determine process operating
conditions which yields flow rates of products,
feed, and utilities.
Unit costs of feed and sale price of products are
combined with flows to yield
Optimization variables are adjusted until is
maximized (optimization solution).
Georgia Institute of Technology

School of Chemical Engineering

16

Overview of Course Material

Control loop hardware

Dynamic modeling
Transfer functions and idealized dynamic behavior
PID control
Advanced PID control
Control of MIMO processes
Model Based Control
Statistical Process Control

Georgia Institute of Technology

School of Chemical Engineering

Fundamental Understanding
and Industrially Relevant Skills
Fundamental Understandingg
Laplace tranforms and transfer functions
Idealized dynamic behavior
Frequency response analysis

More Industrially Relevant Skills

Control hardware and troubleshooting

Controller implementation and tuning
Advanced PID techniques
MIMO control

Georgia Institute of Technology

School of Chemical Engineering

17

Illustrative Example
Fresh A
Feed
Fresh B
Feed
LC
TC
PT
LC

Steam
TT
TT

TC

LC

Steam
C Product

Georgia Institute of Technology

School of Chemical Engineering

Illustrative Example
(FB)sp
Fresh A
Feed

LS

R/F

Fresh B
Feed
S

LC

PC
TC
PT
LC

Steam
TT
TT

TC

L/F

LC

Steam
C Product

Georgia Institute of Technology

School of Chemical Engineering

18

Overview
All feedback control loops have a controller, an
actuator, a process, and a sensor where the
controller chooses control action based upon the
error from setpoint.
Control has to do with adjusting flow rates to
maintain controlled variables at their setpoints
while for optimization the setpoints for certain
controllers are adjusted to optimize the economic
performance of the plant.

Georgia Institute of Technology

School of Chemical Engineering

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