Lecture 1

Introduction to Process Control

CN3121: Process Dynamics and Control

Lecturer: Dr Xiaonan Wang

Assistant Professor
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
National University of Singapore
NUS Faculty of Engineering, Block E5, Unit #03-04
+65 6601 6221 (Tel) chewxia@nus.edu.sg

© Copyright National University of Singapore. All Rights Reserved.

 Introduction
• Understand control terminology
• Explain the feedback concept
• Identify the four elements in a control loop
• Recognize the objective of control
• Classify control systems

© Copyright National University of Singapore. All Rights Reserved.

 Why study process control?
Academic motivation (linking to machine learning and AI)
– Integrate knowledge from previous courses
– Consolidate/improve math & computational skills
– Learn systems thinking
Industrial motivation (e.g., oil and gas, pharma)
– Safe, reliable, efficient operation
– Product quality and profitability
Career motivation
– High visibility (work on projects with impact)
– Technically challenging (work on many different projects)

© Copyright National University of Singapore. All Rights Reserved.

 Brief history of control
• Feedback amplifier (1934)
– Telecommunication
• Early use of feedback in windmills, steam engines and
ships
• The field emerged (1940‐45)
– During second world war
– Spread like wild fire in education & industry
• The second wave (1970‐)
– Demanding applications: space (Apollo program),
process industry
– New component: digital computers

© Copyright National University of Singapore. All Rights Reserved.

 Control is everywhere
Autonomous vehicle

Robotic control

http://www.eenewsautomotive.com/content/electronic-control-system-
partitioning-autonomous-vehicle

© Copyright National University of Singapore. All Rights Reserved.

 Hierarchy of
(days-months) 5. Planning and
Scheduling

(hours-days) 4. Real-Time
Optimization process control
(minutes-hours)
3b. Multiv ariable
and Constraint
activities
Control

(seconds-minutes) 3a. Regulatory

Control
Automatic control is to maintain some desired
state (material or energy) in a system by
2. Saf ety , Env ironment detecting any deviation from the desired
(< 1 second) and Equipment
Protection state and initiating corrective action

Process dynamics refers to time‐varying

1. Measurement
(< 1 second)
and Actuation behavior of processes subjected to disturbances

Process

© Copyright National University of Singapore. All Rights Reserved.

 Process dynamics
Refers to unsteady-state or transient behavior
ChBE curriculum emphasizes steady-state or equilibrium situations
Steady-state vs. Unsteady-state behaviour
Steady state: variables do not change with time. But on what scale?

Examples of transient behavior:

Continuous processes:
i.Start up & shutdown
ii.Grade changes
iii.Major disturbance: e.g., refinery during stormy or hurricane conditions
iv.Equipment or instrument failure (e.g., pump failure)
Batch processes
i.Inherently unsteady-state operation
ii.Composition changes with time
iii.Other variables such as temperature could be constant

© Copyright National University of Singapore. All Rights Reserved.

 Process control
Large scale, continuous processes:
e.g., Oil refinery, ethylene plant, pulp mill
Typically, 1000 – 5000 process variables are measured.
Most of these variables are also controlled.
Examples: flow rate, T, P, liquid level, composition
Sampling rates:
Process variables: A few seconds to minutes
Quality variables: once per 8 hr shift, daily, or weekly
Batch plants:
Smaller plants in most industries
Exception: microelectronics (200 – 300 processing steps).
But still large numbers of measured variables
We implement “process control” by manipulating process variables,
usually flow rates （e.g., feed rate, cooling rate, product flow rate, etc.）
Typically, several thousand manipulated variables in a large continuous plant

© Copyright National University of Singapore. All Rights Reserved.

 Control system has 4
essential parts:
• Process

• Measuring element (Sensor)

• Controller

• Final control element (Actuator)

© Copyright National University of Singapore. All Rights Reserved.

 Control terminology
• Controlled variables ‐ these are the variables which quantify the
performance or quality of the final product, which are also called
output variables.

• Manipulated variables ‐ these input variables are adjusted

dynamically to keep the controlled variables at their set‐points.

• Disturbance variables ‐ these are also called "load" variables and

represent input variables that can cause the controlled variables to
deviate from their respective set points

© Copyright National University of Singapore. All Rights Reserved.

 Control system
• Process

© Copyright National University of Singapore. All Rights Reserved.

 Control system
• Process

© Copyright National University of Singapore. All Rights Reserved.

 Control system
• Process: performs some desired function (physical or chemical)

Model provides cause‐effect relationship (i.e., how the input affects the
output?) – usually a differential equation expressed as transfer function
Input – independent variable (manipulated variable or disturbance)
Output – dependent variable (controlled variable)

• Measuring element (Sensor): instrument that measures the

controlled variable
Measured variable: signal that is a measure of the controlled variable

© Copyright National University of Singapore. All Rights Reserved.

 Control system
• Process

• Measuring element (Sensor)

• Controller: mechanism that produces an output as a function of error

Set point: desired value of the controlled variable
Error: difference between set point and measured value, i.e.,
(desired value minus actual value)

• Final control element (Actuator): device manipulated by the

controller to regulate flow of material or energy (e.g., control valve)

© Copyright National University of Singapore. All Rights Reserved.

 Control system
Schematic diagram of a general feedback control system

© Copyright National University of Singapore. All Rights Reserved.

 Control terminology (2)
• Set‐point change ‐ implementing a change in the operating conditions.
The set‐point signal is changed and the manipulated variable is adjusted
appropriately to achieve the new operating conditions.
This is "servo” control.

• Disturbance change – also called load change.

Create the process transient behaviour when a disturbance enters.
A control system should be able to return each controlled variable back to
its setpoint.
This is regulatory control.

How do we control processes?

We will consider an illustrative example.

© Copyright National University of Singapore. All Rights Reserved.

 Illustrative Example:
(stirred tank) Blending system

Notation:
• w1, w2 and w are mass flow rates
• x1, x2 and x are mass fractions of component A

© Copyright National University of Singapore. All Rights Reserved.

 Example: Blending
Assumptions:
1. w1 is constant
2. x2 = constant = 1 (stream 2 is pure A)
3. Perfect mixing in the tank

Control Objective:
Keep x at a desired value (or “set point”) xsp, despite variations in x1(t). Flow
rate w2 can be adjusted for this purpose.

Terminology:
• Controlled variable (or “output variable”): x
• Manipulated variable (or “input variable”): w2
• Disturbance variable (or “load variable”): x1

© Copyright National University of Singapore. All Rights Reserved.

 Example: Blending
Design Question.
What value of w2 is required to have
x  xSP ?
Overall balance:
0  w1  w2  w (1-1)
Component A balance:

w1x1  w2 x2  wx  0 (1-2)
(The overbars denote nominal steady-state design values.)
• At the design conditions, x  xSP. Substitute Eq. 1-2, x  xSP and x2  1 ,
then solve Eq. 1-2 for w2 : xSP  x1
w2  w1 (1-3)
1  xSP

© Copyright National University of Singapore. All Rights Reserved.

 Example: Blending
• Equation 1-3 is the design equation for the blending system.
• If our assumptions are correct, then this value of w2 will keep x at xSP . But
what if conditions change?
Control Question. Suppose that the inlet concentration x1 changes with time.
How can we ensure that x remains at or near the set point xSP ?
As a specific example, if x1  x1 and w2  w2, then x > xSP.

Some Possible Control Strategies:

Method 1. Measure x and adjust w2.
• Intuitively, if x is too high, we should reduce w2;

• Manual control vs. automatic control

© Copyright National University of Singapore. All Rights Reserved.

 Example: Blending
Proportional feedback control law,
w2  t   w2  Kc  xSP  x  t  (1-4)
1. where Kc is called the controller gain.
2. w2(t) and x(t) denote variables that change with time t.
3. The change in the flow rate, w2  t   w2 , is proportional to the deviation
from the set point, xSP – x(t).

© Copyright National University of Singapore. All Rights Reserved.

Method 2. Measure x1 and adjust w2.

• Thus, if x1 is greater than x1, we would decrease w2 so that w2  w2 ;

• One approach: Consider Eq. (1-3) and replace x1 and w2 with x1(t) and w2(t)
to get a control law:
xSP  x1  t 
w2  t   w1 (1-5)
1  xSP

• Because Eq. (1-3)

applies only at steady
state, it is not clear how
effective the control
law in (1-5) will be for
transient conditions.

© Copyright National University of Singapore. All Rights Reserved.

 Method 3. Measure x1 and x, adjust w2.
• This approach is a combination of Methods 1 and 2.

Method 4. Use a larger tank.

• If a larger tank is used, fluctuations in x1 will tend to be damped out due
to the larger capacitance of the tank contents.
• However, a larger tank means an increased capital cost.
Method Measured Manipulated Category
Variable Variable
1 x w2 FBa
2 x1 w2 FF
3 x1 and x w2 FF/FB
4 - - Design change

© Copyright National University of Singapore. All Rights Reserved.

 Classification of
Control Strategies
Feedback Control:
• Distinguishing feature: measure the controlled variable
• It is important to make a distinction between negative feedback and positive
feedback. (Engineering Usage vs. Social Sciences)
• Advantages:
 Corrective action is taken regardless of the source of the disturbance.
 Reduces sensitivity of the controlled variable to disturbances and
changes in the process (shown later).
• Disadvantages:
 No corrective action occurs until after the disturbance has upset the
process, that is, until after x differs from xsp.
 Very oscillatory responses, or even instability…

© Copyright National University of Singapore. All Rights Reserved.

 Classification of
Control Strategies
Feedforward Control:
 Distinguishing feature: measure a disturbance variable
• Advantage:
 Correct for disturbance before it upsets the process.
• Disadvantage:
 Must be able to measure the disturbance.
 No corrective action for unmeasured disturbances.

© Copyright National University of Singapore. All Rights Reserved.

 Controller comparison

Feedback Feedforward Cascade

+ simple + excellent + superior
+ most common disturbance disturbance
+ uses current rejection rejection
measurement + correction initiated + model not required
to determine before disturbance ‐ requires one ‘fast’
control action affects output one slow loop

‐ disturbances ‐ model required ‐ Tune two

must manifest ‐ no set point tracking controllers
in output before
correction can
be taken

© Copyright National University of Singapore. All Rights Reserved.

 Block diagrams
• General method for approaching control systems
• Contains information flow
• Allows visualization of process behavior
• Include one block for each element of the control loop
• Each block contains a math model

“Open loop” block diagram

© Copyright National University of Singapore. All Rights Reserved.

 Block diagrams

“Closed loop” block diagram

© Copyright National University of Singapore. All Rights Reserved.

 Specific objectives of
control
• Increased product throughput and higher valued products
• Decreased energy consumption, pollution and off‐spec product
• Increased safety
• Extended life of equipment
• Improved operability
• Decreased production labour

© Copyright National University of Singapore. All Rights Reserved.

 Example: distillation column

© Copyright National University of Singapore. All Rights Reserved.

 Example: safety

© Copyright National University of Singapore. All Rights Reserved.

 Example: Smooth operation

© Copyright National University of Singapore. All Rights Reserved.

 Example: Product quality

© Copyright National University of Singapore. All Rights Reserved.

 Major steps in
control system
development

© Copyright National University of Singapore. All Rights Reserved.

 Summary
• Basic control terminology is introduced.
• The concept of feedback explains how a process is maintained at
the desired operating condition.
• Various control strategies and objectives of control reveal the
emphasis placed on safe, efficient plant operation.

© Copyright National University of Singapore. All Rights Reserved.

 Thank you

Lecturer: Dr Xiaonan Wang

Assistant Professor
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
National University of Singapore
NUS Faculty of Engineering, Block E5, Unit #03-04
+65 6601 6221 (Tel) chewxia@nus.edu.sg

© Copyright National University of Singapore. All Rights Reserved.