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Department of Chemical Engineering

St. Lucia, Queensland.


Individual Inquiry 2000
By
Terry V Tahal
Supervisor: Emeritus Prof. E T White
Industrial Supervisor: Dr R. Broadfoot, SRI Mackay
Submission date: 27
th
October 2000
Steam
Flow
Feed
Water
Batch
Discharge
Condensate
Evaporation CE
1
CC
1
Vacuum
CE
1
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Individual Inquiry-2000 Terry Vickram Tahal
ABSTRACT
One of the key steps in the sugar processing is the crystallisation of sugar. This is the
step that produces the final product and as such must be monitored very closely as the
quality of the final product determines profit. Crystallisation occurs by boiling a sugar
solution until it becomes oversaturated and the crystals grow. Care must be taken not to
exceed a critical oversaturation (OS
crit
) to prevent nucleation of new crystals, as these
greatly affect the quality of the final product. The process can either be batch or
continuous with the batch process being more common in the industry at present.
The crystallisation process is complex and hence a model is required to understand the
effect of operating conditions on parameters such as growth rate and crystal size. Models
have been previously developed, however they included a term for growth rate dispersion
(GRD) that is now known not to be correct. As a result they over-estimated the spread of
sizes (CV) in the product.
In the new interpretation of GRD crystals should be characterised not only in terms of
their size, but also by their relative growth rates. This interpretation does not allow the
simple moments relation modelling to be used. In this report the new modelling
methodology, which allows GRD to be included will be outlined and implemented in
Matlab codes and the results of the new model discussed
Within the simulation, the pan operation is controlled through the feedback control. A
PID algorithm was implemented. The measured variables were fractional oversaturation
(OS
frac
) and the crystal content (cc). The fractional oversaturation measures how close
the oversaturation is to the critical value. Faster pan operation results if this value is
maximised but the oversaturation must never exceed the critical oversaturation, as new
crystals will be nucleated. Crystal content affects the pan circulation and a loss of
circulation is catastrophic. Crystal content is used to terminate a strike when it reaches
the desired value.
A working model for the batch is provided and discussed. The dynamic continuous pan
model is currently being worked on and the general mass balance equations for the
continuous model are included in this report however the model is not fully developed to
date.
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Individual Inquiry-2000 Terry Vickram Tahal
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The completion of this project would not have been possible without the help and
guidance from people whom I have associated with. I would therefore like to thank all
the people that have helped and assisted me during this project.
Firstly I would to thank Emeritus Professor E .T White. I have enjoyed working with you
during this project and I would like to thank you for patience and time to explain to the
details behind this project.
I would also like to thank my family and friends for their support. Also I would like to
thank my classmates for the friendly atmosphere that they created throughout the course
of my degree.
I would also like to say thank to the lord for keeping me healthy throughout the project.
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Individual Inquiry-2000 Terry Vickram Tahal
TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF FIGURES............................................................................................................................... V
LIST OF TABLES................................................................................................................................. V
1.0 INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................................. 1
1.1 SUGAR CRYSTALLISATION............................................................................................................... 1
1.2 OBJECTIVES .................................................................................................................................... 1
1.3 RELEVANCE OF TOPIC...................................................................................................................... 1
1.4 LITERATURE OVERVIEW: ................................................................................................................. 1
1.4.1. Doucet and Giddey (1966)...................................................................................................... 2
1.4.2 Evans et al. (1970) .................................................................................................................. 2
1.4.3 Wright (1971).......................................................................................................................... 2
1.4.4 Broadfoot (1980)..................................................................................................................... 3
1.4.5 Wilson (1990).......................................................................................................................... 3
1.4.6 Schneider (1996)..................................................................................................................... 3
1.4.7 Summary................................................................................................................................. 4
2.0 DYNAMIC MODEL OF A CRYSTALLISER................................................................................. 5
2.1 ASSUMPTIONS................................................................................................................................. 5
2.2 MATERIAL BALANCE ....................................................................................................................... 5
2.3 ENERGY BALANCE .......................................................................................................................... 6
2.4 KINETIC EXPRESSIONS .................................................................................................................... 6
2.5 CRYSTAL POPULATION BALANCES AND MOMENTS RELATIONSHIPS .................................................... 6
3.0 DERIVATION OF MODEL RELATIONS FOR A SUGAR VACUUM PAN................................ 7
3.1 MATERIAL BALANCES: .................................................................................................................... 7
3.1.1 Mass balance of Water in molasses ......................................................................................... 7
3.1.2 Mass balance of Impurity in molasses...................................................................................... 7
3.1.3 Mass balance of Sucrose in molasses....................................................................................... 7
3.1.4 Mass balance of Crystals......................................................................................................... 7
3.1.5 Mass balance of massecuite..................................................................................................... 8
3.2 PHASE EQUILIBRIUM........................................................................................................................ 8
3.3 CRYSTAL GROWTH RATE RELATIONS: ........................................................................................... 11
3.4 MOMENTS RELATIONS FOR CRYSTALLISATION WITH GRD............................................................... 13
3.4.1 Number size distribution........................................................................................................ 13
3.4.2 A Batch crystalliser with GRD............................................................................................... 14
3.5 ENERGY BALANCES ....................................................................................................................... 15
3.5.1 Heat transfer relationships.................................................................................................... 16
3.6 DENSITY RELATIONSHIPS .............................................................................................................. 16
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Individual Inquiry-2000 Terry Vickram Tahal
4.0 STRUCTURE OF THE MODEL................................................................................................... 17
4.1 INPUT DATA .................................................................................................................................. 17
4.2 OUTPUT DATA............................................................................................................................... 18
4.3 THE DRIVER FILE .......................................................................................................................... 19
4.4 THE FUNCTION FILE ...................................................................................................................... 19
5.0 CONTROL OF THE PAN. ............................................................................................................. 20
5.1 FEEDBACK CONTROL ..................................................................................................................... 21
5.1.1 The three basic feedback control mode actions are; ............................................................... 22
5.1.1 1 Proportional control .......................................................................................................................22
5.1.1.2 Integral control ..............................................................................................................................22
5.1.1.3 Derivative control ..........................................................................................................................23
5.2 TUNING THE CONTROLLER............................................................................................................. 23
6.0 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION....................................................................................................... 24
6.1 MODEL VERIFICATION................................................................................................................... 24
6.2 TYPICAL RESULTS......................................................................................................................... 25
6.3 USE OF MODEL .............................................................................................................................. 26
6.4 SUMMARY..................................................................................................................................... 30
7.0 RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS .......................................................................... 31
8.0 NOMENCLATURE (INCLUDES VARIABLES USED IN MATLAB CODE) ............................ 32
9.0 REFERENCES................................................................................................................................ 35
10.0 GLOSSARY OF TERMS.............................................................................................................. 37
APPENDIX A MORE RESULTS..................................................................................................... A1
APPENDIX B MATLAB CODES.................................................................................................... B1
(1)DRIVER FILE:..................................................................................................................................B1
(2) FUNCTION FILE: .............................................................................................................................B9
(3)INITIAL CODE FOR CONTINUOUS MODEL.........................................................................................B12
APPENDIX C TUNING THE MODEL CONTROL....................................................................... C1
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LIST OF FIGURES
FIGURE 2.1 DIAGRAM OF THE INPUTS AND OUTPUTS FOR A SUGAR CRYSTALLISER .................... 5
FIGURE 3.1 THE SECONDARY NUCLEATION LIMIT AS IT VARIES WITH PURITY [WHITE, 2000] .. 11
FIGURE 3.2 DEMONSTRATING OF GROWTH RATE DISPERSION.................................................. 13
FIGURE 4.1- STRUCTURE OF MODEL USED................................................................................. 17
FIGURE 5.1 - PID CONTROLLER ON A BATCH PAN ...................................................................... 21
FIGURE 5.2 MAIN FEATURES OF A FEEDBACK CONTROL........................................................... 21
FIGURE 6.1 PURITY, BRIX AND CRYSTAL CONTENT FOR SCHNEIDER AND FOR MODEL
DEVELOPED IN THIS STUDY................................................................................................ 24
FIGURE 6.2 OVERSATURATION AND CRITICAL OVERSATURATION .......................................... 25
FIGURE 6.3 MASS OF IMPURITIES, WATER, SUCROSE, CRYSTAL AND TOTAL MASS IN PAN. ....... 26
FIGURE 6.4 CHARACTERISTIC CRYSTAL SIZE VS. TIME ............................................................ 27
FIGURE 6.5 CHARACTERISTIC CRYSTAL SIZE FOR A, B AND C STRIKES ................................... 28
FIGURE 6.6 MOLASSES PURITY AND CRYSTAL CONTENT FOR A, B AND C STRIKES.................. 29
FIGURE 6.7 BRIX FOR A, B AND C STRIKES............................................................................. 29
FIGURE A1- MASS OF SUCROSE, WATER, IMPURITIES, CRYSTALS AND TOTAL PAN MASS ......... A1
FIGURE A2 SYRUP FEED RATE AND EVAPORATION RATE........................................................ A1
FIGURE A3 GROWTH RATE AGAINST TIME ............................................................................. A2
FIGURE A4 BRIX, PURITY AND CRYSTAL CONTENT ................................................................ A2
FIGURE A5 OVERSATURATION FRACTION VS. TIME................................................................ A2
FIGURE A6 COEFFICIENT OF VARIATION AND SKEWNESS ....................................................... A3
FIGURE A7 THE RATIOS OF SUCROSE AND IMPURITIES TO WATER........................................... A3
FIGURE A8 PLOT OF CHARACTERISTIC SIZE VS. TIME............................................................. A3
LIST OF TABLES
TABLE 6.1- CONDITIONS FOR A TYPICAL A STRIKE PAN.............................................................. 24
TABLE 6.2 CHANGES FOR THE TESTS 1-4................................................................................. 26
TABLE 6.3 TYPICAL PAN CONDITIONS FOR B AND C STRIKES.................................................. 28
TABLE A1 - OPERATING CONDITIONS FOR A STRIKE................................................................. A1
TABLE C1 INITIAL CONDITIONS FOR STRIKES........................................................................ C1
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Individual Inquiry-2000 Terry Vickram Tahal
1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Sugar Crystallisation
Sugar is crystallised under vacuum in a sugar pan, because sucrose decomposes
enormously at high temperatures. By operating under vacuum the boiling temperature is
reduced. This process can either operate as a batch or continuous system. Now pan
operation is complex and hence for us to freely understand it, a model is required.
There have been models but these are out of date and do not include the latest growth
dispersion theory, Growth Rate Dispersion (GRD). Equations will be developed in this
report that will apply to both batch and continuous operations. The simple moments
method used in the previous models does not apply with the new theory and hence a new
methodology which describes GRD will be discussed.
1.2 Objectives
The aim of the project is to develop dynamic batch and continuous models that account
for GRD. The models will be controlled using feedback control technique and tests will
be done to verify and validate the models.
1.3 Relevance of topic
The main purpose of the thesis is to develop a dynamic model that will assist the SRI
(Sugar Research Institutes, Mackay) with its research on vacuum pans. The model will
show the effect of the changes to certain parameters such crystal size and feed
composition on pan behaviour in particular the crystal size distribution.
From a personal point of view I have a particular interest in this area of work as I have
worked, and will be working in the sugar industry in Guyana after I have completed my
studies. By developing reliable controls for a continuous pan it further encourages more
mills to implement them.
1.4 Literature overview:
Considerable earlier work has been done on the modelling and control of sugar
crystallisers, in particular by Wright (1971), Broadfoot (1982), Wilson (1990) and
Schneider (1996). They all developed models effectively to monitor the oversaturation
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Individual Inquiry-2000 Terry Vickram Tahal
and the crystal content of the batch and continuous crystallisers. In practice the crystal
content and oversaturation as yet cannot be measured directly. There are several ways of
inferring the crystal content and the oversaturation with the most predominant method for
oversaturation in the Australian sugar industry being conductivity measurements.
1.4.1. Doucet and Giddey (1966)
They were the first to publish a model for a batch sugar pan. The model they developed
was a dynamic model for high and medium purity systems. The model used integral
equations that were solved by analogue computation. The concept in their model is that
the water evaporated from the pan must be balanced by two effects
(1) the sucrose removed from the pan molasses to maintain the oversaturation at
high enough value for crystallisation.
(2) the water added from the feed required to replace the sucrose loss due to
deposition
They considered impure solution, but did not model the crystal size distribution nor
considered controlling the crystal content.
1.4.2 Evans et al. (1970)
They suggested a model for refinery pan operation. Their model included mass and
energy balances and also intensive variables such as solution concentrations and crystal
mass fraction. This work was done to analyse the sensitivity of sugar production to
process variables and also to fit industrial data to the model.
1.4.3 Wright (1971)
Prior to the release of the model by Wright (1971), Wright and White (1968) published a
paper on a mathematical simulation of the fed-batch impure sucrose crystallisation
system. The model included the following;
Mass and energy balances
Equilibrium phase relationships
Crystal and nucleation rate expressions
Dynamic crystal inventory, as done by Ciolan (1966)
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Individual Inquiry-2000 Terry Vickram Tahal
It was made clear that most of the equations except the mass and energy balance may not
be exact expressions.
The work done by Wright (1971) resulted in the development of the model for the batch
pan that included the population balance dynamics as moment relations, crystal size
distribution and the growth rate parameters for an industrial batch pan. He also did some
industrial testing of the batch model.
1.4.4 Broadfoot (1980)
Broadfoot carried out designs on the continuous pan and then optimised the continuous
pan for various operating conditions. His designs were based on a steady state model and
contained moments relations.
1.4.5 Wilson (1990)
Wilson dealt with the control of a fed-batch impure sucrose crystallisation in a vacuum
pan. Wilsons task was the application of a non-linear control algorithm (Generic Model
Control) to the vacuum pan. Wilson showed that given sufficient plant model mismatch,
algorithm performance deteriorates to the point where the GMC was equivalent to the
PID controller or in the worst case became unstable.
Wilson also attempted to implement a state estimator that would deliver the on-line
predictions of the process states and their derived variables, such as the sucrose OS and
the crystal content (CC). The estimator used by Wilson was based on the Extended
Kalman filter (EFK), (Kalman, 1960) presented by Hamilton et al. (1973).
1.4.6 Schneider (1996)
Schneider developed further the work by Wilson and others by improving the controls for
the fed-batch pans. He studied the addition of the state estimator (Schmidt-Kalman Filter
or SEKF). This estimator was capable of accounting for the impact of uncertain process
parameters and/or unobservable model states in such a way that they kept the other model
states open to the process measurements employed for feedback to the model.
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Individual Inquiry-2000 Terry Vickram Tahal
1.4.7 Summary
I will continue from the previous work done by Wright (1971), Broadfoot (1980), Wilson
(1990), Schneider (1996) and others. The main change that will be made to the model is
the replacement of the population balance equations to account for growth rate effects on
the crystal size distribution, known as Growth Rate Dispersion (GRD). The model will
be written in Matlab, as it is widely available and powerful. A control system will be
placed on the model to mimic the actual operation of the pan. The model will then be
tested and compared to previous models.
A dynamic batch model will be developed to completion and then work will then begin
on developing a dynamic model for the continuous pan. The continuous model will then
be tested and controlled similarly to the batch model.
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Individual Inquiry-2000 Terry Vickram Tahal
2.0 DYNAMIC MODEL OF A CRYSTALLISER
To model a system requires nomination of the system states which are important and
those that are considered less important. The state space is that set of process variables
that are chosen to describe the system so that a meaningful outcome can be accomplished.
The following sections presents the general model (batch or continuous) for a sugar
crystalliser. Figure 2.1 illustrates the inputs and outputs for a crystalliser.
Figure 2.1 Diagram of the inputs and outputs for a sugar crystalliser
2.1 Assumptions
Isothermal ie. it operates under a constant vacuum
seeded (with common history seed)
no nucleation, breakage or agglomeration ie. no Birth or Death
well mixed
2.2 Material balance
The important balances for the model are listed below. They are the ones used in
industry.
Water balance - W
Sucrose balance - S
Impurity balance - I
Sucrose S
Water W
Impurities I
Crystal mass X
Total Mass M
Feed Syrup, F
syrup
Water, F
water
Steam, S
t
Evaporation rate, E
Product, P
Massecuite, F
Mass
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Individual Inquiry-2000 Terry Vickram Tahal
Crystal mass balance - X
Total material balance - M
Note: The impurities contain all materials that are not water, sucrose or crystals. The
total material balance is a sum of the water, sucrose, impurities and crystals in the pan
and so it is not separate balance. In addition to the above balances there are other
important characteristics that are useful in operating a pan efficiently. All are related
(except CV) to the above variables. These include
The purity of the molasses during the strike of the pan - P
mol
=
I S
S
+
The dry substance of the molasses or brix - B
mol
=
W S
I
+ +
+
The oversaturation of the pan molasses - OS
mol
= 1
) / (
/
*

W S
W S
Crystal content of the pan - CC
pan
=
M
X
Coefficient of variation during the strike - CV
2.3 Energy Balance
The energy balance was not included in this project, as the main area of concern was the
material balances and the moments. The energy balance is used only to evaluate the
steam rates and can be calculated easily after the simulation is completed. The
temperature of the pan is usually constant so the major heat requirements will be the
evaporation rates and raising the temperature of the feed to the pan. There are also heat
losses from the walls of the pan.
2.4 Kinetic Expressions The kinetic relationships needed in this study are,
Nucleation kinetics (mainly as the nucleation threshold)
Growth rate (including growth rate dispersion)
2.5 Crystal population balances and moments relationships
This follows the size of the crystals in the strike and thus the size distribution. The
distribution shape is expressed as the coefficient of variation (CV) and the skewness (Sk)
of the crystal size distribution throughout the strike. These involve the distribution
moments related to number, area, volume and mass of crystals.

The mass balance of the water describes the change in the water for the pan, the water
comes in via the syrup and movement water (W
move
) and is taken away by evaporation
and the product.


dt
dW
t
= F
t
(1 B
F
) + H (1-B
H
) + W
move
- E
t
- P (1- B
M
)

(1)

3.1.2 Mass balance of Impurity in molasses
The impurity comes from the syrup being fed to the pan and is taken away in the product.


dt
dI
t
= F
t
B
F
(1 P
F
) + B
H
(1-P
H
) P B
M
(1-P
M
) (2)

3.1.3 Mass balance of Sucrose in molasses
The sucrose in the pan changes by the addition of sucrose from the syrup and removal by
the product and the formation of the crystals.


dt
dS
t
= F
t
B
F
P
F
P B
M
P
M
+ H B
H
P
H
-
dt
dX
t
(3)

3.1.4 Mass balance of Crystals
It is assumed that the size is measured as the volume equivalent size. The mass of the
crystals in the pan will be described in terms of third moment, which can also be written
in terms of CV (coefficient of variation) and Sk (skewness).
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Individual Inquiry-2000 Terry Vickram Tahal
Mass of crystal in pan, X= N
c

3
6

= N
c
) 3 3 (
6
3 2
1 2 3
L L m L m m + + +

= N
c

3
6
L

[1+ 3 CV
2
+Sk
3
CV
3
]
= N
c

3
6
L

(4)
where = [1+ 3 CV
2
+Sk
3
CV
3
]
Then
G L N
dt
dX
c
2
6
3

(5)

3.1.5 Mass balance of massecuite
The total massecuite in the pan is the sum of the water, impurities, sucrose and crystals in
the pan.


dt
dT
t
=
dt
dW
t
+
dt
dI
t
+
dt
dS
t
+
dt
dX
t
(6)
Note: For batch pans the product stream (P) does not exist
3.2 Phase equilibrium
The phase equilibrium property considered is the oversaturation (OS). Also considered is
the nucleation limit defined by the critical oversaturation (OS
crit
). The following section
defines and develops the oversaturation and critical oversaturation relationships.
The solubility of sucrose is defined as the concentration of sucrose in a saturated solution,
which is in equilibrium with sucrose in the solid state - Bubnik and Kaldec (1995). The
solubility of a pure sucrose solution is temperature dependent and the following equation
was given by Charles (1960).
100
100
04 . 9
100
57 . 20
100
251 . 7 407 . 64
3 2
*

,
_

,
_


,
_

+
,
_

+

,
_

+
T T T
W S
S
(7)
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Individual Inquiry-2000 Terry Vickram Tahal
When linearized to 65
o
C the equation becomes,
) 65 ( 00225 . 0 7533 . 0
*
+
,
_

+
T
W S
S
(8)
This equation can now be converted to the mass ratio of sucrose to water which varies
with temperature is
)) 65 ( 00225 . 0 7533 . 0 ( 1
) 65 ( 00225 . 0 7533 . 0
*
+
+

,
_

T
T
W
S
(9)
Supersaturation is defined as,
SS =
e temperatur same the at solution saturated a of ratio Water Sucrose
solution in ratio Water Sucrose
/
/
(10)
=
( )
( )
*
/
/
W S
W S
(11)
If the solution is saturated then the value of SS will be 1, while if it is over-saturated the
value is greater than 1 and if under-saturated the value is less than 1.
In practice sucrose solutions contain impurities and hence SS is redefined as;
SS =
*
) / (
) / (
i
i
W S
W S
=
*
) / (
) / (
W S SC
W S
i
(12)
Where SC (saturation coefficient) is the ratio of the impure sucrose equilibrium
concentration to that of the pure sucrose equilibrium concentration.
SC =
*
) / (
) / (
W S
W S
i
(13)
Various authors have given correlations for the saturation coefficient. Some of those are,
Wright (1971) suggested

,
_


W
I
SC 1 (14)
where = 0.088
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Individual Inquiry-2000 Terry Vickram Tahal
Wright and White (1968) gave another relationship, which was temperature
dependent;

,
_

,
_



W
I T
SC
200
60
1 . 0 1 (15)
Broadfoot and Steindl (1980) later presented a correlation for Queensland conditions
( ) ash RS
W
I
T
SC
/ 28 . 0 1 . 0
75 . 5
1
+

,
_

(16)
A more recent correlation presented by Schneider (1996) that was proposed by SRI
(Sugar Research Institute) is;

,
_

+ +
,
_

W
I
P P P
W
I
P SC
7 6 6 5
exp ) 1 ( (17)
where P
5
= 0.011 +0.00046T (18)
P
6
= 0.67+0.0021T 0.07 RS/ash (19)
P
7
= 0.54 +0.0049T (20)
Oversaturation is defined as
OS = SS 1 (21)
An equation for the critical oversaturation is given by White (2000) as,
3
6 . 3 11 . 0
1
]
1

+
+
I S
I
OS
crit
(22)
The driving force for crystallisation is oversaturation, which is a measure of the sucrose
content above equilibrium in the molasses. As shown in equation 22 when the impurities
increase, the critical oversaturation increases. One of the major objectives with efficient
pan boiling is to avoid nucleation in the pan so the oversaturation must be controlled so
that it remains below the limits of the critical oversaturation-ie below the secondary
nucleation limit shown in Figure 3.1.
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Individual Inquiry-2000 Terry Vickram Tahal
Figure 3.1 The secondary nucleation limit as it varies with purity [White, 2000]
3.3 Crystal Growth Rate Relations:
The growth of crystals is defined in terms of the normalised first moment as follows;
dt
d
G
1

(23)
Several different experimental growth rate expressions have been used in past work.
However more recently, the BCF equation (White, 2000) was found to approximate the
growth rate equally as well as other expressions. Some of the previous approximations
used are now discussed.
Wright (1971) considered the effect of temperature and impurities on oversaturation. The
oversaturation gives a measure of the excess sucrose to water in the pan at any time. The
effect of OS/G is non-linear. As shown in equation 24 the results may be fitted by a
displaced linear relationship for high oversaturation while at low oversaturation (equation
25) the linear relationship may be used. Further equation 26 shows when at negative
oversaturations dissolution occurs.
OS
crit
> OS > 1.5 P
2
G = k
T
(OS P
2
) (24)
1.5P
2
> OS > 0 G = k
T
/3 OS (25)
0 > OS G = 5 k
T
OS (26)
P
2
is the oversaturation to change from the low oversaturation (OS) equation to the higher
oversaturation. This value of k
T
applies at a given temperature and impurity level.
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Individual Inquiry-2000 Terry Vickram Tahal
The effect of temperature is correlated by an Arrhenius relation with variable activation
energy,
1
]
1

,
_

,
_

OS h
mm
e k k
T R
E
C
T
act
.
16 . 333
1
16 . 273
1
60
0
(27)
where
E
act
= 62.76 0.8368(T 60)
1
]
1

mol g
kJ
(28)
T is the temperature(
o
C)
The
C
k
0
60
term includes the effect of impurities, which is taken as varying exponentially
with the impurities to water ratio.
1
]
1


,
_

OS h
mm
e P k
W
I
P
C
.
3
0
1
60
(29)
Wright (1971) estimated the three growth related parameters to be;
P
1
= 7.418
1
]
1

OS h
mm
(30)
P
2
= 0.04 [OS] (31)
P
3
= -1.75 unitless (32)
Therefore the relation for growth rate as given by Wright (1971) is;
1
]
1

,
_

,
_

,
_

h
mm
P OS e e P G
T R
E
W
I
P
act
) (
2
16 . 333
1
16 . 273
1
1
3
for OS> P
2
(33)
The following growth rate relation by White (2000) is based on the BCF screw
dissolution theory given for pure solutions,
) / tanh(
2
OS OS OS A G
b
o
m
(34)
) ) 60 ( 00031 . 0 ) 60 ( 022 . 0 31 . 3 (
2
10
+

T T
A (35)
043 . 0
b
OS (36)
Using the impurity correlation given by Wright (1971) the general correlation for the
growth rate is,
) / tanh(
2 ) / 75 . 1 (
OS OS OS A e G
b
W I
(37)
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Individual Inquiry-2000 Terry Vickram Tahal
3.4 Moments relations for crystallisation with GRD
To account for the number of crystals in a pan with a particular size the population
balance is used. Using the moments of the population balance is a simple way of
carrying out the simulation. The previous models considered growth rate dispersion but
did not include recent development in the area. White et al. (1998) describes the effect of
Growth Rate Dispersion for sugar crystallisation. With GRD some crystals are fast
growers while others are slow growers. Hence they grow at different rates even though
they may have been of the same size initially. This is illustrated in Figure 3.2.
crystal 1
crystal 2
Intially
Crystallisation
After crystallization
crystal 2
crystal 1 Slow grower
Faster grower
Figure 3.2 Demonstrating of growth rate dispersion
3.4.1 Number size distribution
The moments are always defined in terms of ) (L f
N
the number size distribution, with
terms defined as;
L Size, taken as volume equivalent diameter
) (L f
N
Number density function
dL L f
N
) ( Fraction of total number in size range L L + dL
N Total number of crystals system
Conversion to a volume distribution is given by,
3
3
/ ) ( ) ( L f L L f
N v
(38)
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The k
th
moment of the number distribution is defined by
dL L f L
N
k
k
) (
0

(39)
k
is the normalised k
th
moment about origin (L =0). Now
k
m is normalised k
th
moment
about mean, L L is given by
dL L f L L m
N
k
k
) ( ) (
0

(40)
Some specified results for the moments are;
1
0

o
m ; L
1
, 0
1
m ; iance m var
2

Inter-conversion relationships between and m are;
( )
i
i k
k
i
i
k
k
L m

0
(41)
eg ) 1 ( 2
2
2 2
2
2
1 2 2
CV L L m L L m m + + + + (42)
) . 3 1 ( 3 3
3 2
3 3 2
2 3 3
CV Sk CV L L L m L m m + + + + + (43)
where
CV is coefficient of variation =
2
2
/ L m - a dimensionless measure of spread
Sk is skewness =
2 / 3
2 3
/ m m - a dimensionless measure of distribution shape
Not all size distribution are based on the mean size L , so consider some other
characteristic size, L
c
. An example is the volume median size,
Let
c
L L/ (44)
Hence in terms of L
c
c
L
1
(45)
2 2 2
2
) 1 (
c
L CV + (46)
3 3 2 3
3
) 3 1 (
c
L CV sk CV + + (47)
3.4.2 A Batch crystalliser with GRD
Some of the assumptions for a batch crystalliser are,
Common history seed
No nucleation, agglomeration or breakage
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With these assumptions it follows that the shape of size distribution is the same, just
scaled (expanded by a factor) as growth occurs.
Therefore
c
L L/ is a constant during growth. Also CV and Sk are constants. The
moment relationships now become;
Zeroth Moment
0
0

dt
dN
dt
dN
i.e. no nucleation (48)
First Moment
0
1
G N
dt
dN

(49)
c
G N
dt
dN

1
(50)
c
c
G N
dt
dNL
(51)
Second Moment
N G L CV
dt
dN
c c
) 1 ( 2
2 2 2
+

(52)
Third Moment
N G L CV Sk CV
dt
dN
c c
2 3 2 3 3
) 3 1 ( 3 + +

(53)
3.5 Energy balances

In this model the temperature is assumed to be constant and thus the energy balances do
not affect the model directly if the evaporation is taken as a mass rate. The energy
relationships for the pan is,


losses
Q xT Cp m T Cp m T Cp m
dt
m T Cp d
steam evap evap evap evap water water water syrup syrup syrup
mass mass mass
+
+ + + ) (
) (
& & &
(54)
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There are others thermal effects, which could be included in the above equations, but
these will not be taken into consideration as they probably negligible. If the above
equation is considered at steady state, then the left hand side of the equation is zero and
the relationship can be rearranged to give the following;
) (
) (
evap evap evap
water water water steam syrup syrup syrup
T Cp
T Cp m Q T Cp m
m
+
+ +

& &
& (55)
3.5.1 Heat transfer relationships
The relationships below give the heat transfer relationships which can be calculated once
the simulation is done.
) (
mass steam calan cal steam
T T A U Q (56)
) (
condensate condensate on condensati steam steam
T Cp m Q + & (57)
3.6 Density Relationships
The density of massecuite is,

,
_

+
+

ccrystal
crystal
mol
mol
mol
mass
m
m
X m

) (
(58)
where
mol
is defined by Wilson (1990) to be;
3
160
20
036 . 0 1 ) 8 . 0 ( 682 7 . 1441
m
kg
T
T
DS
mol

,
_

(59)
The density of crystal,
crystal
= 1585 kg/m
3
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4.0 STRUCTURE OF THE MODEL
Many of the previous models were written in Fortran with only a few in Matlab. The
model developed in this study is written in Matlab as it is widely available and is capable
of handling the modelling and controller. The structure of the model is shown in Figure
4.1 and a listing of the program is given in Appendix B.
Figure 4.1- Structure of model used
4.1 Input data
The model developed applies to A, B and C batch pan strikes. The results of testing the
model will be displayed in section 6. The following data are required inputs for the
computer model. Typical values for an A strike are shown.
Driver file
Output data
Algebraic Equations - Oversaturation , Growth
rate,
Differential Equations - Sucrose, Water,
Impurities, Crystal mass, Total mass, First moment, Second
Moment
Properties of footing - PF
o
, BF
o '
CV, Sk,
cc, rs/ash, Li, alpha
Properties of feed syrup - PF, BF
Operation conditions of pan- T, Pansize,
Footf
Initial conditions - footing, total crystal
number
Differential solver - ODE15s
Control loops - PID feedback control
Batch Model Structure
Input Data File
Function file
All results are display as graphs
(1) mass of
sucrose
water
impurities
crystal
Pan total
(2) feed syrup and evaporation rates
(3) oversaturation
(4) growth rate
(5) crystal content, pan purity, brix
(6) Oversaturation vs growth rate
(7) Critical oversaturation
(8) Charateristic size
(9) Coefficient of variation
(10) Sucrose to water and Impurities to
water
Calculate and globalise
variables
'
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T operating temperature of the pan - typical value = 65
o
C
RS/ash ratio of reducing sugar to ash of seed, as a fraction - typical value = 0.1
P
feed
purity of syrup, as a fraction - typical value - 0.9
B
feed
Brix of syrup, as a fraction - typical value - 0.65
Sk skewness of the distribution - typical value - 0.001
CV CV of seed crystal - typical value = 0.25
Footf fraction of per volume which is footing typical value = 0.25
Pansize size of pan in kg
B
foot
brix of footing molasses, as a fraction - typical value = 0.79
L
i
average crystal size, in micrometers - typical value = 350 um
P
foot
purity of footing molasses, as a fraction - typical value = 0.835
cc
i
crystal content of footing - typical value = 0.20
alpha ratio of L/Lc - typical value = 0.7
All sizes used by the model are volume equivalent sizes. To convert from other sizes
such as the size of the crystal obtained from a sieve, Dalziel and White (1999) gave,
v
L 15 . 0 75 . 0 + (60)
Where L
v
is the volume equivalent size
is the sieve size / volume equivalent size
Note: The relationship applies for the range (0.3mm < L
v
< 1.4 mm)
4.2 Output data
All the data from the model can be displayed as graphs. Output from the model include
1. Masses of crystals, sucrose, impurities, water and the total
2. The syrup flowrate and evaporation rates
3. Purity and brix of the pan molasses
4. The crystal content of the pan
5. Oversaturation of pan molasses
6. Fraction of oversaturation to critical oversaturation
7. Growth rate of crystals during strike
8. Characteristic crystal size
9. Coefficient of variation and skewness
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Examples of some plots for an A strike are shown in Appendix A.
Note: In using the program the user can select which plots are required and only those
will be output.
4.3 The Driver File
The driver file calls the function file containing the differential equations and solves
them. It contains the following;
Initial conditions
the solver (ODE 15s in Matlab)
The control algorithm
The time constants and gains to tune the controller.
4.4 The Function File
The function contains the differential equations and is called by the driver file during the
simulation. It contains the following;
Differential equations for material and population balances
Supersaturation equations
The growth rate equations
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5.0 CONTROL OF THE PAN.
The optimal control of a batch pan has been worked on by many but the scheme
suggested by Frew (1973) would be the most relevant for this study. Frew suggested that
the primary objective is to minimise the time required for seed crystals to grow to their
required size without the formation of false grains. The two important crystallisation
parameters that were included in Frews proposal were;
Oversaturation
Crystal content
Both are critical in pan boiling. The oversaturation is the driving force for crystal growth.
In practice this cannot be measured directly, however for simulation purposes its value
will be taken as known. Hence the oversaturation was chosen as the measured variable
for pan boiling in this simulation. Crystal content should also be considered as this can
seriously affect the pan circulation. So in the simulation, the oversaturation is controlled
during the pan strike. When the pan contents reaches a particular value, feed to the pan is
stopped and heavying up started.
The actual variable that is controlled is OS
frac
, the ratio of the oversaturation (OS) to the
critical oversaturation (OS
crit
). This was thought to be the better control variable as the
critical oversaturation increases during a strike, since it changes with impurities (Figure
2). Therefore to maximize crystallization and avoid slowing the growth of crystals OS
frac
needs to be maximised. Since in practice there will be fluctuations in the control
variable, the setpoint should be below the critical value. OS
frac
was taken to be 0.5 by
Schneider (1996). The new model has OS
frac
as an input and it can be tested for higher
ratio.
Previous research work by Schneider (1996), Wilson (1990) and others used control
methods such as SEFK (Schmidt Extended Kalman Filter). In this study feedback control
is the most suitable and also the one industry uses. In the Australian industry the
oversaturation is estimated from conductivity and then control actions are made. In the
model a full PID controller is used. The control action can be applied to either the steam
(evaporation rates) or the feed syrup rates but in the simulation the feed rate is the
manipulated variable. The reason for this choice is it fits the previous model by
Schneider (1996). Figure 5.1 shows a batch pan with the control loop.
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Figure 5.1 - PID controller on a batch pan
5.1 Feedback control
Feedback control is when the information about the control variable is fed back to adjust
the manipulated variable. In industrial control of a batch pan a conductivity meter detects
the solution concentration and this is sent to the controller where it changes the feed flow
rate. The main theoretical features in the PID feedback control loop are shown in Figure
5.2.
Figure 5.2 Main features of a feedback control
The transfer function for the process in terms of the Laplace transform variables is
defined as;
) (
) (
) (
s U
s Y
s G
p
(61)
Steam
Flow
Feed
Water
Batch
Discharge
Condensate
Evaporation
Et
CE
1
CC
1
Vacuum
CE
1
U(s)
Y(s)
Gs(s)
(s)
R(s)
Gc(s) Gs(s)
X(s)
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For the controller it is defined as,
) (
) (
) (
s
s U
s G
c

(62)
while the sensor is given by,
G
s
(s) =
) (
) (
s Y
s X
(63)
where
U(s) refers to the manipulated input variable, the feed rate
Y(s) is the measured output, the conductivity (oversaturation)
R(s) is the setpoint, OS
frac
(s) = R(s) Y(s) is the error
5.1.1 The three basic feedback control mode actions are;
(1) Proportional (P)
(2) Integral(I)
(3) Derivative (D)
5.1.1 1 Proportional control
In feedback control the objective is to reduce the error signal to zero. The error signal is
the difference between the desired and the actual operating point. Proportional control
action is represented by,
) ( ) ( t K u t u
c o
+ (64)
where
u (t) is the controller output
u
o
is the previous controller output
K
c
is the proportional gain
(t) is the error
5.1.1.2 Integral control
Integral control action is also referred to as the reset or floating controls. For this type of
action the output depends on the integral of the error signal over time scaled by the
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integral time constant or reset time,
1
, which has units of time. Proportional plus integral
control is described as,
1
]
1

+ +

1
0
) (
1
) ( ) ( dt t t K u t u
i
c o
(65)
5.1.1.3 Derivative control
Derivative control is used to speed up the response of the system. It works by
anticipating where a process is going and apply corrections early. It anticipates the future
behavior of the error signal by measuring its rate of change. Derivative control is used in
conjunction with the proportional and integral action controllers. The algorithm for the
proportional plus integral and derivative (PID) is,
1
]
1

+ + +

dt
t d
dt t t K u t u
d
i
c o
) (
) (
1
) ( ) (
1
0

(66)
where
D
is the derivative time constant
For small time intervals the terms

1
0
) ( dt t and
dt
t d ) (
can be written in the form as;
s
n
k
k
T e dt t

1
0
1
) ( (67)

s
n n
T
e e
dt
t d
1
) (

(68)
Rewriting equation 64 for small time intervals gives,
1
]
1

+ + +

n
k
n n
s
D
k
i
s
n c o n
e e
T
e
T
e K u u
1
1
) (

(69)
This algorithm is known as the positional formula and this is the one used for the pan
model in this thesis.
5.2 Tuning the controller
When initial conditions are changed the program will need to be re tuned to get the
desired results. To tune the model the time constants and the gain will need to be
changed. The values of the time constants and gain for the tuned simulations that were
reported are given in Appendix C.
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6.0 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
6.1 Model Verification
This section compares the new batch model against published information. The
continuous model is currently being worked on and as such the results are not available.
The completed codes for the batch model are listed in Appendix B. Simulation from the
new batch model used similar conditions to those used by Schneider (1996) as shown in
Table 6.1. This simulation is for a typical A strike.
Table 6.1- conditions for a typical A strike pan

Conditions
Initial Boiling Terminal
Mass (fraction of mass) 0.45 0.98
Size, mm 0.55 0.85
Crystal content(fraction of mass) 0.365 0.47 (heavy up starts) 0.55
Molasses dry substance 0.79 0.81
Molasses Purity 0.835 0.73
OS
frac
0.5
Liquor Dry Substance 0.675
Liquor Purity 0.915
Figure 6.1 Purity, brix and crystal content for Schneider and for model developed in
this study
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
0.35
0.4
0.45
0.5
0.55
0.6
0.65
0.7
0.75
0.8
0.85
Plot of crystal content, pan purity and brix vs time
Time-hr
c
r
y
s
t
a
l

c
o
n
t
e
n
t
,
p
a
n

p
u
r
i
t
y

a
n
d

b
r
i
x

-

f
r
a
c
t
i
o
n
crystal content
mol asses puri ty
mol asses dry substance
Improved Model
Schnieder
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From Figure 6.1 it can be seen that the model compares well with Schneiders model.
The difference is probably due to the use of a new growth rate equation. This model
predicts the time for the strike is 2.25 hrs where as Schneiders model predicted the time
for strike to 2.75 hrs.
6.2 Typical Results
This section illustrates the type of output the model can produce. As mentioned in
section 4 the model is capable of reproducing most of the operation features of a batch
pan. Typical outputs such as oversaturation, critical oversaturation and species masses in
the are shown below. The conditions for the simulation are those given in Table 6.1.
Other rest of the outputs from the model are given in Appendix A.
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5
0
0.02
0.04
0.06
0.08
0.1
0.12
0.14
0.16
Plot of oversaturation vs time
Time -hr
O
V
E
R
S
A
T
U
R
A
T
I
O
N
Oversaturation
Critical oversaturation
Figure 6.2 Oversaturation and Critical Oversaturation
Oversaturation and critical oversaturation is a most important parameter in pan boiling
and can be predicted by the model as shown in Figure 6.2. From the graph it can be seen
that the operating oversaturation was kept below the critical oversaturation thus avoiding
nucleation.
The model also predicts changes for the masses of water, crystal, impurities, sucrose and
total pan over a strike (Figure 6.3).
New Models For Sugar Vacuum Pans 26
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Figure 6.3 Mass of impurities, water, sucrose, crystal and total mass in pan.
6.3 Use of model
In this section the use of the model will be demonstrated for some changes in operation
conditions. Some of the testing done on the model are,
1. The purity was set at constant value and low OS
frac
2. The purity of the syrup was ramped from a low purity to high purity
3. The OS
frac
was increased
4. OS
frac
increased even further
5. Simulation of a typical B and C strikes
Table 6.2 Changes for the tests 1-4.
Parameters Test
1 2 3 4
P
feed
(%) 92 85-92 92 92
OS
frac
0.5 0.5 0.6 0.7
The result of tests 1-4 for an A strike will be displayed by showing how the changes
affect the characteristic crystal size and pan time. These are shown in Figure 6.4. The
changes for the tests are quantified in Table 6.2.
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
x 10
4
Pl ot of pan mass vs ti me
Time -hr
M
a
s
s
,

k
g
)
Tot al Mass
Mass of cryst al s
Mass of water
Mass of Impuri ti es
Mass of Sucrose
Tot al Mass
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Figure 6.4 Characteristic crystal size vs. time
Test 2 took longer to acquire the crystal size of ~840m than test 1 because test 1 had a
feed of constant high purity where as the feed for test 2 had a low purity that was ramped
to a higher purity (from 88% to 91.5%).
As the OS
frac
was increased from 0.5 to 0.7 (tests 3 and 4) the time for the strike
decreased because oversaturation is the driving force and the higher it is the faster the
crystals will grow.
A test was done to simulate B and C strikes. Table 6.3 gives the conditions for the
boiling. The results are displayed compared to the A strike as characteristic crystal size,
molasses purity, crystal content and molasses dry substances (Brix) during a strike.
Typical values for control tuning of the three strikes are given in Appendix C.
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
550
600
650
700
750
800
850
Plot of Characteristic Size vs time
Time-hr
C
h
a
r
a
c
t
e
r
i
s
t
i
c
S
I
z
e,
u
m
Test 1
Test 2
Test 3
Test 4
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Table 6.3 Typical pan conditions for B and C strikes
B strike conditions C strike conditions
Initial Boiling Terminal Initial Boiling Terminal
Mass (fraction of mass) 0.45 0.98 0.35 0.98
Size, mm 0.55 0.85 0.180 0.35
Crystal content(fraction of
mass)
0.365 0.47 0.55 0.2 0.55
Footing Molasses dry
substance
0.79 0.81 0.79 0.89
Footing Molasses Purity 0.835 0.73 0.7 0.5
OS
frac
0.5 0.5
Liquor Dry Substance 0.675 -
Liquor Purity 0.915 -
A molasses purity 0.73 -
A molasses dry substance 0.81 -
B molasses purity - 0.65
B molasses dry substance - 0.835
Figure 6.5 Characteristic crystal size for A, B and C strikes
Figure 6.5 shows that the model works for all strikes and this is confirmed by the desired
crystal sizes being achieved in the usual times of 2 to 2.5 hrs. It should be noted that the
C strikes takes longer than the other strikes since the feed for the C strike is B molasses
which has a lower purity.
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
Pl ot of Charact eri st i c Si ze vs t i me
Ti me-hr
C
h
a
r
a
c
t
e
r
i
s
t
i
c

S
i
z
e
,
u
m
B st ri ke
A st ri ke
C st ri ke
New Models For Sugar Vacuum Pans 29
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Figure 6.6 Molasses purity and crystal content for A, B and C strikes
The main thing to observe from Figure 6.6 is the purity of the various strikes. The purity
of the strike decreased more for the B strike than the A strike and even more for the C
strike. The brix of the strikes (Figure 6.7) follows a similar though increasing trend to
the purity in terms of the changes for the respective strikes.
Figure 6.7 Brix for A, B and C strikes
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
Pl ot of mol asses puri t y and cryst al vs t i me
Ti me-hr
m
o
l
a
s
s
e
s

p
u
r
i
t
y

a
n
d

c
r
y
s
t
a
l

-

f
r
a
c
t
i
o
n
Mol asses Pur i t y
cryst al cont ent
A st ri ke
B st ri ke
C st ri ke
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5
0. 75
0.8
0. 85
0.9
0. 95
Pl ot of Bri x(Mol asses Dry Subst ance)
Ti me-hr
B
r
i
x
(
M
o
l
a
s
s
e
s

D
r
y

S
u
b
s
t
a
n
c
e
)

-

f
r
a
c
t
i
o
n
C st ri ke
B st ri ke
A st ri ke
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6.4 Summary
The batch model for common history (CH) seed was fully developed and tested as shown
above. The model was only tested against Schneiders model and showed similar trends,
but due to the short time frame of the project the model was not tested against industrial
data or for other disturbances such as noises.
The dynamic continuous model was only partially completed. The general equations
(section 3) for the crystalliser is applicable to the continuous models but other
relationships that fully describe the continuous model were not detailed. The partially
completed code for the continuous model to date is provided in Appendix B and is given
as a starting point for further work.
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7.0 RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS
A fully developed model is available for the batch and work is currently being done on
the continuous model. The data from the batch model was only compared against
Schneiders model but it recommended that the model compared against industrial data
before it can be fully validated. It also recommended other testing such as adding
disturbances be done.
This report also presents a partial model for the continuous pan. The mass balance and
population balance equations for a common history seed scenario are present but other
equations that fully describes the continuous models needs to be obtained. The initial
coding of the continuous model is given in Appendix B as a starting point for further
work.
The achievements of the study are,
(1) A new model for the batch was developed - The previous model was revised and new
relations, which allow the correct interpretation of growth rate dispersion were
implemented. It is expected this will give better results than the previous model and
be able to predict the coefficient of variation for any strike.
(2) The Matlab coding for the working dynamic model of batch vacuum pan has been
completed and tested. - The model works for batch scenarios A B and C strikes.
Thus it is expected it will predict batch behaviour for all similar scenarios. Tests to
show that the model respond to changes made such as to the feed properties.
(3) The model compares well with industrial and previous models The model gave
results that were similar to those of Schneider (1996). Differences are probably due
to the new growth rate equation.
(4) Feedback control was used and appears to work well. This mode of control is
compatible with industry practice.
(5) And finally it is hoped that the model will be used by SRI to predict pan behaviour.
New Models For Sugar Vacuum Pans 32
Individual Inquiry-2000 Terry Vickram Tahal
8.0 NOMENCLATURE (Includes variables used in Matlab
code)
B Birth rate [#/m
3
hr]
B
Fo
Brix of molasses in footing
1
]
1

solution g
solids g
100
B
F
Dissolved solids in feed syrup
1
]
1

solution g
solids g
100
B
H
Dissolved solids concentration of seed material fed to the
pan
1
]
1

solution g
solids g
100
BUM Boil back brix eg A molasses brix
1
]
1

solution g
solids g
100
B
M
Dissolved solids concentration of material in the pan
1
]
1

solution g
solids g
100
Brix Dry substance in molasses
1
]
1

solution g
solids g
100
CC Crystal content
Cp
variable
Specific heat capacity of the subscripted variable [kJ/kg
o
C]
CV Coefficient of variation
D Death rate [#/m
3
hr]
e Error (derivative from set point)
ecc End crystal content
E
t
Water Evaporation rate [kg/hr]
F
t
Syrup feed rate [kg/hr]
G Linear crystal growth rate [um/hr]
G
c
Characteristic growth rate [um/hr]
hbcc Boil back crystal content
hcc Heavying up crystal content
H Massecuite feed rate to pan [kg/hr]
I Impurities in the molasses in pan [kg]
K
c
Gain for control
New Models For Sugar Vacuum Pans 33
Individual Inquiry-2000 Terry Vickram Tahal
L Mean crystal size [um]
L
c
Characteristic crystal size (Volume mean size)[um]
M Total mass of massecuite in the pan [kg]
m
k
Normalized k
th

moment about mean, L = L [m
k
]
N Total number of crystals in pan #
OS Oversaturation of molasses
OS
crit
Critical oversaturation
OS
set
Set point for oversaturation
OS
frac
Fractional oversaturation
P
F
Purity of feed syrup
1
]
1

solution g
sucrose g
100
P
M
Purity of molasses in pan
1
]
1

solution g
sucrose g
100
P
H
Purity of molasses fed to material
1
]
1

solution g
sucrose g
100
P
Fo
Purity of molasses in footing
1
]
1

solution g
sucrose g
100
P Product (Massecuite) [kg/hr]
P
1
Growth rate expression constant [mm/h OS]
P
2
Null oversaturation in growth rate expression
P
3
Impurity parameter in growth rate expression
P
5,6,7
Solubility parameters
PUM Boil-back purity eg A molasses purity
R Set point
SC Solubility coefficient
SS Supersaturation of sucrose in molasses
Sk Skewness
S Sucrose content in the molasses in pan [kg]
T Temperature [
o
C]
T
s
Sampling time or control interval for control[hr]
T
I
Integral time for control [hr]
T
d
Derivative time for control [hr]
t Time [hr]
New Models For Sugar Vacuum Pans 34
Individual Inquiry-2000 Terry Vickram Tahal
u (t) The controller output
u
o
The derived controller output
U Manipulated input variable for control
V Total volume of pan material [m
3
]
W
t
Water feed rate to pan [kg/hr]
W Water in the molasses in pan [kg]
W
move
Movement water [kg/hr]
X Crystal content of the pan [kg]
Y Measured output for control
Greek Variables

k
Normalised k
th

moment about origin, L = 0 [m
k
]
Ratio of L /L
c
) (L f
N
Number density function
Error (derivative from set point)

crystal
Density of crystal

mol
Density of molasses

mass
Density of massecuite
Subscripted variables
Mass Massecuite
mol Molasses
Pansize Capacity of pan [kg]
rho Density of crystals [kg/m
3
]
Rhomol Density of molasses [kg/m
3
]
New Models For Sugar Vacuum Pans 35
Individual Inquiry-2000 Terry Vickram Tahal
9.0 REFERENCES
Broadfoot, R., (1980) Modelling and Optimum Design of Continuous Sugar Pans.
Ph.D. Thesis, The University of Queensland, Brisbane 4072, Australia.
Broadfoot R. and Steindl R. J: (1980), Solubility crystallization characteristics of
Queensland molasses, Proceedings of the International Society of Sugar Cane
Technologists: 2557-2581.
Butler B. K., (1998) Lactose Crystallisation, Ph.D. Thesis, The University of
Queensland, Brisbane 4072, Australia.
Butler B. K, Zhang H., Johns M. R, Mackintosh D. L and White E. T. (1997) The
Influence of Growth Rate Dispersion in Crystallisation, Proc. Chemeca 97, Rotorua
(NZ). Paper PD 4a on CDROM, published by IPENZ, New Zealand.
Bubnik Z. and Kadlec P., (1995) in Mathouthi M. and Reiser P. (Eds) Sucrose:
Properties and Application. Blackie Academic and Professional, Glasgow.
Charles D.F., (1960) The solubility of pure sucrose in water. The International Sugar
Journal. 62, 126.
Chen J. C.P. and Chou C .C (1993) Cane Sugar Handbook- A Manual for Sugar
Manufacturers and Their Chemists, John Wiley and Sons, New York 12
th
Edition
Ciolan, I., (1966) Distribution des dimension des cristaux dans les appeals de
cristallisation. Genie Chimique, 95(6): 1381-1387.
Dalziel S. M., Yan S. Y., White E.T., and Broadfoot R., (1999) An image analysis
system for sugar crystal sizing, Proc. Aust. Soc. Sugar Cane Technol., 21: 366-372
Doucet, J and Giddey, C.: (1966) Automatic Control of Sucrose Crystallization from
High Medium-purity Syrups. International Sugar Journal. 68: 131 136.
Evans, L. B., Trearches , G. P and Jones, C.: (1970) Simulation Study of Vacuum Pan
Sugar Crystallizer, Sugar y Azucar. October: 19-37.
New Models For Sugar Vacuum Pans 36
Individual Inquiry-2000 Terry Vickram Tahal
Evans, L. B., Trearches, G. P and Jones, C.: (1970) Simulation Study of Vacuum Pan
Sugar Crystallizer, Sugar y Azucar. December: 19-25.
Frew, J.A. (1973) Direct Digital Conductivity Controller for Vacuum Pan Crystalliser
Software Design, Report Number CE/M33, Division of Chemical Engineering,
C.S.I.R.O., Australia.
Hamilton, J. C., Seborg, D.E. and Fisher, D.G. (1973) An Experimental Evaluation of
Kalman Filtering, American Institute of Chemical Engineers Journal. 19(5): 901-909
Kalman, R.E., (1960) A new approach to linear filtering and prediction problems,
Journal of Basic Engineering, 82, 35-45.
Schneider P. A., (1996) Advanced Control of an Industrial Crystalliser, Ph.D. Thesis,
The University of Queensland, St. Lucia 4072, Australia.
Smith C. A. and Corripio A.B., (1997), Principles And Practice Of Automatic Process
Control. John Wiley and Sons, Inc, New York, 2
nd
Edition.
Wilson D.I., (1990) Advanced Control of a Batch Raw Sugar Crystalliser. Ph.D. Thesis,
The University of Queensland, Brisbane 4072, Australia.
White E.T., (1998) A Review of the Crystallisation of Sugar, Proc. Intl. Conf.- Mixing
and Crystallisation, Malaysia.
White E.T, (2000) Sugar Crystallization- E1460 Sugar Technology, The University of
Queensland, Brisbane 4072, Australia.
White E.T., Butler B. K., Zhang H., Johns M. R. and Mackintosh D. L., (1998)
Modelling growth rate dispersion (GRD) in sugar crystallization, Proc. Aust. Soc. Sugar
Cane Technol., 20:524-531
Wright P.G., (1971) A Model of Industrial Sugar Crystallisation. Ph.D. Thesis, The
University of Queensland, Brisbane 4072, Australia.
Wright, P.G., and White, E.T., (1968) Digital simulation of the vacuum pan
crystallisation process, Proceedings of the International Society of Sugar Cane
Technologists: 1697-1710.
New Models For Sugar Vacuum Pans 37
Individual Inquiry-2000 Terry Vickram Tahal
10.0 GLOSSARY OF TERMS
Dry Substance Total solids dissolved in molasses, syrup or juice usually expressed
as a percentage of the total mass of solution.
False grains These are small crystals which result through undesirable
nucleation.
Footing The initial amount of massecuite in a batch pan
Heavy up The stage when the pan becomes full and some of the remaining
sucrose is being exhausted from the solution
Juice The impure sugar solution extracted from sugar cane.
Massecuite A mixture of crystals suspended in molasses
Molasses A less pure sugar solution with a higher brix than syrup or juice.
Pan Vacuum pan
Purity The amount of sucrose as a fraction of the dry substance of
molasses, syrup or juice
Strike A complete cycle of a batch crystallization.
Syrup Concentrated clarified juice from the final vessel of the
evaporation train
New Models for Sugar Vacuum Pans A1
Individual Inquiry-2000 Terry Vickram Tahal
APPENDIX A MORE RESULTS
This Appendix contains results for a typical A strike with conditions as shown in the
Table A1.
Table A1 - Operating conditions for A strike
Conditions
Initial Boiling Terminal
Mass (fraction of mass) 0.45 0.98
Size, mm 0.55 0.85
Crystal content(fraction of mass) 0.365 0.47 (heavy up starts) 0.55
Molasses dry substance 0.79 0.81
Molasses Purity 0.835 0.73
OS
frac
0.5
Liquor Dry Substance 0.675
Liquor Purity 0.915
Figure A1-Mass of sucrose, water, impurities, crystals and total pan mass
Figure A2 Syrup feed rate and evaporation rate
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
x 10
4
Plot of pan mass vs time
Time -hr
M
a
s
s
,

k
g
)
Mass of crystals
Mass of water
Mass of Impurities
Mass of Sucrose
Total Mass
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
x 10
4
Syrup and Evaporation rates vs time
Time-hr
M
a
s
s
,

k
g
/
h
r
)
Syrup rate
Evaporation rate
Dynamic Models of Sugar Vacuum Pans A2
Individual Inquiry-2000 Terry Vickram Tahal
Figure A3 Growth rate against time
Figure A4 Brix, purity and crystal content
Figure A5 Oversaturation fraction vs. time
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5
0
0.05
0.1
0.15
0.2
0.25
Plot of growth rate vs time
Time-hr
G
r
o
w
t
h

r
a
t
e

-

u
m
/
h
r
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
1
Plot of OSsetpoint vs time
Time-hr
O
S
s
e
t
p
o
in
t
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5
0.35
0.4
0.45
0.5
0.55
0.6
0.65
0.7
0.75
0.8
0.85
Plot of crystal content, pan purity and brix vs
time
Time-hr
cr
yst
al
co
nt
en
t,p
an
pu
rit
y
an
d
bri
x -
fra
cti
Brix
Purity
Crystal content
Dynamic Models of Sugar Vacuum Pans A3
Individual Inquiry-2000 Terry Vickram Tahal
Figure A6 Coefficient of variation and skewness
Figure A7 The ratios of sucrose and impurities to water
Figure A8 Plot of characteristic size vs. time
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5
0
0.05
0.1
0.15
0.2
0.25
0.3
0.35
Plot of Coefficient of variation and skewness vs time
Time-hr
A
c
t
u
a
l
C
o
e
f
f
ic
ie
n
t

o
f

v
a
r
ia
t
io
n

a
n
d

s
k
e
w
n
e
s
s
CV
sk
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5
550
600
650
700
750
800
850
Plot of Characteristic Size vs time
Time-hr
C
h
a
r
a
c
t
e
r
is
t
ic

S
iz
e
,
u
m
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
ratio of sucrose to water and impurity to water vs
time
Time-hr
S/
W
an
d
I/
W
rat
S/W
I/W
Dynamic Models of Sugar Vacuum Pans B1
Individual Inquiry-2000 Terry Vickram Tahal
APPENDIX B MATLAB CODES
This Appendix has the completed code the batch model and initial coding for the
continuos model.
Batch model codes;
(1) Driver file
(2) Function files.
Continuous model codes
(3) Initial code for continuous model
Details about the files are contained in their respective sections.
(1)Driver file:
This file contains the following,
(1) Initial conditions for strikes
(2) Control loops
(3) Plot of various pan conditions
(4) ODE solvers
% Individual enquiry 2000
% Written by: Terry Tahal
% Supervisor: Prof. T White
% This script file runs the mass balance equations and GRD equations
for a crystallization process of a sugar mill using ode15s
% Plots the results.
% Initialise system parameters and variables
% Driver for bat.m
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%%%
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%%
% This file contains the driver file that can plot all the parameters
for a % pan strike.
% The model can be adopted for any of the strike A, B and C
% The file is divided in to four sections
% (1) The input tables
% (2) testing for feed changes such as purity and brix.
% (3) The control loop
% (4) The ODE solver - ODE 15s
% (5) The parameters displayed as plots
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%%%% Section 1
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%This section contains the variables that can be changed
%In the Input table - replace the number below with your operating
conditions
%Any variable in the table can be changed except the brix and purity of
the footing
Dynamic Models of Sugar Vacuum Pans B2
Individual Inquiry-2000 Terry Vickram Tahal
% Input table
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
% These parameters should be changed for every strike - The current
parameters are preset for
% An A strike.
T = 65; %operating temperature of the pan - typical value = 65
oC')
RS = 0.1;%reducing sugar in seed, as a fraction - typical value = 0.1
ash = 0.1;%ash content of seed used, as a fraction- typical value = 0.1
PF = 0.915%purity of syrup, as a fraction - typical value - 0.915
BF =0.675%Brix of syrup, as a fraction - typical value - 0.675
Sk = 0.001;%skewness of the distribution - typical value - 0.001
CV = 0.25;%give initial CV of seed material - typical value = 0.25
Footf = 0.45;%fraction of seed for pan') - typical value =
0.45
Pansize = 100000;%Size of pan in kg')
Li = 550;%average crystal size, in micrometers - typical value = 550
um
cci = 0.365;%crystal content of seed used - typical value =
0.365
alpha = 0.7;%ratio of Lbar/Lc') - typical value = 0.7
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%Other Changeable variables - These parameters should only be changed if
the type of strike
% is to be changed. This section is preset for an A strike.
OSset = 0.6; %Set point for oversaturation
hcc = 0.47; %heavying up crystal content
hbcc = 0.4; %boil back crystal content
ecc = 0.55; %end crystal content
PUM = 0.915; %boilback purity eg A molasses purity
BUM = 0.675; %boil back brix eg A molasses brix
BFo = 0.79; %brix of footing molasses, as a fraction - typical
value = 0.79
PFo = 0.835; %purity of footing molasses, as a fraction -
typical value = 0.83
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
% Tuning the program
% The following parameters will be used to tune the program when any
changes are made to
% The inputs.
% Adjust the gains for the evaporation rate and the syrup.
%Time constants and gain
TD = 0.01; % Differential time for syrup flowrate -hr
TD1 = 0.038; % Differential time for evaporation rate -hr
TI = 0.030; % Integration time for syrup flowrate -hr
TI1 = 0.047; % Integration time for evaporation rate -hr
K1 =-Pansize/13; % Gain for evaporation rate
K = Pansize/3.9; % Gain for syrup
K2 = Pansize/70; % factor for reducing evaporation rate during
heaving up
t0 = 0; % start time -hr
h = 0.001; % Time to initiate the differential equations -hr
tf = 4; % Finish time for the pan -hr
% If the sampling time is need to be changed, it can be found on the
% first line of section 4
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Dynamic Models of Sugar Vacuum Pans B3
Individual Inquiry-2000 Terry Vickram Tahal
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
% Section 2
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
% If information about the ramping of the batch pan is required the
parameters min_B and min_P can be changed. Give the minimum purity and
brix of the feed and run simulation.
% The pan will be ramped be changing both the purity and brix with time
during the strike
% The following are the minimum conditions for the A
% A strike
min_B = 0.675; % Minimum Brix of syrup
min_P = 0.915; % Minimum purity
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%Section 3
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
%Note: !!!Do not change anything in section 3!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
%$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
bat2 =[T ;RS ;ash ;PF ;BF ;SK ;CV ;Footf ;Pansize ;BFo ;Li/1000000 ;PFo
;cci ;alpha];
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
% Globalises the variables used in the model
global T Ts Tw Tst rsash Ft1 PF BF PH PMo Et OScrit PU Brix G sk CVa
alpha ska Lc SE PFo
global Li cc OS rho N Wt BFo tf min_P min_B BUM PUM hbcc hcc ecc
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
T = bat2(1); % Operating temperature of pan (C)
Ts = 35; % Temperature of feed syrup (C)
Tw = 25; % Temperature of water (C)
Tst = 70; % Temperature of evaporating vapour (C)
rs = bat2(2); % reducing sugar in the massecuite
ash = bat2(3); % ash content of feed to the pan
rsash = RS/ash; % assume ratio of reducing sugar to ash is 1
Pansize = bat2(9); % Capacity of pan (kg)
Ft1 = 4000; % Initial feed syrup rate (kg/hr)
Sk = bat2(6); % Skewness
CV = bat2(7); % Initial coefficient of variation
PF = bat2(4); % Purity of feed syrup (g suc/g
solid)
BF = bat2(5); % solids conc. in feed syrup (g suc/ g
solution)
PH = 0.5; % Purity of fed seed material (g suc/g
solid)
PMo = 0; % Purity of molasses to pan (g suc/g
solid)
Wt = 0; %Movement water
Et = 0; % Initial evaporation rate (kg/hr)
alpha = bat2(14); % ratio of Lbar/Lc
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Footf = bat2(8); % Fraction of footing in pan
SE = Footf*Pansize; % Amount of footing in the pan (kg)
BFo = bat2(10); % Brix of footing (g suc/ g
solution
PFo = bat2(12); % Purity of footing (g suc/g
solid)
cci = bat2(13); % crystal content in footing (fraction)
Dynamic Models of Sugar Vacuum Pans B4
Individual Inquiry-2000 Terry Vickram Tahal
Li = bat2(11); % Mean crystal size (m)
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%Creating tables
OScrit1 = []; % Critical Oversaturation
PUa = []; % Purity of pan material during strike (Fraction)
Brixa = []; % Brix of pan during strike (Fraction)
G2 = []; % Creates tables for growth rate
CV1 =[]; % Creates table for CV
CVb = []; % CV through the strike
sk1 =[]; % Creates table for skewness
LC = []; % Characteristic size of crystals in the pan
I1 = []; % creates table for integration
cc1 =[]; % calculates crystal content of pan during strike
j1 = [];
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
rho = 1585; % density of crystals (kg/m^3)
rhomol = 1000/(0.76925 -0.00055*T + 0.00767*BFo +0.00228*cci);
% Density of molasses in footing (kg/m^3)
rhos = SE/((cci*SE/rho)+((1-cci)*SE/rhomol));
% Density of footing (kg/m^3)
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%%%
%Calculating the number of crystals in the pan
N = cci*SE/((1+3*CV^2+sk^3*CV^3)*rhos*(pi/6)*Li^3);
% Number of crystals in footing
u1 = alpha*N*Li*1000000;
% Calculates the initial values for first moment
u2 = (alpha^2)*N*(1+CV^2)*(Li*1000000)^2;
% Calculates the initial value for the second
moment
u3 = (alpha^3)*N*(1+3*CV^2 + Sk*CV^3)*(Li*1000000)^3;
% Initial value for third moment
S1 = (1-cci)*SE*PFo*BFo;
% Initial sucrose in the pan (kg)
X = cci*SE; % Initial crystal in pan (kg)
W1 = (1-cci)*SE*(1-BFo);
% Initial water in the pan (kg)
IM = ((1-cci)*SE)-S1-W1;
% Initial water in the pan (kg)
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%%%
M0 = [X W1 IM S1 SE u1 u2 u3];
%set initial condition
tspan1 = [t0 h]; % time span
%This will integrate your equation between the times specified
[t,M] = ode15s('bat',tspan1,M0);
%***********************************************************************
***
Ftact =[]; % Creates table for syrup feed rate
Etact =[]; % Creates table for evaporation rate
ta2 =[t]; % creates table for time
last1 =[M]; % Creates table for mass balances
OSact = [];
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%%%
L = length(M);
las = M(L,:);
OScritm = OS/OScrit;%
OScrita = [OScritm];
Dynamic Models of Sugar Vacuum Pans B5
Individual Inquiry-2000 Terry Vickram Tahal
% Generates the initial values for errors, integration of errors and
error differential
E = OScritm - OSset;
Etab = [E];
I=(E + OSset)*h/2;
Err=(E - OSset)/(h);
En =E;
last =las;
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%%%
%Section 4
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%%%
%Control loop
Ts = 0.01; % Sampling time -hr
for j = h:Ts:tf % Gives the time interval for the for the second ode
j
las=last;
[ta,Ma] = ode15s('bat',[j j+Ts],las); % calculates the mass balances at
time intervals
m = length(Ma);
last = Ma(m,:);
ta1 = ta(m,:);
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%%%
% calculates the increment of for the flow rate
Etact = [Etact;Et];
steam = 1000*((Etact/(1000*0.95))-0.6298)/0.9946;
glow = length(Etact);
if cc < hcc
EFt = K1*(En+ (I/TI1) + TD1*Err);
else
EFt = K2*(ecc-cc)
end
if ta < 0.1
Et = Et;
elseif cc < hcc ;
Et = Etact(glow) + (EFt);
else
Et = Etact(glow) - EFt;
end
if Et < 0
Et = 0;
end
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%%%
%Calculates the increment for syrup flowrate
DFt = K*(En + (I/TI) + TD*Err);
if DFt < 0
DFt = 0;
end
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%%%
Dynamic Models of Sugar Vacuum Pans B6
Individual Inquiry-2000 Terry Vickram Tahal
% Generates the initial values for errors, integration of errors and
error differential
OScritm1 = OS/OScrit;
En = OScritm1 - OSset; % Calculates the error for the oversaturation
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%%%
% Stores values in the tables created above
Ftact = [Ftact;Ft1];
OSact = [OSact;OS];
Etab = [Etab;En];
last1 = [last1;last];
ta2 = [ta2;ta1];
G2 =[G2;G];
cc1 = [cc1;cc];
CV1 = [CV1;CV];
CVb = [CVb ;CVa];
LC = [LC;Lc];
OScrita = [OScrita;OScritm1];
OScrit1 = [OScrit1;OScrit];
PUa = [PUa;PU];
Brixa = [Brixa;Brix];
sk1 =[ska;sk1];
j1 = [j1;j];
fg = length(j1);
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
% Calculates the errors at two times
a = length(Etab);
E1=Etab(a);
E2=Etab(a-1);
b =length(ta2);
t1 = ta2(b);
t2 = ta2(b-1);
Time = t1-t2;
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%%%
% Integrates the error for the PI controller
Total =(E1+E2)*Time/(2);
I1=[I1;Total];
I=(sum(I1));
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%%%
% Differentiates the errors for the PD controller
Err=(E1-E2)/(Time);
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%%%
%Turns off control for heaving up purposes
if cc > hcc
DFt = 0;
end
flow = length(Ftact);
if cc < hcc ;
Ft1 = Ftact(flow) + DFt;
else
Ft1 = 0;
Dynamic Models of Sugar Vacuum Pans B7
Individual Inquiry-2000 Terry Vickram Tahal
end
if cc > ecc
break
end
end
tp = j1(fg);
%End of control loop
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%%%
% Section 5
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%%%
% There are 12 plots that can be obtained from the following section .
To plots the required
% graph remove semi-colons from them.
%Schneider's result
ccs =
[0.365,0.375,0.385,0.395,0.405,0.41,0.42,0.43,0.44,0.455,0.465,0.47,0.48
5,0.535,0.55];
pus =
[0.835,0.83,0.827,0.825,0.822,0.82,0.818,0.815,0.810,0.807,0.803,0.785,0
.765,0.745,0.73];
brs =
[0.79,0.785,0.783,0.785,0.79,0.791,0.793,0.795,0.798,0.80,0.805,0.81,0.8
12,0.8125,0.810];
times =
[0,0.2,0.4,0.65,0.8,1.05,1.25,1.45,1.65,1.85,2.1,2.3,2.5,2.7,2.75];
%Plotting of results
% plot mass in pan vs. time
figure(1);
plot(ta2,last1(:,1),'m-.',ta2,last1(:,2),'r-',ta2,last1(:,3),'g--
',ta2,last1(:,4),'k:',ta2,last1(:,5),'b-'); %plot the results
title('Plot of pan mass vs. time')
xlabel('Time -hr')
ylabel('Mass, kg)')
legend('Mass of crystals','Mass of water','Mass of Impurities','Mass of
Sucrose','Total Mass')
hold
% plots flowrate of syrup and evaporation rate
figure(2);
plot(0:Ts:tp,Ftact,'--',0:Ts:tp,Etact,'-')
title('Syrup and Evaporation rates vs. time')
xlabel('Time-hr')
ylabel('Mass, kg/hr)')
legend('Syrup rate','Evaporation rate')
hold
% plots the third moment against time
figure(3);
plot(ta2,(1585*(pi/6))*last1(:,8),'b-')
title('Plot of Moments vs. time')
xlabel('Time -hr')
ylabel('Mass, kg)')
hold
Dynamic Models of Sugar Vacuum Pans B8
Individual Inquiry-2000 Terry Vickram Tahal
% plots oversaturation during the pan strike
figure(4);
plot(0:Ts:tp,OSact,'-',0:Ts:tp,OScrit1,'--')
title('Plot of oversaturation vs. time')
xlabel('Time -hr')
ylabel('Oversaturation)')
legend('Oversaturation','Critical oversaturation')
hold
% plots the growth rate of crystals during the strike
figure(5);
plot(0:Ts:tp,G2)
title('Plot of growth rate vs. time')
xlabel('Time-hr')
ylabel('Growth rate - um/hr')
hold
% plots the purity, crystal content and brix during the strike
figure(6);
%plot(0:Ts:tp,PUa,'--', times,pus,'-',0:Ts:tp,cc1,'--',times,ccs,'-
',0:Ts:tp,Brixa,'--',times,brs,'-')
plot(0:Ts:tp,Brixa,':')
title('Plot of Brix(Molasses Dry Substance)')
xlabel('Time-hr')
ylabel('Brix(Molasses Dry Substance) - fraction')
%legend('Improved Model','Schneider')%,'crystal content','pan
purity','brix')
axis([0 tp 0.75 0.95])
hold on
% plots oversaturation against growth rate
figure(7);
plot(OSact,G2*1000/60)
title('Plot of Oversaturation vs Growth rate')
xlabel('Oversaturation')
ylabel('Growth rate- um/min')
hold
%plots critical oversaturation
figure(8);
plot(0:Ts:tp+Ts,OScrita)
title('Plot of OSsetpoint vs time')
xlabel('Time-hr')
ylabel('OSsetpoint')
hold
%plots characteristic size of crystals
figure(9);
plot(0:Ts:tp,LC)
title('Plot of Characteristic Size vs time')
xlabel('Time-hr')
ylabel('Characteristic Size,um')
hold on
% Plots the coefficient of variation
figure(10);
plot(0:Ts:tp,CVb,'-',0:Ts:tp,sk1,'--')
title('Plot of Coefficient of variation and skewness vs time')
xlabel('Time-hr')
ylabel('Actual Coefficient of variation and skewness')
legend('CV','sk')
hold
Dynamic Models of Sugar Vacuum Pans B9
Individual Inquiry-2000 Terry Vickram Tahal
%Plots the ratio of sucrose to water and impurity to water
figure(11);
plot(ta2,(last1(:,4)./last1(:,2)),'-',ta2,(last1(:,3)./last1(:,2)),'--')
title('ratio of sucrose to water and impurity to water vs time')
xlabel('Time-hr')
ylabel('S/W and I/W ratio')
hold
% plots the purity and crystal content of molasses
figure(12);
%plot(0:Ts:tp,PUa,'--', times,pus,'-',0:Ts:tp,cc1,'--',times,ccs,'-
',0:Ts:tp,Brixa,'--',times,brs,'-')
plot(0:Ts:tp,PUa,'-', 0:Ts:tp,cc1,'--',0:Ts:tp,Brixa,':')
title('Plot of molasses purity and crystal vs time')
xlabel('Time-hr')
ylabel('molasses purity and crystal - fraction')
legend('A strike','B strike', 'C strike')
hold on
(2) Function file:
The file contains the following:
(1) Differential equation for mass and moments
(2) Growth rate equations
(3) Supersaturation and oversaturation relationships
% Individual enquiry 2000
% Model for batch pan
% Differential equations
% Prepared by Terry Tahal
% 2000-07-11
% Supervisor: Prof. T White
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%%%
% This file has three sections
% (1) oversaturation and saturation equations
% (2) growth rate equation
% (3) Differential equations
function dM = bat(ta,Ma)
%Constants
dX = Ma(1); % Takes calculated values of mass of crystals to be
used in the equation
dW = Ma(2); % Takes calculated values of water to be used in
the equation
dI = Ma(3); % Takes calculated values of impurities to be used
in the equation
dS = Ma(4); % Takes calculated values of sucrose to be used in
the equation
dT = Ma(5); % Takes calculated values of total mass to be used
in the equation
dNu1 = Ma(6); % Takes calculated values of characteristic size
dNu2 = Ma(7); % Takes calculated values of mass
dNu3 = Ma(8); % Takes calculated values of mass of crystals
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%%%%Inputs
Dynamic Models of Sugar Vacuum Pans B10
Individual Inquiry-2000 Terry Vickram Tahal
global Wt % Balance water feed rate (kg/hr)
H = 0; % Massecuite feed rate (kg/hr)
P = 0; % Production rate (kg/hr)
global SE % Mass of seed added to pan (kg) - 1/3
mass of full pan
global rho % Density of crystals (kg/m^3)
global PF % Purity of syrup
global BF % Solid concentration of syrup
global PH % Purity of feed to pan
global PMo % Purity of molasses to pan
global rsash % Assumes ratio of reducing sugar and ash stays the
same
global tf
%Temperatures
global T % Operating temperature of pan (oC)
global Ts % Temperature of syrup (oC)
global Tw % Temperature of water used (oC)
global Tst % Temperature of steam (oC)
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%Section 1
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%Saturation and oversaturation
%Calculates oversaturation and supersaturation from the initial
differential equation
P5 = 0.011 +0.00046*T;
P6 = 0.67 + 0.0021*T -0.07*rsash;
P7 = 0.54 + 0.0049*T;
SC = P5*(dI/dW) + P6 + (1-P6)*exp(-P7*(dI/dW));
global SWr %Ratio of sucrose to water of saturated solution
SWr = (0.75328365 + 0.00225338*(T-65))/(1-(0.7532865+0.002225338*(T-
65)));
SS = (dS/dW)/(SC*(SWr)); %Supersaturation
global OS
OS =SS-1; %Oversaturation
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%%%
%Section 2
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%%%
%Growth rate
global G
%Growth rate
global PU BUM PUM hbcc hcc ecc
PU = dS/(dS+dI); % Purity if molasses in pan
global Brix % Brix of molasses in pan
Brix = (dS+dI)/(dS+dI+dW);
global OScrit % Critical oversaturation during the strike
OScrit =0.11 + 3.6*(dI/(dS+dI))^3;
% Growth rate correlation - (White, 2000)
OSb = 0.043;
A = 10^(3.31 + 0.022*(T-60)-0.00031*(T-60)^2);
G = (60/1000)*A*(OS^2)*tanh(OSb/OS)*exp(-1.75*(dI/dW));%
(um/hr)
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%%%
%Calculating the number of crystals
global Li
IO = 1; % For monosize
global cc
cc = dX/dT; % Crystal content
global sk % Skewnesss
Dynamic Models of Sugar Vacuum Pans B11
Individual Inquiry-2000 Terry Vickram Tahal
global N % number of crystals in pan
Lb = Li*1000000; % um
global alpha % Ratio of mean number crystal size to
characteristic mean size(50%)
global Lc
Lc = dNu1/(alpha*N) ;% Characteristic crystal size (um)
global CVa
CVa = sqrt(((dNu2/N)/(alpha*Lc)^2)-1);
CM = dX/dW; % solids conc. of material in the pan (g suc/ g
solution)
CH = 0.1; % solids conc. of seed material (g suc/ g
solution)
PM = dS/(dI+dS); % purity of material in pan (g suc/g
solid)
global ska % calculates skewness
ska = (((dNu3/N)/((alpha^3)*((Lc)^3)))-(1+3*CVa^2))/(CVa^3);
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%%%
if cc < hbcc
PF = PF;BF = BF;
elseif cc < hcc
PF = PUM;BF = BUM;
else
PF = PF;BF = BF;
end
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%%%
%Evaporation from the pan
%Globalize flowrate and evaporation rate
global Ft1 % Flowrate of syrup (kg/hr)
global Et % Evaporation rate (kg/hr)
global BFo % Brix of footing (g suc/ g
solution)
global PFo % Purity of footing (g suc/g
solid)
global min_B
global min_P
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%%%
PFi = min_P + ((PF-min_P)*ta/tf);
BFi = min_B + ((BF - min_B)*ta/tf);
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%%%
%Section 3
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%%%
% Mass balance equations
%Mass balance for the amount of crystals in the pan
dX = 3*rho*(pi/6)*IO*N*((Lc/1000000)^2)*G/1000;%Mass balance of Water in
solution (kg/hr)
%Mass balance of water in the pan
dW = Ft1*(1 - BFi) + Wt + H*(1-CH) - Et - P*(1-CM);
%Mass balance of Impurity in solution (kg/hr)
dI = Ft1*BFi*(1 - PFi) + H*CH*(1-PH) - P*CM*(1-PM);%Mass balance of
Sucrose in solution (kg/hr)
%Mass balance of sucrose in pan
dS = Ft1*BFi*PFi + H*CH*PH - dX - P*CM*PM;
%Mass balance of Massecuite (kg/hr)
dT = dW + dI + dX + dS;
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%%%
Dynamic Models of Sugar Vacuum Pans B12
Individual Inquiry-2000 Terry Vickram Tahal
%Growth rate dispersion expressions
%First moments
dNu1 = alpha*N*G*1000;
%Second moments
dNu2 = 2*(alpha^2)*(1+CVa^2)*Lc*(G*1000)*N;
%Third moments
dNu3 = 3*(alpha^3)*(1+ 3*CVa^2+ ska*CVa^3)*(Lc^2)*(G*1000)*N;
dM = [dX ; dW ; dI ; dS ; dT; dNu1; dNu2; dNu3];
(3)Initial code for continuous model
T = 65;
rsash = 1;
Li = 350;
SE =25000;
PFo = 0.9;
BFo = 0.70;
cci = 0.15;
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
S1 = (1-cci)*SE*PFo*BFo;
% Initial sucrose in the pan (kg)
X = cci*SE; % Initial crystal in pan (kg)
W1 = (1-cci)*SE*(1-BFo);
% Initial water in the pan (kg)
IM = ((1-cci)*SE)-S1-W1;
% Initial water in the pan (kg)
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
P5 = 0.011 +0.00046*T;
P6 = 0.67 + 0.0021*T -0.07*rsash;
P7 = 0.54 + 0.0049*T;
SC = P5*(IM/W1) + P6 + (1-P6)*exp(-P7*(IM/W1));
%Ratio of sucrose to water of saturated solution
SWr = (0.75328365 + 0.00225338*(T-65))/(1-(0.7532865+0.002225338*(T-
65)));
SS = (S1/W1)/(SC*(SWr)); %Supersaturation
OS =SS-1; %Oversaturation
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%Growth rate
global G
%Growth rate
global PU
PU = dS/(dS+dI); % Purity if molasses in pan
global Brix % Brix of molasses in pan
Brix = (dS+dI)/(dS+dI+dW);
global OScrit % Critical oversaturation during the strike
OScrit =0.11 + 3.6*(dI/(dS+dI))^3;
% Growth rate correlation - (White, 2000)
OSb = 0.043;
A = 10^(3.31 + 0.022*(T-60)-0.00031*(T-60)^2);
G = (60/1000)*A*(OS^2)*tanh(OSb/OS)*exp(-1.75*(dI/dW));% (um/hr
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
n1 = 1/20;
m1 = 1/20;
Dynamic Models of Sugar Vacuum Pans B13
Individual Inquiry-2000 Terry Vickram Tahal
Gtrue = [0:m1:1];
Ltrue = 300 + ([0:n1:1]*(Li*1000000-300));
N1= [N];
N3 = [0];
N2 = [N];
for i = 1:1/n1
delL = Ltrue(i+1) - Ltrue(i);
for jj= 1:1/m1
tou1 = 2; % hours
tou2 = 2;
dL = G*Gtrue(jj)*dt; %cell1
Nf = N2(jj)*(1-(dL/delL)-(dt/tou1)) + N2(i)*(dL/delL) +
N2(jj)*(m1*n1)*(dt/tou2);
dX = 3*rho*(pi/6)*IO*Nf*((Ltrue(i)/1000000)^2)*G/1000 -P*cc;%Mass
balance of Water in solution (kg/hr)
N2 = [N2;Nf];
dX = 3*rho*(pi/6)*IO*Nf*((Lc/1000000)^2)*G/1000 -P*cc;%Mass balance of
Water in solution (kg/hr)
%Mass balance of water in the pan
dW = Ft1*(1 - BFi) + Wt + H*(1-CH) - Et - P*(1-CM);
%Mass balance of Impurity in solution (kg/hr)
dI = Ft1*BFi*(1 - PFi) + H*CH*(1-PH) - P*CM*(1-PM);%Mass balance of
Sucrose in solution (kg/hr)
%Mass balance of sucrose in pan
dS = Ft1*BFi*PFi + H*CH*PH - dX - P*CM*PM;
%Mass balance of Massecuite (kg/hr)
dT = dW + dI + dX + dS;
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%Growth rate dispersion expressions
%First moments
dNu1 = alpha*Nf*G*1000;
%Second monemts
dNu2 = 2*(alpha^2)*(1+CVa^2)*Lc*(G*1000)*Nf;
%Third moments
dNu3 = 3*(alpha^3)*(1+ 3*CVa^2+ ska*CVa^3)*(Lc^2)*(G*1000)*Nf;
dM = [dX ; dW ; dI ; dS ; dT; dNu1; dNu2; dNu3];
N1 = [N1;N2];
N3 = [N3;N2];
end
end
Dynamic Models of Sugar Vacuum Pans C1
Individual Inquiry-2000 Terry Vickram Tahal
APPENDIX C TUNING THE MODEL CONTROL
The table below gives some typical initial conditions for A, B and C strikes and it also
gives the values of the tuning parameters for those conditions.
Table C1 Initial Conditions for Strikes
Parameter A strike B strike C strike
K1 Pansize/13 Pansize/13 Pansize/5.5
K Pansize/3.9 Pansize/4.9 Pansize/140.5
K2 Pansize/70 Pansize/70 Pansize/300
PUM 0.915 0.73 0.65
BUM 0.675 0.81 0.835
BFo 0.79 0.79 0.79
PFo 0.835 0.835 0.70
hcc 0.47 0.47 0.35
hbcc 0.4 0.44 0.2
ecc 0.55 0.55 0.55
Footf 0.45 0.45 0.35
cci 0.365 0.365 0.2

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