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Cascade control
An alternative approach, one that can significantly improve the dynamic response
to disturbances, employs a secondary measurement point and a secondary
feedback controller.
This approach, cascade control, is widely used in the process industries and is
particularly useful when the disturbances are associated with the manipulated
variable or when the final control element exhibits nonlinear behaviour(Shinskey,
1996).
TC
Stack gas
TT
Hot oil
Cold oil
Furnace
Fuel gas
Stack gas
PC
TT
PT
Hot oil
Fuel gas
Cold oil
Furnace
Thus there are two controlled variables, two sensors, and one manipulated
variable, whereas, the conventional control structure has one controlled
variable, one sensor, and one manipulated variable.
The primary control loops can change the set point of the pressure control loop
based on deviations of the hot oil temperature from its set point.
If the hot oil temperature is at its set point, the deviation variable for the
pressure set point is also zero, which keeps the pressure at its desired steady
state value.
there are two separate loops. Loop 1 is known as the primary loop, outer
loop, or the master, whereas loop 2 is known as the secondary loop, inner
loop, or the slave. To identify the primary and secondary loops, one must
identify the control variable and the manipulated variable. In this case,
the control variable is the temperature and the reference variable is the
steam flow rate. Hence, the primary loop (loop 1) involves the control
variable and the secondary loop (loop 2) involves the reference variable.
Please note that the user sets the set point for loop 1 while the primary
controller sets the set point for loop 2.
In order to have a smooth flow of information throughout the control system, a hierarchy of
information must be maintained. In a double loop cascade system, the action of the secondary
loop on the process should be faster than that of the primary loop. This ensures that the
changes made by the primary output will be reflected quickly in the process and observed when
the primary control variable is next measured. This hierarchy of information can be preserved by
applying the following conditions when setting up the cascade controls.
-There must be a clear relationship between the measured variables of the primary and
secondary loops.
-The secondary loop must have influence over the primary loop.
-Response period of the primary loop has to be at least 4 times larger than the response period
of the secondary loop.
-The major disturbance to the system should act in the primary loop.
-The primary loop should be able to have a large gain, Kc.
Cascade control is best when the inner loop is controlling something that happens at fairly high
frequency. Cascade control is designed to allow the master controller to respond to slow
changes in the system, while the slave controller controls disturbances that happen quickly. If set
up in reverse order, there will be a large propagation of error. Hence, it is important to maintain
the hierarchy of information. In summary, the master controller responds to SLOW changes in
the system, while the slave controller responds to the high frequency, or FAST changes in the
system. This also requires that the inner control scheme be tuned TIGHTLY so error is not
allowed to build. Commonly, the inner loops controls a flow controller, which will reduce the
effect of changes such as fluctuations in steam pressure.
Characteristic equation?
If the inner loop is removed?
performance
Cascade control can improve the response to a set point
change by using an intermediate measurement and two
feedback controllers. However, its performance in the
presence of disturbances is usually the principal concern.
When the slave loop responds faster than the master loop,
the cascade control system will have improved stability
characteristics and thus should allow larger values of Kc1 to
be used in the primary loop. Cascade control also makes
the close loop process less sensitive to errors in the process
model used to design the controller