Course overview
The purpose of this course is to apply the key concepts of automatic control and instrumentation to process plants. Material and energy balances are used to model unsteady state (dynamic) process systems where control algorithms are required to bring the process back to equilibrium. Laplace Transforms are used as a means to conveniently solve ordinary differential equations, which are used when describing process control systems. Control loops are developed to represent industrial processes enabling appropriate control approaches to be elucidated. Commonly used sensing, transmission and final control elements are described and depicted in Piping and Instrumentation Diagrams (P&IDs). The course is delivered through a combination of lectures, tutorials, and practicals where the student will tune controllers on dynamic systems. At the end of the course, the students will have an appreciation of the fundamental importance of control systems for the safe and sustainable operation of process plants.
Course learning outcomes
- Explain the basic principles and importance of process control in industrial process plants
- Specify the required instrumentation and final elements to ensure that well-tuned control is achieved
- Define the use of block diagrams and the mathematical basis for the design of control systems
- Design and tune process (PID) controllers
- Use appropriate software tools (e.g. Matlab Control Toolbox and Simulink) for the modelling of plant dynamics and the design of well tuned control loops
- Explain the importance and application of good instrumentation for the efficient design of process control loops for process engineering plants and
- Draw a PID (Process and Instrumentation Diagram) and devise simple but effective plant wide control strategies using appropriate heuristics.