CHNG 3003 - PROCESS DYNAMICS AND CONTROL II

ASSIGNMENT #3 - Level Control

1. Consider the cylindrical surge tank illustrated in Fig. Q1. Liquid flows into the vessel
at volumetric flowrate Fin (t ) and is pumped out at the rate Fout (t ). The height of
liquid in the tank is to be denoted by the symbol h(t ). At the initial steady-state
operating point, the inlet and outlet flows are equal to Fss with accumulated liquid at a
level of hss. The tank level setpoint is held constant at hss.

Fin(t)

LC

h(t)

Fout(t)
Figure Q1 - Cylindrical surge tank.

(i) Prove that the open-loop response of the liquid level to changes in the inlet and outlet
flowrates is given by:
h (s)

1/ A
1/ A
Fout ( s )
Fin ( s )
s
s

where A represents the cross-sectional area of the tank. (The overbar here denotes the
Laplace transform of a deviation variable, e.g. h ( s ) L [ h(t ) hss ].)
(ii) Draw a well-labelled block diagram for the level control system of Fig. Q1.
(iii) Show that the proportional-only level control strategy can be expressed as:

CO ( s )

100 K c
h( s )
hspan

where the symbol hspan refers to the span of the level transmitter. Dynamics associated
with the level measurement sensor may be neglected. The effluent flow control valve is
air-to-open.
(iv) Derive the closed loop transfer function between the controlled tank level h (s ) and
the inlet flow disturbance Fin (s ). The installed characteristics of the control valve are
linear and it is known to respond quickly to changes in the controller output signal. That
is,
Fout ( s )

Fmax
CO ( s )
100

where Fmax denotes the effluent flowrate when the valve is fully open. Determine the
offset which will result from step changes of magnitude B in the inlet flowrate Fin (t ).
(v) Assume that the valve size coefficient Cv 100, the pressure drop across the valve
is 200 psi and the specific gravity of the liquid is 0.8. If the air pressure signal to the
valve top is 12 psig, what is the flowrate through the valve?
2. (i) Discuss the relative advantages and disadvantages of Proportional-only and
Proportional-Integral control for surge tank levels.
(ii) The Ziegler-Nichols tuning method consists of first finding the ultimate gain Ku, the
value of gain at which the loop is at the limit of stability with a proportional-only
feedback controller. The period of the resulting oscillation is called the ultimate period,
Pu (minutes per cycle). The ZN settings are then calculated from Ku and Pu by the
formulas given in Table Q2 for the three types of controllers. Do these rules apply to
surge tank level control loops?

Table Q2 - Ziegler-Nichols PID tuning rules.

Controller
Type

Tuning Parameters
I

KC

__

Ku
2

PI

Ku
2.2

Pu
1.2

PID

Ku
1.7

Pu
2

__
__
Pu
8

3. Liquid level in a vertical cylinder is to be regulated by manipulating the effluent flow

control valve position. Liquid flows into the vessel at volumetric flowrate Fin (t ) and is
pumped out at the rate Fout (t ). The height of liquid in the tank is to be denoted by the
symbol h(t ). The installed characteristics of the effluent flow control valve are linear
and its action is air-to-open.

Fin(t)

LC

h(t)

Fout(t)

Figure Q3 - Surge tank level control.

The open-loop transfer function describing the dynamic response of level to changes in
the outlet flowrate is given by
h (s)
1/ A
G ( s)
Fout ( s )
s

(3.1)

where A represents the cross-sectional area of the tank. The overbar denotes the Laplace
transform of a deviation variable, e.g. h ( s ) L [h(t ) hss ].
(i) Is the tank level process open-loop stable?
(ii) The level controller in Fig. Q3 is proportional-only. Show that this feedback control
strategy is inherently stable. (Dynamics associated with the sensor/transmitter and
control valve may be neglected.)
(iii) Prove that zero steady-state offset will be observed for step changes in the level
setpoint.
(iv) With the exception of pure capacitive systems such as surge tank level, the reaction
curve for most controlled processes (flow, temperature, composition, etc.) in the chemical
industries can be well-approximated with a first-order-plus-deadtime model:
Y (s)
K eD s
G (s)
U (s)
s 1

(3.2)

The symbols Y and U refer to the controlled and manipulated variables, respectively.
Briefly discuss the unique aspects of level control in relation to these other control loops.
Your answer must address the following issues: i) open-loop stability, ii) inherent
stability under proportional-only control, and iii) offset following step changes in setpoint
under P-only control.

4. Liquid level in a vertical cylinder is to be regulated by manipulating the effluent flow

control valve position. Liquid flows into the vessel at volumetric flowrate Fin (t ) and is
pumped out at the rate Fout (t ). The height of liquid in the tank is to be denoted by the
symbol h(t ). The effluent flow control valve is air-to-open with linear installed
characteristics.

Fin(t)

LC

h(t)

Fout(t)

Figure Q4 - Surge tank level control.

The open-loop transfer function describing the dynamic response of level to changes in
the outlet flowrate is given by
Kp
h ( s)
G p ( s)
Fout ( s )
s

(4.1)

where the velocity gain K p 1 / A and A represents the cross-sectional area of the
tank. The overbar denotes the Laplace transform of a deviation variable, e.g. h (s )
L [h(t )] L [h(t ) hss ].
Cheung and Luyben (1979) presented an averaging level control technique in which the
user specifies the desired peak height in tank level (hpeak ) and maximum rate-of-change
in manipulated variable, (d Fout (t ) / d t ) |t 0 , in response to the largest expected step
disturbance in inlet flowrate ( Fin ). Parts (ii) through (iv) of this question reconstruct
key steps in the derivation of their PI controller tuning method.

(i) Draw a well-labelled block diagram for the system of Fig. Q4. Dynamics associated
with the control valve and level measurement sensor may be neglected, i.e. Gv ( s ) K v
and Gm ( s ) K m .
(ii) Prove that under proportional-integral level control, the response of the liquid height
to a step change in feed flowrate of magnitude Fin is given by:
e r1 t e r2 t
r1 r2

h(t ) K p Fin

(4.2)

r1

and r2 are the zeros of the characteristic polynomial

s K L s K L / I , and the loop gain K L is defined as K c K v K p K m . You may
assume that the proportional gain K c and integral time I will be chosen such that the
closed-loop behaviour is underdamped.
The constants
2

(iii) Show that the response of the manipulated outlet flowrate to the same disturbance is:

e r1 t e r2 t
e r1 t e r2 t
1
1

r r
r

r
K

(
r

r
)
1
2
L
I
1
2
1
2

(t ) K L Fin
Fout

(4.3)

[Hint: r1 r2 K L / I ]
(iv) Demonstrate that the proportional gain which produces the desired initial rate of
change of the effluent flowrate is:
d Fout (t )
( K v K p K m Fin ) 1

dt

t 0

Kc

(4.4)