Development of a Laboratory Equipment for Dynamic Systems and Process Control Education

Abstract

This paper addresses the development of an equipment to teach control engineering fundamentals. The design requirements were determined by users that perform academic, research and industrial training tasks in the area of dynamic systems and process control. Such requirements include: industrial instrumentation; measurement of controlled and manipulated variables, and disturbances; process reconfigurability; different control technologies; several control strategies; appropriate materials for visualization; and compact shape to optimize lab space. The selected process is a tank system that allows one to choose among several dynamic behaviors: first, second, and third order, linear and nonlinear behavior, and dead time; the mathematical model that represents the dynamics of the system is presented. A traditional 3-stage design methodology that includes conceptual, basic and detailed design was followed. The developed equipment allows the user to select from three different technological alternatives to control the system: a PLC, an industrial controller, and a computer. With such flexibility, several control strategies can be implemented: feedback, feedforward, PID, LQG, nonlinear control (gain scheduling, sliding mode, etc.), fuzzy logic, neural networks, dynamic matrix control, etc. The developed system is being used to teach undergrad courses, grad courses, and industrial training. Additionally, the equipment is useful in research projects where grad students and researches can implement and test several advanced control techniques.

Observability Analysis and Observer Design for a Nonlinear Three-Tank System: Theory and Experiments

“…Using a manual valve (HV) located in the secondary branch, disturbances to the system are injected at Tank . In this paper, the input to the system is the flow regulated by the control valve, whereas the output of the system is the level in Tank (see [ 46 , 47 , 48 ] for further details about the process).…”

“…The implications of Assumption 2 are the following. The maximum input flow ensures no water overflow from the tanks, which is true since the plant was designed to avoid liquid overtopping the tank’s physical limit [ 46 , 47 ]. Additionally, water always flows from Tank to Tank and finally to Tank .…”

A laboratory for teaching process control: The wastewater treatment plant

“…[10][11][12] Many laboratories can be found in the literature for process control education. As illustrative examples, Dormido et al 13 developed a web-based three-tank laboratory; separation, refrigeration, petroleum-gas, and tank-based laboratories are reported by Sharma et al, [14][15][16] respectively. Other interesting approaches can be found in Wagner et al 17 and Jwaid, 18 where an education framework and best practices for process control engineering are discussed.…”

Redesign of Lab Experiences for a Senior Level Course in Dynamic Systems with Controls

“…This is an important issue for many universities; it has been the subject of study and development for quite some time, 6,7 and a number of different ideas have been the subject of recent publications. 8,9,10 Therefore, there is substantial material to draw upon. Since some universities have seen significant benefit from including items such as a wind tunnel 11 and fluid power components such as simple valves 12 , these types of lab experiences could be considered as well, particularly with a focus on equipment that is often used by the university's industry partners.…”