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August17,2012
EarlierthisyearIdidacontrolsoptimizationprojectonaprocessunitinalargechemicalcompany.Theyhadacomplex
andinteractiveprocess,buttheircontrolsweremostlysimplecontrolloopswithnocascade,feedforward,gainscheduling
etc.Iamafirmbelieverinkeepingthingssimple,butnosimplerthantheyshouldbewhichbringsmetothestory.
Theunithadahugetanktocollecteffluentfromvariouspartsoftheprocess.Themixturewasthenpumpedbacktothefront
endoftheprocessforreprocessing.Thetankhadadischargepumpandavalveforlevelcontrol.Becauseofthechemical
compositionofthevariouseffluents,smallflakesofsolidsformedintheliquid.Theflakeswouldoftenplugupthecontrol
valve.Asaresult,thedischargeflowwillgetblockedandthelevelinthetankwouldslowlyincrease.Theincreasinglevel
causedthevalvetoslowlyopen,butthesolidskeptonblockingthevalveasfastasitwouldopen.Thiswouldcarryonuntil
thehighlevelalarmonthetanktriggered.Thentheoperatorwouldstrokethevalveopenandclosedafewtimestoclear
outthesolids.
Beforelong,theplantdiscoveredthatthecontrolvalvewillnotgetblockedifitmovesoftenenough.Inanefforttomakethe
systemmorereliable,theplantinstalledaflowcontrolloopandgavetheoperatorasignalselectortoswitchbetweenlevel
controlandflowcontrol(Figure1).Becausethecontrolvalvewasmuchmoreactivewhendrivenbytheflowcontroller,it
seldomgotblockedinflowcontrolmode.Consequently,mostoperatorsthenranthesystemusingflowcontrolmode.
Figure1.Controlstrategyallowedoperatortoselectbetween
flowcontrolandlevelcontrol.(Clicktoenlarge)
Youmighthaverealizeditalready,butinflowcontrolmodethereisnolevelcontrol.Sothetankiseitherslowlyfillingupor
drainingdown.Thisrequiredtheoperatortochecktheleveleveryfewhoursandadjusttheflowcontrollerssetpointbased
onthetanklevelatthetime.Ifthelevelwastoohigh,theoperatorwouldincreasetheflowsetpoint,andifthelevelgottoo
low,theoperatorwoulddecreaseit(Figure2).
Figure2.Controlperformanceasfound.Blue=tanklevel
Magenta=dischargeflowrateGreen=levelsetpoint.
Althoughtheyoperatedlikethisforyears,theplantdidputtheproblemonmylistofloopstolookatbecauseitremaineda
burdentotheoperators.Theproblemwasthatbothlevelandflowcontrolhadtheiradvantagesbutalsotheir
disadvantages.
Thesolutionwasquitesimpleitdrewupontheadvantagesofbothlevelandflowcontrolanditeliminatedthe
disadvantagesofbothmodes.Youguesseditweimplementedcascadecontrol.Wesimplylettheoutputofthelevel
controllerdrivethesetpointoftheflowcontroller(Figure3).Inthiswaythelevelcontrollerkeptthelevelincheck,and
adjustedtheflowsetpointtodoso.
Figure3.Cascadecontrolhadallthebenefits,butno
disadvantages.
Theflowcontrollerwasactiveenoughtorespondtodeviationsfromsetpointandclearoutblockagesbeforethelevelwas
affected.Wealsotunedbothcontrollersforoptimalperformance.Comparedtowhattheyhadbeforethechanges,thenew
controlperformancewasquiteremarkable(Figure4).
Figure4.Controlperformanceafterimplementingcascade
controlandtuningthetwoloops.Blue=tanklevelMagenta=
dischargeflowrate.
LearnmoreaboutadvancedcontrolstrategiesandcontrollertuningfromthebookProcessControlforPractitioners.
StayTuned!
JacquesSmuts
FounderandPrincipalConsultant
OptiControlsInc.
Postedin8.CaseStudies
2ResponsestoLevelVersusFlowControl
VctorD.Parra:
August18,2012at8:03am
Nicecasestudy.Wouldyoucompleteitexplainingtheadvantageofusingaveragelevelcontrolinthesecases?
Jacques:
August19,2012at8:54am
Victor,youarerightwecouldhaveappliedaveraginglevelcontrolbecausethistankwasoriginallydesignedtobe
asurgetank.However,theprocessengineerwantedtheleveltoremainclosetoitssetpointbecausethevolumeof
liquidinthislargetankaffectedtheplantsconversionrate(efficiency)calculations.Soweusedstandardlevel
controltuningrulesforthis,butdetuneditenoughsothattheoutflowwouldnotoverreacttoleveldisturbances.