Application of Fuzzy PID control in Level control for Nuclear Power Plant Primary

Bolt Inspection

Liu Cheng-ze, Yan Zhi, Deng Jing-shan

State Nuclear Power Plant Service Company
Shanghai, China
e-mail: liucz@snpsc.com

Abstract—Dynamic tracking is demanded for primary bolt
ultrasonic inspection in nuclear power plant. It is featured by
rapid variation of transducer height, unpredictable modelling
parameters and so on. The paper discusses dynamic
characteristics of level during nuclear power plant primary
bolt ultrasonic inspection, with variation of modeling
parameters and transducer height. To improve control
stability and dynamic response, fuzzy control is combined with
PID control, which is applied to level control of bolt ultrasonic
inspection. MATLAB is utilized to simulate the control system,
and simulations for corresponding step response, variation of
modeling parameters, actual operation and electrical noise are
also implemented. Result reveals that rapid stable tracking can
be obtained with fuzzy PID control algorithm even with
parameters fluctuation and rapid variation of transducer
height. Implemented control scheme behaves better robustness
and self-adaptable ability.
moves with high velocity vertically. It’s the issue we
concerned.
Presently most research for primary bolt focused on
manufacturing technique, tension equipment and so on[3].
Published articles on level control of primary bolt ultrasonic
inspection and related research can seldom be found.
Major purpose of this paper is, we can obtain quick
response and steady tracking of level with advanced fuzzy
PID(brief for proportional-integral-differential) control
algorithm, even several parameters are unknown and
transducers move rapidly. Firstly physical simulation model
of the whole system is built, then output control algorithm is
researched. Finally simulation of control system is made
with MATLAB.
II. SYSTEMATIC DESCRIPTION AND MODELING

Keywords- fuzzy PID control; Primary bolt; ultrasonic A. Systematic Description

inspection; Nuclear Power Plant; The system consists of control box, water tank
equipment(switching valve and pumps inside), signal
I. INTRODUCTION sampling device, pressure transducer, water supply line and
so on, as shown in Fig. 1. Deionized water is supplied from
Primary bolts used for reactor pressure vessel in water tank, through the supply line, and then come into the
NPP(brief for Nuclear Power Plant) usually work under central bore of inspected bolt. As required by ultrasonic
high-pressure and high radiation environments, and must be inspecting method, the level should always be higher than
inspected according to related standard[1-2]. As required by the transducer by a preset value, so the expected leveling
inspection method, the deionized water level must be higher height is dependent on current height of transducer. The
than the transducer during ultrasonic inspection of primary control unit will compute with expected level and current
bolt. Moving velocity of transducer can reach up to 150mm/s level, then the output will apply to the switching value, pump
during actual inspection, so the water level should respond to pump the water up into the bolt central bore.
quickly with variation of transducer height. The diameter of Main goal of the paper, is to ensure the rapid and steady
bolt central bore is about 26mm, and the transducer’s outer tracking performance of level, and reduce the response time.
diameter is almost 24mm-25mm to fit the inner wall From viewpoint of systematic control, the following factors
concentrically. So, the deionized water is located into the
narrow gaps between the inner wall and transducer outer
shell, which ensuring validation of ultrasonic signal. Under
such circumstance, up-and-down movement of transducer
may results in sharp fluctuation of water level. For example,
rapid moving up of transducer may bring the level down
quickly to below transducer. Rapid moving down of
transducer may bring the level up quickly and water may
come out of the central bore, resulting in site contamination.
So, control algorithm must be applied to water supply to
make sure the level can always keep up with the transducer
and be maintained in reasonable range, even the transducer
___________________________________ Figure 1. Sketch for system components
978-1-4673-0089-6/12/$26.00 ©2012 IEEE


should be considered: 1) different characteristics of
components for site utility, such as valve switching
characteristics, water line length in site; 2) different
characteristics for transducer, such as manufacturing
techniques, high or low velocity of transducer, which make a
difference to dynamic process of level; 3) other disturbance
factors. All characteristics mentioned above may vary, and
modeling parameters cannot be predictable. Enough
adaptation cannot be obtained with traditional PID algorithm.
We’ll built the model for related components, then come up
with the applicable control algorithm for level control.
B. Modeling
The component model can be divided into two parts,
water transferring model and transducer influencing model.
The former model is simplified as a second-order inertial
delay section, while the latter as inertial section. The whole
modeling diagram is shown in Fig. 2. These two models are
described in detail as below.
1) Water Transferring Model
Water transferring model includes all sections between
feeding or bypassing valves and central bore of inspected
bolt. It’s assumed that water pump is working normally and
environment conditions are sufficient. The opening of
feeding or bypassing valve is defined as input, the variation
of level in the central bore as the output. The static model for
water transferring is listed as in (1).
TQ  h(Sb  S p ) (1)
T is valve opening, Q is the total flow, Ƹh is the level
variation in central bore, Sb is cross sectional area of central
bore, Sp is cross sectional area of transducer tool.
As for the dynamic process, the flow valve is simplified
as inertial section, while the pump and water line is
simplified as inertial delay section. The dynamic model is
listed as in (2).
kQes
G1 ( s)  (2)
( Sb  S p )(T12 s  2T1s  1)
These inertial factors in model are unknown for different
components used on site.
2) Transducer Influencing Model
The input for transducer influencing model is moving
velocity, while the output is level variation in central bore.
What the model concern is the relationship of moving
velocity of transducer and height difference of transducer
submerged in deionized water. If the height difference is two
low, the transducer is easy to escape the water, which results
in lost of ultrasonic signal. So, the static model for transducer
influencing is built as in (3).
Inertial section
Transducer
height
Expected
level compu
+ controller
Two-order
inertial delay
Actual level
compu
- The fuzzy rules are described as follows.
Level sampling
Figure 2. system modeling diagramm
h  hp S p /( Sb  S p ) (3)
Ƹh is level variation in central bore, Ƹhp is height
variation of transducer tool, Sb is cross sectional area of
central bore, Sp is cross sectional area of transducer tool.
The dynamic process from transducer height variation to
level variation is simplified to inertial section, as in (4).
 kS p (4)
G2 ( s) 
( Sb  S p )(T2 s  1)
For different manufacturing techniques and moving
velocity of transducer, the response of level will be different.
So the inertial factors and gains in model are varying
parameters.
III. IMPLEMENTATION OF CONTROL ALGORITHM
As for simulation of actual operation, the parameters,
such as inertial factors or delay, varies with characteristics of
different system components. The model cannot be
predictable accurately. Considering nonlinearity, fuzzy PID
control algorithm is adopted to obtain better control effect.
Fuzzy reasoning is utilized to adjust the control output for
bigger error range, while PID control for smaller error range.
The transition point of these two algorithm is a preset value.
Accurate mathematical model is not necessary for fuzzy
control, so it’s adpative for those parameters which are not
exactly specified[4]. Also, fuzzy control algorithm is
nonlinear, which provide robust performance even under
parameter-varied and load disturbance circumstance.
Two inputs are used for fuzzy controller, including error
e and error variation ec. The output is switching frequency of
high-switching valve. These values are accurate data from
computer sampling and computation, while logical
judgments of fuzzy controller must be based on fuzzy values,
so fuzzification must be done for e and ec to apply the fuzzy
control algorithm. Considering the sensitiveness to negative
or positive value of error, the fuzzy set of error is defined as
{NB, NM, NS, NO, PO, PS, PM, PB}, which represents
negative big, negative mid, negative small, negative zero,
positive zero, positive small, positive mid, positive big. The
fuzzy set of error variation and fuzzy output is defined as
{NB, NM, NS, ZO, PS, PM, PB}.
Considering the requirement for rapid response, triangle-
shape membership function is adopted for high sensitivity, as
shown in Fig. 3.
56 rules are defined considering steady performance, fast
response, overshooting, as shown in Table I. For each e and
ec, corresponding fuzzy values can be found in fuzzy rule
table. After defuzzification with centroid method, the fuzzy
value is converted to accurate one which can be used as
controller output.
Fuzzy control rules are based on the assumption that the
ultrasonic inspection works well and the level does not
Current level
exceed the whole height of primary bolt(set by 1460mm).
IF e is PB AND ec is PB THEN uout is PB˗
IF e is PB AND ec is PS THEN uout is PB˗
IF e is PB AND ec is ZO THEN uout is PS˗
Other rules can be defined similarly.

 membership function of input e screening ultrasonic signal of flaw. Comparison between
guidelines using two algorithms is listed in Table II.
NB NM NS NO PO PS PM PB
Secondly, robust performance for variation of delay
parameter is simulated. It’s assumed that the delay parameter
changes from 20ms to 30ms. Both traditional PID and fuzzy
PID algorithms are simulated, and corresponding response
-4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4
curves are shown in Fig. 5a) and 5b). It can be seen that time
needed for steady state is about 2.3s for traditional PID,
(a)
while only 1.7s needed for fuzzy PID algorithm. Shorter
membership function of input ec and output
response time can be obtained with fuzzy PID control
NB NM NS ZO PS PM PB algorithm other than traditional PID algorithm, and the
robust performance is better.
As far as the up-and-down movement of transducer
during the inspection, simulation for actual operation and
tracking is made. The variation of transducer height is shown
-4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 as blue dashed line in Fig. 6, while the level response is
(b) shown as red solid line in Fig. 6. From the figure we can see
that quick and steady tracking of level can be obtained with
Figure 3. membership function fuzzy PID control during up-and-down inspecting movement.
In addition, there’re always some electrical noises in site,
TABLE I. FUZZY CONTROL RULES TABLE
so the control system must behave better anti-disturbance
ability. For simulating, random noise with 30% peak value as
ec maximum is added to height signal of transducer, shown as
e
NB NM NS ZO PS PM PB blue line in Fig. 7. The response curve obtained in simulation
NB PB PB PM PM PS ZO ZO is shown as red solid line in Fig. 7. From the figure we can
see that the output can keep up with the given signal and
NM PB PB PM PS PS ZO NS maintain in reasonable range, which behaving good restrain
NS PM PM PM PS ZO NS NS for signal noise.
level response with fuzzy PID
NO PM PM PS ZO NS NS NM

PO PM PS PS ZO NS NM NM
Level (mm)

PS PS PS ZO NS NS NM NM

PM PS ZO NS NM NM NM NB

PB ZO ZO NM NM NM NB NB
Either fuzzy control or PID control is chosen according Time (s)
to the absolute value of error during simulatioon. Parameters (a)
needed for fuzzy PID controller is determined in experiments, level response with traditional PID
and simulation is implemented in MATLAB environment [5].
IV. SIMULATION AND ANALYSIS
Level (mm)

All data in the paper are based on the actual ultrasonic

inspecting process of primary bolt. The transducer height is
set to vary in the range from 0 to 1460mm, and the high limit
of level is 1500mm which depends on installation of pressure
transducer. The delay parameter varies between 10ms and Time (s)
30ms.
(b)
Firstly, step response of transducer height variation is
simulated. It’s assumed that the transducer height come up to Figure 4. Response for two control algorithm
300mm at time of 0 second. Step responses with PID control
and fuzzy PID control are both simulated, and corresponding
level response curves are shown in Fig. 4a) and 4b). It can be TABLE II. COMPAISON BETWEEN TWO CONTROL ALGORITHMS
seen from the figure that, the level response with traditinoal Response
Peak Overshooting
PID algorithm is quick for rapid transducer movement, but height(mm) % time(ms)
with bigger overshooting, resulting in wide level fluctuation
Traditional
which make difference on actual inspecting signal. However, PID
363.3 10.1% 1110
with fuzzy PID algorithm, the overshooting can be reduced,
Fuzzy PID 335.5 1.67% 807
and level fluctuation is rather steady, which is easy for


 Figure 7. Response with signal noise added
response with delay changed, fuzzy PID

V. CONCLUSIONS
Level (mm)

Due to the ultrasonic inspecting process of primary bolt

in NPP, the level control process behaves some features,
such as big amplitude of level variation, unknown modeling
parameters, strong disturbance and so on. Fuzzy control is
combined with PID control, which is applied to level control
Time (s) for primary bolt ultrasonic inspection. Simulation results
(a) reveal that better response can be obtained with fuzzy PID
response with delay changed, traditional PID control algorithm. Better robust performance and anti-
disturbance are also available as well. The response time can
be reduced effectively with fuzzy PID control, which
Level (mm)

satisfying the requirement for rapid level tracking with

transducer movement. In addition, the control algorithm
behaves more adaptive for different modeling parameters,
which is very important for control stability during actual
operation. The control algorithm has been presently utilized
Time (s) in automatic ultrasonic inspecting equipment for primary
(b) bolt, and the equipment works well.

Figure 5. Response of two control algorithms, delay parameter changed ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The authors wish to thank State Nuclear Power Plant
Service Company for providing experiment conditions and
other colleagues for providing data and drawings.
Level (mm)

REFERENCES
[1] Dai Li-jun, “Identification of flawand fake signal for primary bolt
ultrasonic inspection,” NDT, vol.28, pp. 36-37, August 2004.
[2] Ma Guanbin, Xiao Xuezhu and Yuan Shuxian, “Ultrasonic testing
technique for closure stud of reactor pressure vessel,” Nondestructive
Time (s) Testing, vol.32, pp. 770-772, October 2010
[3] Zhu Fuguo, Sui Bingli and Huang Haiying, “Preliminary probe to bolt
Figure 6. Response for actual operating simulation tensile machine for pressure vessel of nuclear reactor,” CFHI
Technology. vol.2, pp. 38-40, Febuary 2001
[4] Li Si-yong, Fuzzy control, networks and intelligent control theory,
Harbin: Harbin institute of technology press, 1996, pp. 45-50.
[5] Liu Jin-gun, Advanced PID control and MATLAB simulation,
Level (mm)

Publishing house of electronics industry, 2003, pp. 20-25.

Time (s)