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Proceedings of Sixth International Conference on Machine Learning Cybernetics, Hong Kong, 19-22 August 2007

RESEARCH OF CASCADE CONTROL WITH AN APPLICATION TO CENTRAL AIR-CONDITIONING SYSTEM


JIANG-JIANG WANG, CHUN-FA ZHANG, YOU-YIN JING School of Energy and Power Engineering, North China Electric Power University, Baoding 071003, China E-MAIL: jiangjiang3330@sina.com

Abstract:
The heat exchanger and air-conditioning space in the central air-conditioning system are modeled in mathematic. Based on the models, we propose a cascade control strategy for temperature control of air-conditioning system. The setpoint response controller in the cascade control system is designed in terms of the robust control H2 optimal performance specification. According to the system operation requirement for disturbance rejection, a closed-loop for rejecting disturbance signals is configured and the controller in internal loop is figured out by proposing the desired closed-loop complementary function. Finally, the three controllers, the designed cascade control, traditional cascade PID control and single PID control are simulated in central air-conditioning system. It is found that the setpoint response, the disturbance rejection, the robust and the performance of the designed cascade control system are better.

Keywords:
Cascade control; Robust; H2 optimal performance specification; Air-conditioning system

1.

Introduction

In the central air-conditioning systems, the function of air handling units (AHU) is to transfer cooling load from air loop to chilled water loop by forcing airflow over the heat exchanger and into the space to the conditioned. The performance of AHU directly influences the performance of air-conditioning system. Traditionally, AHU is controlled by single loop PID type controller [1] due to their relatively simple structure. However, in cases where the environment of process equipment must be controlled to extremely high specifications, such as cleanrooms (in class one cleanrooms, tolerances of 0.50 and 2% RH, respectively), it would be desirable to integrated PID controllers into complex control structures to achieve better performance. To obtain better performance, cascade control in central air-conditioning system has been attracting interest in both academic and application areas. Cascade control has the characteristics such as faster response and stronger 1-4244-0973-X/07/$25.00 2007 IEEE

disturbance rejection and the cascade control is appropriate to the air-conditioning system that has larger inertia and pure time delay as in [2]. A chip controller combined fuzzy control and cascade control is designed to apply central air-conditioning system as in [3]. An online cascade control strategy is proposed and validated, which optimizes the setpoints of head of secondary pump and chiller water temperature in series based on the positions of air handling unit (AHU) as in [4]. A novel cascade control system has been implemented to improve supply air temperature control performance of AHU in a pilot HVAC system, whose outer loop is used a neural network in [5]. The multiplayer neural network is trained online by a special training algorithm simultaneous perturbation stochastic approximation (SPSA) based training algorithm. Additionally the cascade control system is used to save energy. Some researchers used the cascade control algorithm to evaluate the data from the sensor network and manipulate supply air temperature and flow rate from individual computer room air conditionings to ensure thermal management while reducing operational expense [6]. The constructed control system was tested in a smart data center and results show 50% reduction energy consumption by cooling resources in addition to improvement in use of critical data center space. In this paper a cascade control system is designed based on the central air-conditioning system. Finally, the three controllers, the designed cascade control, traditional cascade PID control and single PID control are simulated. 2. Math model of central air-conditioning system

The control of humidity and temperature in the air-conditioning space are concerned here. The considered system has two main parts in a cascade structure, the first part is the air-processing unit (heating/cooling system) and the second part is the air-conditioning room. These tow parts are connected by air shaft. In the air processing unit

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Proceedings of Sixth International Conference on Machine Learning Cybernetics, Hong Kong, 19-22 August 2007 recycled and injected air are mixed by means of a flap allowing to take into account the air flows with respect to the speed. The mixed air is processed by the heat exchanger and humidifier. The air processed is injected into the air-conditioning room by the means of a fan. The air-conditioning system is shown in Figure 1. researches to study simple controller design and tuning rule of traditional cascade control system [8, 9 and 10]. Here we designed the cascade control system for the air-conditioning system, which is shown in Figure 2. G1 and G2 are respectively the controlled process of heat exchanger and air-conditioning room; G1m and G2m are respectively identification models, C is the setpoint response controller and F is the internal loop controller .

Figure 1. Control theory of central air-conditioning system Based on the law conservation of energy [7], the transfer function of heat exchanger can be expressed: Figure 2. Cascade control system of air temperature in the air-conditioning space 3.1. Setpoint response controller

G1 ( s ) =

K1 1s e T1s + 1

(1)

where K1 is the coefficient of amplify, ( s /kg); T1 is time constant, (s); 1 is the pure time delay of the controlled object, (s). The thermal balance equation of air-conditioning space is similar to the heat exchanger, which is shown in (4).

When identification models G1m and G2m are matched with the controlled process G1 and G2, the transfer function of setpoint response in the cascade control system can be simplified the below form:

H c ( s ) = C ( s )G1 ( s )G2 ( s ) .

(7)

G2 ( s ) =

K 2 2 s e . T2 s + 1

(2)

where K2 is the amplify coefficient of room, ( s /kg); T2 is time constant, (s); 2 is the pure time delay of the controlled object, (s). 3. Control System Design

The controlled object has two segments that are one order inertia process with time delays so that the cascade control system can be used to obtain better performance. When the fresh air has disturbance, the internal loop can reject the disturbance and keep the supply air temperature constant. The cascade control system has some advantages of disturbance rejection and stable output, but the tuning of controller parameters is very difficult. There are some

The controller C is solved in terms of the robust control H2 optimal performance specification min||e|| 2 2 and here it satisfies the performance specification min||W(s)(1-H(s))|| 2 2 , in which W(s) is the input function of setpoint. To the central air-conditioning system, the step signal is often used and W(s) is correspondingly equal to 1/s. The pure time segments in the controlled object can be approximately replaced to (8) and (9) in n/n orders all-pass pade.

e 1s = e 2 s =

Qnn ( 1s ) . Qnn ( 1s ) Qnn ( 2 s ) . Qnn ( 2 s )

(8)

(9)

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Proceedings of Sixth International Conference on Machine Learning Cybernetics, Hong Kong, 19-22 August 2007 where,

(2n i )!n ! ( j s )i . Qnn ( j s ) = i = 0 (2n)!i !( n i )!


n

C ( s) =
(10)

(T1s + 1)(T2 s + 1) K1 K 2 (c s + 1) 2

(15)

j=1,2; i=1,2,,n Here the integer n is enough large, which makes that the error due to the approximation is quite less than the error of identification model and actual process, so that the controller C can be shoveled. Put (8) and (9) into the performance specification and the below form can be gotten:

W ( s )(1 H c ( s ))

2 2
2

where c is a control parameter. c is needed to tuning in control system. Whenc is relatively little, the response of setpoint is quick, but the needed energy of controller is relatively large. When enlargingc, the response of setpoint will be slow, but the needed energy of controller is relatively little. So both should be considered to the tuning of c. In practical application, c can be initialized to (1+2) and then be tuned monotonically on-line to obtain better control performance. 3.2. Internal loop controller

K1 K 2Qnn ( 1s )Qnn ( 2 s ) 1 ) = (1 (T1s + 1)(T2 s + 1)Qnn ( 1s )Qnn ( 2 s ) s =

2 2

Qnn ( 1s )Qnn ( 2 s ) K1 K 2C ( s ) ) (11) sQnn ( 1s )Qnn ( 2 s ) s (T1s + 1)(T2 s + 1) 2

As Figure.2 shows, the disturbance transfer function of middle process is shown as following:

H d ( s) =

Then using the orthogonal property of H2 norms, (11) can be transferred to the form as following:

Ta G1 ( s ) . = Ts 1 + F ( s )G1 ( s )

(16)

W ( s )(1 H c ( s ))
=

2 2

Then the closed-loop complementary sensitivity function is obtained as following:

(T1s + 1)(T2 s + 1) K1 K 2C ( s ) ) + s (T1s + 1)(T2 s + 1) 2


Qnn ( 1s )Qnn ( 2 s ) Qnn ( 1s )Qnn ( 2 s ) sQnn ( 1s )Qnn ( 2 s )
2

Td ( s ) =
s

F ( s )G1 ( s ) f . = Ta 1 + F ( s )G1 ( s )

(17)

In the ideal condition, Td(s) should be as the form: (12)


2

The above equation is minimized and the first item in the right should be equal to zero, thus the ideal controller can be gotten and C is shown in (13)

C ( s) =

(T1s + 1)(T2 s + 1) K1 K 2

(13)

Td(s)= e 1 , which means that when the Ta disturbance inputs to the middle process, the internal loop controller F should detect the error of Ts after1 time delay. Then the controller F outputs a reverse isoparametric signal to reject the disturbance. Actually it is considered that the output of controller is limited and the error is gradually offset. Here based on the robust control H2 optimal performance objective, the actual desired closed-loop complementary sensitivity function is designed as the following:

However, it is non-regular and it is not to implement psychically and so a low-pass filter is added in the controller, which is shown as following:

Td ( s ) =

1 e 1s f s +1

(18)

J c ( s) =

1 (c s + 1) 2

wheref is another control parameter. The F(s) can be solved from (17) and is shown in (19).

(14)

F (s) =

So the regular controller C can be got as following:

Td ( s ) 1 . 1 Td ( s ) G1 ( s )

(19)

To carry out conveniently, (19) is transferred and F(s) can be is shown as following:

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Proceedings of Sixth International Conference on Machine Learning Cybernetics, Hong Kong, 19-22 August 2007

F (s) =

F1 ( s ) . 1 F1 ( s )G1 ( s )

(20)

where F1(s) can be expressed as following:

F1 ( s ) =

Td ( s ) (T1s + 1) . = G1 ( s ) K1 ( f s + 1)

(21)

So the configuration of observer F can be shown in Figure 3.

exchanger in summer is Twin-Twout=-5. At last the parameters of middle process, heat exchanger, are calculated as following: K1= -19.35 s /kg, T1=30s [12] and1=3s due to the short distance. The parameters of air-conditioning room are calculated as following: K2=0.4 s /kg, T2=338s and 2=60s [13]. Additionally, the gains of disturbances, Ta and Qroom, are k1= -0.05 kg/ s , k2=0.2 kw/ and k3=0.93/kw. The simulation includes the setpoint response and disturbance rejection. First, the desired step compares the three controllers and at 1500s the step of disturbance, Ta, is -1 to compare the disturbance rejection. The simulation includes four kinds of comparison and certifies the validation the designed cascade control system. 4.1. Simulation 1

Figure 3. Configuration of observer F

f is needed for tuning in control system. Whenf is relatively large, the robust of control system is relatively strong, but at the meantime the disturbance rejection will be weak. When lessening f, robust of control system is relatively weak, the disturbance rejection will be relatively strong. So the robust and disturbance rejection should be both considered to be the tuning of f. In practical application, f can be initialized near the time delay of P1,1. If the process P1 has not pure time delay, f can also be initialized near to the time constant of P1. Thenf is tuned automatically on-line to obtain better control performance.
4. Simulation

The PID parameters are tuned in the robust PID tuning method [14]. The PID parameters of the traditional single PID control are tuned as following: Kp=0.199, Ki= 0.0006 and Kd= 7.063. In the traditional cascade control system, the parameters of the internal-loop PID controller are firstly tuned to Kp=0.227, Ki=0.001 and Kd=0.37, the internal-loop forms the closed-loop and the internal PID controller run in the system and then the parameters of the outer-loop PID controller are tuned to Kp=4.343, Ki=0.012 and Kd=138.7. The parameters of the designed cascade control is initializedc =(1+2)=63 andf =1=3. The comparison curves of three controllers are shown in Figure 4, where N PID, T PID and S PID respectively denotes the designed cascade control system, the traditional cascade PID control system and the single PID control system.

To certify the validation of the designed cascade control system in central air-conditioning system, we choose the summer work condition and compare the designed cascade control system to the traditional single closed-loop PID control and the traditional cascade control PID control. The parameters of central air-conditioning system: the volume of air-conditioning room is 10m long, 8m wide and 4.5m high, the air specific heat capacity is Ca=1.0 kJ/kg , the air density is 1.2 kg/m3, Based on the criterion in the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning field, the number of taking a breath in air-conditioning room and the calculation of the supply air is Ga=1.08kg/s, the heat resistance of wall is 1/R=0.2kw/ and the temperature error of supply cold-water and back-water to the heat

Temperature ()

Time (s)

Figure 4. The simulation results of three controllers It is seen that the setpoint response of the designed control system has not overshoot while the others have both overshoot and the cascade PID control responses quicker

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Proceedings of Sixth International Conference on Machine Learning Cybernetics, Hong Kong, 19-22 August 2007 than single PID control. Although the setpoint response of the designed cascade control system is slower than the PID control system, the governing time of designed control system is shorter than the PID control system. Additionally it is also found that the disturbance rejection of the designed control and the traditional cascade PID control are similar and is better than the single PID control system, but the adjusting time of the designed control is relatively long. 4.2. Simulation 2
Time (s)

As long asc andf are monotonically tuned, the control system can obtain better performance.

To certify the robust of three controllers, some control process parameters are changed to simulate. In G1 and G2 the gain both increase 10% and becomes 21.3 s /kg and 0.924 s /kg. The other parameters still keep constant in simulation 1, which include controllers and process. The comparison curves of three controllers are shown in Figure.5. It is seen that the setpoint response and the disturbance rejection are similar to the simulation 1. However, the overshoot of single PID control is bigger than the simulation 1. The simulation 2 can prove the robust of the designed cascade control system.

Temperature ()

Figure 6. The simulation results of three controllers 4.4. Simulation 4 The identification models G1m and G2m are absolutely matched with the process G1 and G2 in simulation 1, 2 and 3. The simulation 4 certifies the validation of the designed cascade control system when the identification models are not matched with the process. In G1m and G2m the T1 decease 30% and becomes 21s and2 also deceases 30% to become 42s. The other parameters still keep constant. The tuning method of the PID parameters in simulation 4 is the same in simulation 1. Based on these parameters, the parameters of controllers are tuned. The PID parameters of the traditional single PID control are tuned as following: Kp= 0.239, Ki= 0.0007 and Kd= 6.214. The parameters of the internal-loop PID controller are firstly tuned to Kp=0.185, Ki=0.011 and Kd=0.278 and the parameters of the outer-loop PID controller are tuned to Kp=4.343, Ki= 0.015 and Kd= 114.98. Based on the identification models G1m and G2m, the parameters of the designed cascade control is initializedc =(1+2)=45 andf =1=3. The simulation results of three controllers are shown in Figure 7.

Temperature ()

Time (s)

Figure 5. The robust simulation results of three controllers 4.3. Simulation 3

To fasten the response of the designed cascade control system, the parameters, c andf , are only tuned to half and c =( 1+ 2)/2=32 and f = 1/2=1.5. The other controllers and the parameters in simulation 1 are kept constant. The simulation results are shown in Figure 6. As Figure 6 shows, it is seen that the setpoint response of the designed control system becomes quicker than the other controllers and the performance is better than the traditional cascade PID control and single PID control. From this point, it can be seen that the tuning of the designed cascade control is easier than the PID controls.

Temperature ()

Time (s)

Figure 7. The simulation results of three controllers (identification model is not matched with the process)

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Proceedings of Sixth International Conference on Machine Learning Cybernetics, Hong Kong, 19-22 August 2007 It is seen that the overshoot of the setpoint response of the designed control system is less than the cascade PID control and single PID control. It is also found that the disturbance rejection of the designed control and the traditional cascade PID control are similar and is better than the single PID control system. Although the adjusting time of the designed control is relatively longer, the parameter c is tuned simply and the performance of system will be better than PID control. 5. Conclusion [4] X. Xiao, X. Jin, P. Liu and Z. Du, Research on Optimal Control of Chilled Water Temperature and Head of Secondary Pump in VWV Systems, Fluid Machinery, vol. 32, no. 5, pp 42-45, May 2004. [5] C. Guo S. Qing and W. Cai, Supply air temperature control of AHU with a cascade control strategy and a SPSA based neural controller, Proceedings of International Joint Conference on Neural Networks, pp 2243-2248, Montreal, Canada, July 31 August 4, 2005. [6] C E. Bash, C D. Patel and R K. Sharma, Dynamic thermal management of air cooled data centers, Thermal and Thermomechanical Phenomena in Electronics Systems, pp 445-452, 30 May-2 June 2006. [7] C. Li, W. Zhang and Y. Liang, The Decoupling control of constant temperature and humidity air-conditioning system, Refrigeration and Air-conditioning, vol. 6, no. 4, pp 42-47, August 2006. [8] K.K. Tan, T.H. Lee and R. Ferdous, Simultaneous online automatic tuning of cascade control for open loop stable processes, ISA Transactions, vol. 39, no. 2, pp 233-242, February 2000. [9] Y.H. Lee, S.W. Park and M.Y. Lee, PID controller tuning to obtain desired closed loop responses for cascade control systems, Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research, vol. 37, no. 5, pp 1859-1865, May 1998 [10] R. Lestage, A. Pomerleau and A. Desbiens, Improved constrained cascade control for parallel processes, Control Engineering Practice, vol. 7, no. 8, pp 969-974, August 1999. [11] T. Liu, W. Zhang and D. Gu, Decoupling control design for cascade processes with time delays, Chinese Journal of Scientific Instrument, vol. 26, no. 8, pp 775-778,804, August 2005. [12] D. An, J. Wang and C. Lou, Simulation research on application of single neuron adaptive control in high precision air-conditioning system, Computer Simulation, vol. 21, no. 2, pp 105-108,118, February 2004. [13] J. Shi, Theory and Application of Auto control of Room Temperature, Beijing: China Architecture Industry Press, 1983. [14] Q. Li, G. Zeng, X. Zhu and P. Sun, A comparative study of PID tuning methods, Techniques of Automation and Application, vol. 24, no. 11, pp 28-31, November 2005.

In this paper a designed cascade control system was applied to central air-conditioning system. The designed cascade control system has only two tuned parameters, c andf, which is less than the parameters of PID control system. Additionally, c and f are easily tuned, which dont effects each other. Through the three controllers were simulated, it is found that the setpoint response and the disturbance rejection of cascade control system are both better than single PID control system. The governing time of the designed cascade control system is shorter than the PID control system, although sometimes the setpoint response of the designed cascade control system is slower than the PID control system. On the whole, the performance of the designed cascade control system is better than the traditional cascade PID control system and single PID control system. Acknowledgements The authors would like to acknowledge the financial and technical support of the school of Energy and Power Engineering and the major lab of power station in North China Electric Power University during the course of this research. References [1] J.E. Seem, A new pattern recognition adaptive controller with application to HVAC systems, Automatica, vol. 34, no. 8, pp 969-982, August 1998. [2] M. Yu and Z. Liu, Application and Development of Automatic Control in HVAC System, Energy Conservation Technology, vol. 21, no. 118, pp 13-15,19, February 2003. [3] L. Tian and X. Liu, Temperature Fuzzy Controller Design for Central Air-conditioning Space, Application of Electronic Technique, no. 4, pp 40-41, April 2002.

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