DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

PROCESS CONTROL A2
CONTROL STRATEGIES
By Thandiwe Sithole
 MODULE OVERVIEW
In this learning unit will explain and discuss
different control loops of a process namely;
temperature, pressure, level & flowrate and
introduction to advanced control loop on
cascade control and selective control.
 PROCESS CONTROL LOOPS
Reasons for control loop
• Safety
• Efficiency
• Effectively
Results of a control loop
• Yield a predictable desired quantity and concentration of a final
product
Results of a poor control or no control
• Product below specifications
• Product above specifications
• Wasted products and lost revenue
 PROCESS CONTROL LOOPS
Four main variables that are normally controlled
in a process
• Temperature, T
• Pressure, P
• Level, L
• Flowrate, F
• Concentration, C?? – is a dependent variable the desired
concentration is reached through a proper control of T, P, L and F. it is
sometimes measure in the process and is often not controlled directly
 PROCESS CONTROL APPLICATIONS
TEMPERATURE CONTROL LOOP
1 1

Feon V1
Feon
2 2

TIC TT

TT- Temperature Transmitter

TC/TIC – Temperature
3 Controller/ Temperature
Indicator Controller
3
Control Objective: Control the temperature of the feed into distillation column
1) Temperature in stream 2 must be controlled, place TIC. The controller will process the signal and decide if the
temperature is too high, too low or within acceptable range.
2) If the temperature is too high or too low, the control will send a signal which will open or close the control valve
slightly
3) V1 will increase the flow of freon if the inlet temperature into distillation column is too high and decrease the flow of
freon if the temperature is too low.
 PROCESS CONTROL APPLICATIONS
TEMPERATURE CONTROL LOOP
1 NOTICE :
• The control valve is placed on the freon stream,
V1 control valves should be places on streams that can
Feon be independently adjusted.
2 • They should not be placed on the streams that
cannot be adjusted such as in stream 1.
• Avoid putting control valves on process streams,
unless they are in the beginning or end of the
TIC TT
process
Means pneumatic signal is being used, the valve is
open or closed using air pressure. Many valves
use pneumatic actuator or air pressure to rapidly
and precisely close the valve
3 Sometimes the signal transfer line is
This solid line means capillary(liquid) signal is dotted, which means the temperature is
being used. Signal is measured or transferred read or transmitted via an electrical
signal.
from a liquid. Temperature is read from a Since this is a simple control loop, a solid
liquid stream which is considered a capillary or dotted line can both be used
signal
 PRESSURE CONTROL LOOPS
What to consider when
PT- Pressure Transmitter 2
dealing with pressure control
2 PC/PIC – Pressure
loops:
controller/Pressure Indicator
1. Pressure is best Controller
controlled by pumps,
compressors and
depressurization valves. 1
PT
1 2. Consider putting pressure
control loops when you PIC

see units at specified in

number 1, that can
modify pressure

3 3

Control Objective: Control the pressure of the feed into a distillation column
1) Control pressure in stream 1, by using a pump and by first measuring the pressure of the inlet stream.
2) Sending a signal to a pressure indicator controller PIC which processed the value measure and if necessary sent an
electrical signal to vary the power to the motor of the pump.
3) By increasing or decreasing power sent to the pump’s motor, more or less work is done on the fluid, which increases or
decreases the outward pressure of the process stream.
4) Note : no control valve was used in this control loop because it was not necessary to control or modify flow rate
 LEVEL CONTROL LOOP
• Liquid level is an important variable and must be controlled in flashes, towers and vessels.
• In almost all cases all of these pieces of equipment have some kind of level control
• Without level control they will overflow or run dry
• These conditions can lead to overflow, process stream contamination and unpredictable
flowrates.
LT- Level Transmitter
• Flashes are liquid-vapour LC/LIC – Level Controller/
Level Indicator Controller
separators.
• Where vapor migrates at the
top and the liquid is held at MAX
the bottom. LT LIC

MIN

Control Objective: Control the level of liquid in the flesh unit

• There should be a designated hold up volume which is considered maximum and minimum for this vessel.
• So capillary signal is sent, which release liquid level to the level indicator controller (LIC)
• This controller then processes the signal, determines if the level is too high or too low or within acceptable range. And
sends appropriate signal to a control valve to open or close slightly.
• When the control valve is open the liquid level begins to drop and when it is closed the liquid level accumulates and the
level rises.
• This is how a simple level control looks like for a flesh vessel and it is very similar to a distillation column
• A distillation column bottom level cannot exceed or go below a certain specified level, otherwise the column will not
separate the components properly
 FLOWRATE CONTROL LOOP
• Flowrate control loops can be very similar to level control, the only
difference is that flowrate is being measured as opposed to high or
low levels in a vessel.

• Flow control is critical for obtaining the correct amount of product

from the process\If flow rate is too high or low, especially at the
beginning of a process

• None of the downstream equipment will function at optimal

• Thus one process upset at the beginning or near the beginning , can
result in an off specification process stream being sent from unit to
unit, until the very end where the final product cannot be sold.
DIRECT AND INDIRECT CONTROL LOOP
LEVEL CONTROL LOOPS

Inlet Flow

LT LC

Outlet Flow
Direct Control

Direct control action is used when the outlet flow is adjusted

 LEVEL CONTROL LOOPS
Inlet Flow

LT LC

Outlet Flow
Reverse Control

The reverse action is required when the inlet flow is adjusted.

PRESSURE CONTROL LOOP

PC
Forward
PT

PC
Reverse
PT
 INTRODUCTION TO ADVANCED CONTROL
SYSTEMS
• In the simple feedback
control configuration the
Simple Feedback control temperature of the reacting
mixture, T, is measured and
Feed (Fi, Ti) the deviation from the set-
point is minimized by
manipulating the coolant
flowrate Fc.
TT • The deviation of the reacting
mixture temperature from
T the set-point may be due to
TC changes in disturbances Ti or
Tc or both.
Coolant Fc

Product
Tc
 INTRODUCTION TO ADVANCED CONTROL
SYSTEMS
• To improve the response of the
Cascade control simple feedback control to
It has one manipulated variable and more than one changes in Tc we can add
measurements another loop where Tc is
measured and changes in Tc are
Feed (Fi, Ti)
compensated by manipulating
the coolant flowrate Fc.
• If Tc goes up, the coolant
TT flowrate is increased to remove
the same amount of heat and
when Tc decreases the coolant
TC flowrate is decreased.
• With this configuration we have
Tc T two control loops using two
TC TT different measurements, T and
Tc but sharing a common
manipulated variable, Fc.
Coolant Fc

Product
 INTRODUCTION TO ADVANCED CONTROL
SYSTEMS
Selective control
Involves one manipulated variable and several controlled outputs. As one manipulated
variable can only be used to control one output, the selective control systems transfer
control action from one controlled output to another according to the need. Examples of
selective control systems include Override , auctioneering, split-range and valve-position
control.

An important application of override control is to protect a piece of

equipment in a process. Often times, equipment can be damaged or
destroyed when it exceeds its optimal operating boundaries. In order to
keep this from happening, high and low selectors are used to make sure
that the output signal to the control system does not damage the
equipment in the process.
 INTRODUCTION TO ADVANCED CONTROL
SYSTEMS
Override control – Low Selector Switch (LSS)
Discharge line steam

Loop 2 Loop 1
Boiler PT

Water LT LC LSS PC

Hot gases
 Steam pressure in the boiler is controlled through the use of a pressure control loop on the
discharge line (Loop 1).
 Water level in the boiler should not fall below a lower limit necessary to keep the heating
coil immersed in water thus preventing its burning out.
 Therefore an override control system using an LSS is used. If liquid level falls below the
allowable limit, the LSS switches the control action from pressure control to level control
(Loop 2) whenever discharge pressure reaches the upper limit.
Low selectors are designed so that they filter out all but the lowest value from a multiple input
feed stream. The selector then sends this single lowest value through to the output signal.
 INTRODUCTION TO ADVANCED CONTROL
SYSTEMS
Override control – High Selector Switch (HSS)
HSS F An override control with HSS
C
is used to prevent discharge
Loop 2 Loop 1 pressure from exceeding an
S PC upper limit. It transfers
C
control action from the flow
control to the pressure
FT control loop (Loop 2).
PT

Gas in

Gas out
High selectors are designed so that they filter out all
Motor
but the highest value from a multiple input feed stream.
The selector then sends this single highest value
Compressor through to the output signal.
 Reactants
Auctioneering control
Auctioneering control

Auctioneering system
TT
configurations select among
several similar measurements TT
the one with the highest value
and feed it to the controller.
TT
TC

TT

TT

Coolant TT

Product
 Auctioneering control

Reactants Products

T T T T T
T T T T T

Auctioneering system

TC

Coolant

Auctioneering control system for a tubular catalytic reactor

 SPLIT RANGE CONTROL VALVES
This type of control is used,
where there are several
PC manipulated variables, but a
single output variable. The
N2 coordination among different
manipulated variables is
V-1 V-2 carried out by using Split
Range Control.
PT
If liquid is withdrawn from the
tank, the pressure will
decrease and the controller
will open valve V-1, allowing
nitrogen to restore the
pressure to set-point. If the
tank fills with liquid, the
pressure will increase and the
controller will close valve V-1,
and then open V-2 to let
excess nitrogen out of the
tank.
Ratio control
 Ratio control is a special type of feedforward control where two disturbances
(loads) are measured and held in a constant ratio to each other. It is mostly
used to control the ratio of flow rates of two streams.
 The two variables are usually flow rates, a manipulated variable u, and a
disturbance variable d. Thus, the ratio, is controlled rather than the individual
variables.
 UNIT OPERATION CONTROL

• Vaporizer control
PC PC
Reverse material balance PT PT
vapor
Vapour flow directly set with
the set-point of a flow control loop

Heat input is adjusted for LC

pressure control LT
Steam

Liquid Feed

The liquid level is maintained by adjusting the

inlet flow
 UNIT OPERATION CONTROL

• Vaporizer control PC
PT
vapor
Direct material balance
LC
FC
LT FT
Steam

Liquid Feed

The inlet liquid flow is controlled

The level is maintained by adjusting the steam flow
The pressure is controlled by adjusting the vapor flow
 Evaporator control
Scheme 1:
The feed flow is controlled PC
The overhead vapor flow is adjusted for pressure control
The level controller adjusts the bottom flow PT
Vapor
TC TT

Steam LT LC

FC
T Liquid
FT

Liquid Feed
The temperature controller adjusts the steam
flow
 Evaporator control
Scheme 2: Exercise
•The feed flow is controlled;
•The overhead vapor flow is adjusted for pressure control;
•The level controller adjusts the steam flow;
•The temperature controller adjusts the bottom flow.
 Evaporator control
PC

Scheme 2: Exercise PT
Vapor
LC

TT

Steam LT TC

FC
T Liquid
FT

Liquid Feed
 3. Temperature Sensors
3.1. Thermocouples (cont.)
Question 1: (Ans. 325 °C)
The hot junction of a type J thermocouple, consisting of iron and
constantan wires, is placed in a process stream. The thermocouple
wires are connected to the copper voltmeter leads. The thermocouple-
voltmeter junctions are kept at 0 °C (32 °F) and a voltage of 17.710 mV
is measured. Find the stream temperature using the table below.

.
 3. Temperature Sensors
3.1. Thermocouples (cont.)
Question 2: (Ans. 203.54 °C)
If the measured voltage of a type J thermocouple with a
cold junction temperature of 0 °C (32 °F) is 10.975 mV,
what is the temperature at the hot junction?

.
 3. Temperature Sensors
3.1. Thermocouples (cont.)
Question 3: (Ans. 205 °C)
A J type thermocouple is used, with a reference junction at 50
°C, to measure the process temperature. If the measured
voltage across the wires at the cold junction is 8.471 mV,
calculate the process temperature.

.
End of class