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Cascade Control

Cascade control

A disadvantage of conventional feedback control is that corrective action for


disturbances does not begin until after the controlled variable deviates from the set
point.

Feedforward control offers large improvement over feedback control for


processes that have large time constants or time delays. However, feedforward
control requires that the disturbances be measured explicitly and that a model
be available to calculate the controller output.

An alternative approach, one that can significantly improve the dynamic response
to disturbances, employs a secondary measurement point and a secondary
feedback controller.

The second measurement point is located so that it recognizes the upset


condition sooner than the controlled variable, but the disturbance is not
necessarily measured.

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).

A furnace temperature control scheme that uses


conventional feedback control

Consider the natural draft furnace


temperature control .

TC

Stack gas

The conventional feedback


control system may do
satisfactory job of regulating the
hot oil temperature despite
disturbances in oil flow rate or
cold oil temperature.

However, if a disturbance occurs


in the fuel gas supply pressure,
the fuel gas flow will change,
which upsets the furnace
operation and changes the hot oil
temperature.

Only then will the temperature


controller (TC) begin to take
corrective action by adjusting the
fuel gas flow.

TT
Hot oil
Cold oil
Furnace

Fuel gas

Thus, we anticipate that


conventional feedback control
may result in very sluggish
responses to changes in fuel gas
supply pressure.

A furnace temperature control scheme using


cascade control
TC

Stack gas

PC
TT
PT

Hot oil

Fuel gas

Cold oil
Furnace

A cascade control configuration which consists of a primary control


loop (TT and TC) and a secondary control loop that controls the
pressure via PT and PC.

The primary measurement is the hot oil temperature that is used by


the master controller (TC) to establish the set point for the
secondary (slave) loop controller (PC).

If a disturbance in supply pressure occurs, the pressure controller


will act quickly to hold the fuel gas pressure at its set point.

The cascade control scheme provides improved performance


because the control valve will be adjusted as soon as the change in
supply pressure is detected.

Because the pressure control loop responses rapidly, the supply


pressure disturbance will have little effect on furnace operation and
exit oil temperature

The cascade control loop structure has two distinguishing features:


1. The output signal of the master controller serves as the set point for the slave
controller
2.The two feedback control loops are nested, with the secondary control loop
(for the slave controller) locate inside the primary control loop (for the master
controller)

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.

The simplest cascade control scheme involves two


control loops that use two measurement signals to
control one primary variable. In such a control system,
the output of the primary controller determines the set
point for the secondary controller. The output of the
secondary controller is used to adjust the control
variable. Generally, the secondary controller changes
quickly while the primary controller changes slowly.
Once cascade control is implemented, disturbances
from rapid changes of the secondary controller will not
affect the primary controller.

Single loop control and cascades


control of a heat exchanger

Information flow of a two loop cascade


control

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.

General cascade schematic

The reactor below needs to be cooled


during continuous-feed operation of an
exothermic reaction.

The reactor has been equipped with a


cooling water jacket with the water flow
rate being controlled by cold water valve.

This valve is controlled by two separate


temperature controllers. An inner-loop
or slave (highlighted in orange)
temperature transmitter communicates to
the slave controller the measurement of
the temperature of the jacket.

The outer-loop or master (green)


temperature controller uses a master
temperature transmitter to measure the
temperature of the product within the
reactor.

The reactor temperature is affected by changes in


disturbance variables such as reactant feed temperature or
feed composition.
The simplest control strategy, adjust a control valve on the
cooling water inlet stream.
However, an increase in the inlet cooling water
temperature, may cause unsatisfactory performance
Add a feedback controller for the jacket temperature,
whose set point is determined by the reactor temperature
controller
The control system measures the jacket temperature,
compare it to a set point, and uses the resulting error signal
as the input to a controller for the cooling water makeup.

The principal advantage of the cascade control


strategy is that a second measure variable is
located to a potential disturbance and its
associated feedback loop can react quickly,
thus improving the close loop response.

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

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