1815 10 PDF

CHAPTER 10 201
RATIO CONTROL
RATIO CONTROL TECHNOLOGY
Ratio control paces (controls) the flow rate of one stream so as to maintain a specified ratio
between that stream and the measured flow rate of another stream. The measured flow rate is
called the wild flow, since (at least within the jurisdiction of this control loop) it is uncon-
trolled. The controlled flow loop is often called the secondary loop. Figure 10-1 depicts a
ratio control system using both ISA (Ref. 10-1) and SAMA (Ref. 10-2) symbols.
Figure 10-1. Symbolic Representations of a Ratio Control System
FFC
FT
FT
K
T A
FNAL CONTROL
ELEMENT
FT FT
a. USNG SA SYMBOLS b. USNG SAMA SYMBOLS
"WLD"
FLOW
CONTROLLED
FLOW
"WLD"
FLOW
CONTROLLED FLOW
CONTROLLER
OPERATOR SET RATO,

CONTROLLED FLOW
WLD FLOW
A
SP PV
10
Wade04.book Page 201 Thursday, April 15, 2004 12:20 PM
BASIC AND ADVANCED REGULATORY CONTROL: SYSTEM DESIGN AND APPLICATION
202 CHAPTER 10
Although there may be some applications for ratio control that are not flow-based, most appli-
cations ratio flow-to-flow. The broad definition of flow used here is any form of mass or
energy transfer. Typical applications for ratio control include:
Blending two or more components. One ingredient may be set for the master produc-
tion rate; other ingredients are then ratioed to this master ingredient.
Air-fuel ratio control for a combustion process. In a simple air-fuel ratio control sys-
tem, the fuel flow may be controlled by a temperature or pressure controller. A mea-
sure of the fuel flow is then used to determine the set point of the air-flow controller.
1
Controlling a product stream to feed rate, as a means of composition control. This is a
common control technique for distillation towers.
In the most common configuration for ratio control, the measured value of the wild flow is mul-
tiplied by the specified ratio, controlled flow-to-wild flow. The product then becomes the set
point for the controlled flow loop. For example, fuel flow could be multiplied by a required air-
to-fuel ratio, which would result in the required air rate or set point for the air-flow controller.
When ratio control is implemented with conventional analog hardware, the ratio adjustment
setting as well as the multiplication function are built into the controller itself. In addition,
there is usually a ratio/local switch that, in the local position, permits the set point of the sec-
ondary loop to be directly adjusted.
When ratio control is implemented in a microprocessor-based system, the multiplication func-
tion may be a part of the PID software function block or it may be a separate function block,
depending on the vendors choice.
Several modifications can be made to the basic ratio control configuration:
A bias value may be added to (or subtracted from) either the wild or the controlled
flow, as shown in Figure 10-2a. With this arrangement, the relationship between the
two is offset rather than being a ratio that extends all the way to zero.
The wild flow rate may be used as the set point for the controlled flow controller, then
the controlled flow PV is multiplied by the required ratio, wild-to-controlled flow, as
shown in Figure 10-2b. (Notice that this is the inverse of the ratio shown in Figure 10-
2a.) Thus, although the controlled-flow PV is scaled in units of the wild flow, it is sen-
sitive to changes in controlled flow. This scheme was frequently used with analog con-
trol systems that used flow controllers for both the wild and controlled flows. If the
controllers were mounted adjacent to each other on a panelboard, then the set point
and PV indicators for both controllers would be in an identical position when the
actual ratio was being maintained.
1. In practice, air-fuel ratio control systems are often more complex than described here. An enhanced form of air-
fuel ratio control system, called cross-limiting or lead-lag, is discussed in chapter 16.
CHAPTER 10 203
Occasionally, ratio control is implemented by calculating the actual ratio from the two mea-
sured values, as shown in Figure 10-2c. The ratio itself then becomes the process variable of
the PID controller. The required ratio is then directly entered as the set point of the PID. This
has the advantage that the process variable of the controller as well as the set point are dis-
played in terms of the desired quantity, which is the ratio between the two flows. It also has the
advantage that limits may be placed on the values for entering set points. The disadvantages of
this scheme, however, include:
(a) If the flow that represents the denominator of the calculation falls to a low value,
the calculated ratio will go to an extremely large value;
(b) The gain of the ratio controller is inversely proportional to the controlled flow
rate, even if the flow-measurement signal is linear or has been linearized.
One distributed control system (DCS) manufacturer provides a ratio control algorithm in
which the process variable and set point displayed on the CRT screen are the calculated and
desired ratios, respectively. However, the actual PID control algorithm uses as its process vari-
able the actual measurement of the secondary flow. The set point used by the PID is the prod-
uct of the entered (and displayed) ratio as well as the measured value of the wild flow. This
configuration is shown by Figure 10-2d. It provides the display advantages of the previous
scheme without encountering the disadvantage of the nonlinearity. This scheme can probably
be configured in most DCSs by using multiple function blocks.
AUTOMATIC RATIO ADJUSTMENT
Ratio control using a constant value of the required ratio is no more technically challenging
than an ordinary flow controller. However, a more interesting scheme with broader application
is when the required ratio is adjusted automatically by the output of another feedback control-
ler. We will use a combustion process, specifically an air-fuel ratio control system, to illustrate
this control scheme.
Figure 10-3 shows a P&I diagram of a process heater in which the fuel flow is measured and
multiplied by the required air-to-fuel ratio. This results in the required air-flow rate, which is
introduced as the set point of a feedback controller. The new feature of this diagram is that the
required air-to-fuel ratio is automatically adjusted by the output of a stack O
2
controller. For
simplicity, the same control scheme, without the process equipment, is shown in Figure 10-4.
Additional components of the heater control system are shown with lighter lines. This includes
an outlet heater temperature measurement and controller that sets the fuel-flow rate. These
components do not lie within the scope of our present discussion, however.
The ultimate purpose of air-to-fuel ratio control is energy efficiency. For a given amount of
fuel, a theoretical amount of air is needed if there were complete combustion of all the fuel.
This is called the stoichiometric ratio of air and fuel. In practice, however, a greater amount of
air is required to provide good mixing of the air and fuel. If there is insufficient air, efficiency
will drop because of the loss of unburned fuel. On the other hand, if there is too much air, effi-
204 CHAPTER 10
Figure 10-2. Alternative Ratio Control Configurations
K
T A
FT FT
B
SP PV
R
a. RATO (R) AND BAS (B) PROVDED
BY SEPARATE FUNCTON BLOCKS
FUEL
("WLD"
FLOW)
AR
(CONTROLLED
FLOW)
(USUALLY ETHER "R" OR "B", BUT NOT BOTH,
S SET FROM THE CONSOLE. THE OTHER
S SET DURNG CONFGURATON.)
K
T A
FT FT
SP PV
R
b. COMPUTATON N THE PV LEG,
RATHER THAN N THE SP LEG.
FUEL
("WLD"
FLOW)
AR
(CONTROLLED
FLOW)
(FOR DSPLAY, THE AR FLOW CONTROLLER
S SCALED N UNTS OF FUEL FLOW.)
F A
R = Req'd
F
A
K
T A
FT FT
SP PV
c. DRECT CALCULATON AND
CONTROL OF THE RATO
FUEL
("WLD"
FLOW)
AR
(CONTROLLED
FLOW)
(THE CONTROLLER DRECTLY DSPLAYS
BOTH THE ACTUAL AND REQURED
A/F RATOS.)
F A
SP = Req'd
A
F
N
D
PV = Actual
A
F
A
K
T A
FT
FT
SP PV
d. DAGRAM OF FUNCTON BLOCK
FURNSHED BY SOME DCS MFGRS.
FUEL
("WLD"
FLOW)
AR
(CONTROLLED
FLOW)
(DRECT DSPLAY OF REQURED AND ACTUAL
A/F RATOS, BUT SP AND PV OF CONTROLLER
REPRESENT REQURED AND ACTUAL AR.)
R
N D
Req'd
A
F
Actual
A
F
F A
CHAPTER 10 205
ciency will drop because energy is carried away by the inert stack gasses (primarily nitrogen).
Maximum combustion efficiency usually occurs at approximately 10 percent excess air, or 2
percent excess oxygen in the stack. Thus, the O
2
composition in the stack can be monitored
and controlled by automatically adjusting the air-to-fuel ratio.
This discussion is not intended to be a complete treatment of combustion control, but as an
illustration of an application of ratio control. A complete combustion control system might
also monitor and control other stack constituents, such as %CO, total combustibles, or opacity.
Also, the %O
2
controller set point might not be constant, especially for steam-generating sys-
tems. Rather, the set point would be increased at lower boiler loads to assure that fuel and air
were adequately mixed within the combustion zone. A complete discussion of combustion
control is beyond the scope of this text.
In the control system depicted by Figure 10-4, the air damper will be of the fail-open type;
hence, the air-flow controller will be direct-acting. Alternatively, with some digital processor
based systems, the air-flow controller will be reverse-acting, and the analog-output function
block will be set with the reverse output feature. Since a decrease in the required air-to-fuel
ratio will cause a decrease in the measured O
2
, the O
2
controller must be reverse-acting. The
ultimate effect of a drop in measured O
2
is that the air damper will open.
Figure 10-3. P&I Diagram of Automatic Set Ratio Control
FC
FT FT
FC
AR FUEL
TC
TT
O
2
O
2
PROCESS
HEATER
AC
AT
206 CHAPTER 10
Consider the control scheme of Figure 10-5. This is obviously a simpler control system than
Figure 10-4. Furthermore, it possesses all the attributes of a feedback control system, since a
drop in measured O
2
will cause the air damper to open. Reflect for a moment on the relative
merits of the schemes depicted by Figures 10-4 and 10-5.
Despite its simplicity, the primary deficiency of the scheme of Figure 10-5 is that there must
be an error in the feedback loop in order to have a change in the controller output (i.e., in order
to change the damper position). If the outlet temperature controller demands more fuel, the
additional fuel will act as a load increase on the O
2
control system. This will cause measured
O
2
to drop. This is the feedback penalty that must be paid with this control system to change
the air flow.
In the control scheme of Figure 10-4, when there is an increase in fuel demand, the air and fuel
will rise together if the output of the O
2
controller remains constant. At a constant air-to-fuel
ratio, the O
2
in the stack can be expected to remain relatively stable; thus, there will be no need
for a change in the controller output. In essence, we have obtained the control action (change
in air flow) without having to pay the penalty of an error in the feedback loop.
We shall see later that ratio control is often merely one form of feedforward control.
Figure 10-4. Example of Automatically Set Ratio Control
FT
FT
TT
AC
FC FC
TC
STACK O
2
FUEL AR
PROCESS
TEMP
O
2
REQURED
A/F
RATO
F
A
(REQURED
AR)
A
(ACTUAL
AR)
AR
DAMPER
FUEL
VALVE
SP
SP
SP SP
PV
PV
PV
PV
AT
CHAPTER 10 207
SCALING THE RATIO CONTROL COMPONENTS
For direct operator-set ratio control systems, the entered value is usually indexed to the ratio
actually required, rather than being the required ratio itself. For example, suppose a design
ratio is to be maintained between wild flow stream A and controlled flow stream B. If the
flow transmitters are calibrated so the ratio of their ranges is the same as the design ratio, then
the incoming signal from the wild flow transmitter requires only a multiplication by 1.0 to give
the required set point to the controlled flow controller. The ratio adjustment dial may be cali-
brated from 0 to 2, or the keypad entry may have software limits of 0 and 2, with 1.0 being
the nominal entry. Of course, it may be desirable to limit the entry to a narrower range, for
instance, 0.8 to 1.2. Then the operator could not inadvertently enter a value that is far from
acceptable.
If the output of a primary controller sets the required ratio automatically, then a simple scaling
or computation must be performed so that the 0 100 percent output of the controller repre-
sents the acceptable range of ratio entry value. When the controllers output is 50 percent, the
required ratio will be the design ratio if the flow transmitters are calibrated so the ratio of their
Figure 10-5. Feedback Control of Stack O
2
Requires Paying Feedback Penalty
FT TT AT
FC
TC
STACK O
2
FUEL
PROCESS
TEMP
O
2
AR
DAMPER
FUEL
VALVE
SP
SP
SP
PV
PV
PV
NOTE: This is NOT a recommended control scheme.
t is shown for comparative purposes only.
AC
208 CHAPTER 10
ranges is the same as the design ratio and if the output of the primary controller is multiplied
by two. Controller output excursions above or below 50 percent adjust the required ratio to
greater or lesser values than the design ratio. The ratio represented by the extremes, 0 percent
and 100 percent, must be determined by scaling.
Appendix A presents a general methodology for determining scaling parameters. It also pre-
sents an example of an air-to-fuel ratio control system in which the nominal ratio is 11:1. The
objective is to limit the controllers authority to the range of 9:1 to 13:1, or 2 ratio units on
either side of the nominal value. For transmitter ranges of 0 to 15,000 scfm (air) and 0 to 1000
scfm (fuel gas), the following required scaling equation is derived:
a = 0.267 (r + 2.25) f
= (0.267 r + 0.6) f
where a, f, and r represent normalized values (range: 0 1) of air, fuel, and the required ratio.
Hence, the ratio control system could be implemented as shown in Figure 10-6.
Note that various manufacturers will provide different means to achieve the required computa-
tion. Also note that it is highly desirable that an initialization signal be passed back through the
computation elements to the primary controller whenever the secondary controller is not fully
automatic cascade. This procedure should take the set point or PV of the secondary, invert the
computation equations, and set the primary controller output so as to ensure bumpless transfer
back to the automatic or cascade mode of the secondary.
RATIO CONTROL USING FOUNDATION FIELDBUS
FUNCTION BLOCKS
One of the basic function blocks defined by the Fieldbus Foundation document FF-891, Part 2
(Ref. 10-3) is a ratio control block. As a control class block, it supports the back-calculation/
initialization feature. It can be used for ratio control set directly by the operator, as shown in
Figure 10-7. Here, the actual ratio would be back-calculated and the ratio block initialized any
time the PID block is in the manual mode. If the operator-set ratio is not to be initialized, then
the back-calculation mechanism is not required, and a calculate-class block is used in place of
the ratio block. Several manufacturers provide this type of block, rather than a ratio block.
Since the ratio block (as defined by Fieldbus Foundation) supports the back-calculation mech-
anism, it can be used with automatic-set ratio control systems, as shown in Figure 10-8. By
setting the scale factors for the primary controller output, the automatically set ratio may be
limited in its excursion above and below the nominal value. This accomplishes the purpose of
the calculation shown in Figure 10-6. Note that although the ratio block is defined in the FF
standard, it may not be supported by all manufacturers.
CHAPTER 10 209
REFERENCES
10-1. ISA-5.1-1984 (R 1992), Instrumentation Symbols and Identification. ISA The
Instrumentation, Systems, and Automation Society, 1992.
10-2. SAMA Standard PMC 22.1-1981, Functional Diagramming of Instrument and
Control Systems. Scientific Apparatus Makers Association, 1981 (MCAA web
site: http://www.measure.org).
10-3. Fieldbus Foundation, Foundation Specification: Function Block Application Pro-
cess, Document FF-891, Part 2.
Figure 10-6. Example of Forward and Back Calculation Required for Ratio Control
3
0.267
0.6
0 - 100% Output
Required
Air/Fuel Ratio
0% = 9:1
100% = 13:1
FC
O
2
From
O
2
Transmitter
(0 - 5% O
2
)
From
Fuel Flow
Transmitter
(0 - 1000 scfm)
From
Air Flow
Transmitter
(0 - 15000 scfm)
To
Damper
SP
PV
Required Air Flow
3
+
+
+
0.6
Num
Num
Denom
Denom
0.267
Back Calculation
Required
to Assure
Bumpless Transfer
Forward
Calculation
PV
AC
210 CHAPTER 10
Figure 10-7. Operator-Set Ratio Control Using FF Function Blocks
(Note: If the ratio does not need to be back-calculated, a calculate-class function block can be
used in place of the ratio block.)
CAS_N
BKCAL_OUT
Analog Output
To and From
Transducer Block
Position
Feedback
(if used)
BKCAL_OUT
BKCAL_N
OUT
N
BKCAL_OUT
BKCAL_N
OUT
N CAS_N
AO
PD
RATO
OUT OUT
N_1
A A
From
Transducer
Block
("Wild" PV)
From
Transducer
Block
(Controlled PV)
CHAPTER 10 211
Figure 10-8. Automatic-Set Ratio Control Using FF Function Blocks
CAS_N
OUT
BKCAL_OUT
Analog Output
To and From
Transducer Block
Position
Feedback
(if used)
BKCAL_OUT
BKCAL_N
OUT
BKCAL_OUT
BKCAL_N
OUT
N
BKCAL_OUT
BKCAL_N
OUT
N
CAS_N
CAS_N
AO
PD
RATO
PD
N
OUT
OUT
N_1
A A A
From
Transducer
Block
("Wild" PV)
From
Transducer
Block
(Primary PV)
From
Transducer
Block
(Controlled PV)

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