EXPERIMENT 2: AIR FLOW PROCESS

CONTROL (AF 922)

1.0 SUMMARY

The measure of bulk fluid movement known as flow measurement. The equipment uses is
the air flow process control training system, Model AF922. The main components consists of a
main pipeline, PLI, vessel T90, the process vent manual valve VF, air process control training
system (Air Pressure, AP 922), the second pipeline, PLII, orifice plate (FE91) and a differential
pressure transmitter with a square foot function (FT91) and a variable of flow meter (rotameter,
FI91). Firstly, the PID controller was set in a manual (M) mode, and SV was set at its set point
which is 25kg/hr. Other than that, the control valve FCV91 was fully open with MV was -6.3%.
After that, three different trials were allowed to run with different values of PB of 200%, 150%
and 100% respectively. The auto mode was then set and waited until the recorder response of the
air flow of red pen was fairly steady and disturbance was introduced into the flow to observe the
response. There are some errors occurred during conducting this experiment. From the result
obtained, the set for trial I resulting the shortest peak of disturbance than set for trial III. The
proportional band, PB for trial III is lower compared to trial I and II. Next, the test of PID
controller tuning where Ziegler Nichols method by setting the controller. There are some errors
occurred that affects the absence of peak. Thus, the PID controller cannot be calculated.
2.0 OBJECTIVE
 To identify the important components of the air pressure control system and to mark them
in the P&I Diagram
 To carry out the start-up procedures systematically
 To study gas volumetric flow rate measurement using orifice plate
 To study gas mass flow rate measurement using orifice plate and perfect gas law to
compute the gas density from the pressure and temperature measurements
 To study gas mass flow rate (Fm) control using PID controller
 To design a PID controller using Ziegler Nichols closed loop method
3.0 INTRODUCTION

Flow measurement is the measure of bulk fluid movement and is determined through
positive displacement meters which collect a fixed volume of fluid, release and refill the fluid,
then tally the times the volume is filled to quantify flow. Flow measurement devices which rely
on the strength produced by the flowing stream, as it prevails over a known constriction, and
indirectly calculates flow. Flow may also be determined by measuring the velocity of fluid over a
known area. Both gas and liquid flow can be expressed in volumetric or mass flow rates, and the
quantities can be converted between one another if the substance’s density is known (Steinberge,
2013).

Gases and vapours are easily changing their volume under the influences of pressure and
temperature. In other words, a gas will yield to an increasing pressure by decreasing in volume as
the gas molecules are forced closer together and it will yield to a decreasing temperature by
decreasing in volume as the kinetic energy of the individual molecules is reduced. This makes
the volumetric measurement more tricky and complex for gases and vapours than for liquids.
One cubic meter of gas at high pressure and temperature inside a process vessel will not occupy
one cubic meter under difference pressure and temperature condition in the same vessels. This
implies that volumetric flow measurement for gas is virtually meaningless without
accompanying data on pressure and temperature (“Volume Flow Rate in Liquid and Gas
Measurement ~ Learning Instrumentation And Control Engineering,” n.d.).

Gas/vapour volumetric flow can be measured either by the differential pressure across
orifice or by a variable area flow rate. The orifice plate is a device used for measuring flow rate
in this experiment. Either a volumetric or mass flow rate may be determined, depending on the
calculation associated with the orifice plate. It uses the same principle as a Venturi nozzle,
namely Bernoulli's principle which states that there is a relationship between the pressure of the
fluid and the velocity of the fluid. When the velocity increases, the pressure decreases and vice
versa. With the orifice plate mounted in the flow stream, the increase in fluid flow velocities
through the reduced area of the orifice produces different pressure across the orifice (“Basics of
The Orifice Plate Flow Meter ~ Learning Instrumentation And Control Engineering,” n.d.).
 Compensation for pressure and temperature variation using Perfect Gas Law can be made
to the flow measurement by the differential pressure measurement. Perfect gas also called ideal
gas which is defined as a gas that conforms in physical behaviour to a particular idealized
relation between pressure, volume and temperature. Gas mass flowrate can be controlled by
using PID controller. PID stands for Proportional-Integral-Derivative. These three controllers are
combined in such a way that it produces a control signal. PID controller maintains the output
such that there is zero error between process variable and set point/ desired output by closed loop
operations .The Ziegler-Nichols tuning rules were designed for a ¼ amplitude decay response.
This results in a loop that overshoots its set point after a disturbance or set point change. The
response in general is somewhat oscillatory, the loop is only marginally robust and it can
withstand only small process conditions changes. Zeigler-Nichols proposed closed loop methods
for tuning the PID controller. Those are continuous cycling method and damped oscillation
method. Procedures for both methods are same but oscillation behaviour is different. In this, first
we have to set the p-controller constant, Kp to a particular value while Ki and Kd values are
zero. Proportional gain is increased till system oscillates at constant amplitude (Agarwal, 2015).

Figure 1: The Ziegler-Nichols Closed-Loop Tuning Method

4.0 METHODOLOGY

This experiment had been divided into several categories. Firstly was the Start Up
Procedure. Firstly, switch the "PANEL, SCADA/DDC" selector switch at the front of the
cubicle to "PANEL,SCADA"position and switch ON the main power supply until all the panel
instruments lit up. Fully close the manual by-pass valve around the control valve FCV91. Open
the vent VF and close the valve MV901. Place the panel controller FIC91 in the Manual (M)
mode. Open fully the control valve FCV91 by setting the MV of FIC91 to -6.3%. Adjust the
manual valve MV900A till the air flow rate is about 50 kg/hr. Set MV = 106.3% at FIC91 to
fully shut the control valve FCV91. Set the MV = 50% at FIC91 and check control valve FCV91
(in the plant) is 50% opened. Observed the data required based on the table of result given in the
manual. Another sets of readings for MV = 50% and MV = 70% was repeated and record the
result. Next, the control of air flow system experiment. Set the FIC91 in Manual (M) mode, open
the control valve FCV91 fully with MV = -6.3%. FIC91 still in Manual mode, adjust its setpoint,
SV = 25 kg/hr. Access the PID parameters of FIC91 and set the first (I) PID trial values: PB =
200%, TI = 6 s, TD = 0 s. Start the recorder by pressing “RCD” pushbutton at FPTR91. Switch
FIC91 to Auto (A) mode and watch the recorder response (i.e. Air flow response) until the air
flow (red pen) is fairly steady. Repeat step (i.e. Introducing pulse disturbaance) with the second
(II) and third (III) sets of PID trial values; PB = 150%, TI = 6 s, TD = 0 s and PB = 100%, TI = 6
s, TD = 0 s. Repeat the experiment for the above 3 sets of PID trial values with step change in
setpoint for the mass flow rate by changing the present setpoint of FIC91 from SV= 25 kg/hr to
SV = 30 kg/hr. Observe and record the response till it becomes fairly steady. Switch back the set
point SV = 25 kg/hr. Use the first (I) PID trial value but now with TD = 20 s. Mark the PID
values on the chart paper simultaneously. The disturbance was applied by opening and shutting
fully the by-pass valve around control valve FCV91 and observes the response. Lastly is the
shutdown procedures. The RCD button was turn off. Switch FIC91 to Manual mode with MV =
0% and switch off the main power supply. Shut off the process air supply at AR900 and shut off
the instrument air supply
4.0 RESULT

Table 1 : Quarter Amplitude Damping Response ( Blue Pen )

Instrument I MV = - II MV = III MV
Readings Controller 6.3% 50% =70%

At the PANEL FIC91, I/O Data

FT91, √h X1 - % of 0-100 mm H20 60.2 44.0 15.8
TIT911, T X2 - % of 0-120°C 27.6 27.7 27.7
PT911, P X3 - % of 0-60 psia 69.8 89.9 78.0

FIC91, Main Face Plate,

Fm PV, kg/hr 53.1 32.3 10.6

FIC90, PT Register
Fv PO1, M3/Hr 25.1 11.2 4.0

Recorder FPTR91
Channel 1 (Red) Fm, kg/Hr 32.0 22.2 10.6
Channel 2 (Green) Fv m3,Hr 15.4 11.3 4.0
By Calculation Fvb, Nm3/Hr 39.3 32.61 10.9
Fm, kg/Hr 50.84 42.16 14.10

At the Plant

FI911, Nm3/Hr 48 23 10
PG900, psig 32 42 34
 Table 2 : Air Flow measurement Data
Instrument Readings PANEL
Mass flow rate, kg/hr MVI (-6.3%) = 32.0
MVII (50%) = 22.2
MVIII (70%) = 10.6
Volumetric flow rate, Nm3/hr MVI (-6.3%) = 48
MVII (50%) = 23
MVIII (70%) = 10
CALCULATION
MVI (-6.3%) = 50.84
MVII (50%) = 42.16
MVIII (70%) = 14.1
MVI (-6.3%) = 39.3
MVII (50%) = 32.61
MVIII (70%) = 10.9

Table 3 : Set of trial value

Trial I Trial II Trial III
PB1 (%) 200 150 100
TI1 (sec) 6 6 6
TD1 (sec) 0 0 0
5.0 DISCUSSION

This air flow process control experiment was done to identify the important components
of the air pressure control system, to study gas volumetric flow rate measurement by using
orifice plate, to determine the gas mass flow rate measurement using orifice plate and perfect gas
law to complete the gas density from the pressure and gas measurements, to study the gas mass
flow rate (Fm) control using PID controller and also to design a PID controller by using Ziegler
Nichols closed loop method. In this experiment, in order to detect the differential pressure
throughout the flow the orifice plate was used and the differential pressure measurement was
calculated. The volumetric flow rate and mass flow rate was recorded in the chart by the air flow
process control training system, where the red color in the chart showed the mass flow rate and
the green color showed the volumetric flow rate throughout the experiment.

This experiment was conducted by control the air flow system by using the different set
of PID parameters. In manual (M) mode, the SV value was set at its set point which is 25kg/hr
and the control valve FCV91 was fully open with MV was -6.3%. This experiment was run in
different trial values. For the first set, the PB was set at 200%, T1 at 6s and TD is 0s. The auto
mode was set and waited until the recorder response of the air flow (red pen) was fairly steady.
Then, a pulse disturbance was introduced by quickly opening and shutting fully the by-pass
valve around control valve FCV91. The same steps were used by using set II and set III with the
same values of TI and TD but different values of PB which were 150% and 100% respectively.

Based on the result in table 1 and 2, the value of mass flow rate and volumetric flow rate
were taken from the panel and also were calculated at different values of MV. From the results
obtained, the reading of the mass flow rate from the panel showed that, the increased the values
of MV, the increased the mass flow rate. However, from the calculation result, the values of
mass flow rate were decreased when then MV values of MV increased. On the other hand, the
reading of volumetric flow rate on the panel decreased when the values of MV increased. The
values of volumetric flow rate also decreased in calculation when the values of MV increased.

The proportional control mode is the main driving force in a controller. It changes the
controller output in proportion to the error. When the error is bigger, the control action will
become bigger since more control action needs to correct the large errors. If the proportional
band, PB is set too high, the control loop will begin oscillating and become unstable. If the PB is
set too low, it will not respond adequately to disturbance changes (F. Smuts, 2011). Based on the
result recorded in figure 2, the set for trial I showed the shortest peak of disturbance while the set
for trial III showed the longest peak for the disturbance. The proportional band, PB for trial III is
lower compared to trial I and II. Supposedly, the disturbance peak for trial I is longer than the
others two trial because it PB is the highest which is 200%. There are some errors occurred
during conducting this experiment.

Figure 2: Result for trials I, II and III at SV = 25

Lastly, the last testing of this experiment is PID controller tuning where Ziegler Nichols
method by setting the controller as below:

PB = 100% TI = 9999s TD = 0s

The set point pulse disturbance was given to the process by increase the SV from 25 kg/hr to 28
kg/ hr in a few seconds and change back to its original SV. To make sure the tuning process done
by the system itself, this was done in Auto (A) mode. The PB was decrease from 100% to 70%
and last to 30% in order to get the uniform oscillation. The response form is shown in Figure 3.
The result showed no peak due to some errors. The new value of PID controller cannot be
calculated.
 Figure 3: The increasing of SV from 25kg/hr to 28kg/hr with PB decrease from 100% to 30%.

Ziegler-Nichols method has two methods in order to tuning the process control that was
developed in 1940s. The first method is being used in this experiment. It is a direct measurement
on the controller parameters or closed loop tuning method. The integral and derivative gain, TD
is set to zero. The proportional gain is decreased until the system start to form the uniform
oscillatory response. Based on oscillatory response, the critical value of Kc = Kcu and the period
of oscillation, Tc = Tn are formed. Figure below shows the example of closed loop tuning
method response:

Figure 4: Closed loop tuning method response.

Next, the second method of Ziegler Nichols method is based on determination of the
open loop step response of the process. By applying the step input to the process and recording
the process, the step response is measured. The response is scaled to correspond to a unit step
input and characterized by parameters a and Tdel. Tdel is the time delay of the system and a/ Tdel is
the steepest slope of the step response. Figure 5 showed the example of open loop tuning method
response:

Figure 5: Open loop tuning method response.

There were a few errors that occurred during conducting the experiment. The flow rate of
the experiment was set at the controller FIC91. Supposedly, it should be read at the flow rate
gauge F1911. Then, the by-pass valve on the pipeline PLI and PLII was not fully open while
conducting the experiment.
6.0 CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATION

As a conclusion, this experiment was being conducted by controlling the air flow system
by using the different set of PID controller to measure the volumetric flowrate as well as the
mass flowrate measurement which the result can be seen through the chart printed from the air
flow process control training system. Initially, the PID controller was set in a manual(M) mode,
and SV was set at its set point which is 25kg/hr. Other than that, the control valve FCV91 was
fully open with MV was -6.3%. After that, three different trials were allowed to run with
different values of PB of 200%, 150% and 100% respectively. The auto mode was then set and
waited until the recorder response of the air flow of red pen was fairly steady and disturbance
was introduced into the flow to observe the response. Based on the result, trial I has the shortest
peak of disturbance and trial III has the longest peak for the disturbance and the PB showed for
trial III has the lowest peak compared trial I and II due to some errors. Lastly, the Ziegler
Nichols method was run to obtained new values of the PID system which was the close loop
system and also open loop system. However, due to some errors, there was no peak appeared on
the chart. Hence, the PID controller cannot be calculated. The recommendation to be proposed to
overcome the errors occurred during the experiment is that every valve and control system
should be set accordingly and should be double inspection so that the control valve FCV91
would be fully open and set the F1911 to -6.3% . Besides that, the by-pass valve on the pipeline
PLI and PLII should be fully open so that the flow of gas will not be interrupted.
7.0 APPENDICES

The mass flow rate measurement is given by:

Assuming perfect gas law, Fm = km√ℎ𝑃⁄𝑇

Where, Fv = Volumetric flow rate, m3/hr

Fvb = Volumetric flow rate, Nm3/hr
Fm = Mass flow rate, kg/hr
h = Differential pressure, mm H2O
P = Absolute pressure, psia
T = Temperature, K
k1 = 0.256
kvb = 1.356
km = 1.753

a) Obtain the actual value of h from FT91 :

For (I) :

√ℎ = (60.2)

h = (60.2)2

h = 3624.04 mm H20

For (II) :

√ℎ = (44.0)

h = (44.0)2

h = 1936 mm H20
 For (III) :

√ℎ = (15.8)

h = (15.8)2

h = 249.64 mm H20

 With P/T compensation: Fvb = Kvb√ℎ𝑃⁄𝑇 ,

Given h =3624.04 mm H20, P = 69.8 psia , T= 300.75 oK

3624.04(69.8)⁄
= 1.356 √ 300.75

= 39.3 Nm3/hr

 Perfect gas law, Fm = km√ℎ𝑃⁄𝑇

3624.04(69.8)⁄
= 1.753√ 300.75

= 50.84 kg/hr
8.0 REFERENCES

Agarwal, T. (2015). How Does a PID Controller Work? - Structure & Tuning Methods.
Retrieved August 27, 2017, from https://www.elprocus.com/the-working-of-a-pid-controller/

Basics of The Orifice Plate Flow Meter ~ Learning Instrumentation And Control Engineering.
(n.d.). Retrieved August 27, 2017, from http://www.instrumentationtoolbox.com/2013/03/basics-
of-orifice-flow-meter.html#axzz4qvQY5yFf

F. Smuts, J. (2011). PID Controllers Explained | Control Notes. Blog.opticontrols.com.

Retrieved 25 August 2017, from http://blog.opticontrols.com/archives/344

Steinberge, B. (2013). Gas mass flow rate units of measure. Retrieved August 27, 2017, from
https://sagemetering.com/back-to-basics/gas-mass-flow-rate-units-of-measure/

Volume Flow Rate in Liquid and Gas Measurement ~ Learning Instrumentation And Control
Engineering. (n.d.). Retrieved August 27, 2017, from
http://www.instrumentationtoolbox.com/2013/05/volume-flow-rate-in-liquid-and-
gas.html#axzz4qvQY5yFf