Primary control loop

The dynamics of the secondary control loop should be approximately two to four times as fast as the dynamics of the primary control loop in order to achieve stable control. The secondary controller is actually part of the primary controller s process system. Hence, changes in the secondary controller tuning constants change the process system of the primary controller. Therefore, cascade control loops should always be tuned by first tuning the secondary controller and then the primary controller. If the secondary controller tuning is changed for any reason, the primary controller may need to be retuned also. 

Many misconceptions exist about cascade control loops and their purpose. For example, many engineers specify a level-flow cascade for every level control situation. However, if the level controller is tightly tuned, the out-flow bounces around as does the level, regardless of whether the level controller output goes direcdy to a valve or to the setpoint of a flow controller. The secondary controller does not, in itself, smooth the outflow. In fact, the flow controller may actually cause control difficulties because it adds another time constant to the primary control loop, makes the proper functioning of the primary control loop dependent on two process variables rather than one, and requites two properly tuned controllers rather than one to function properly. However, as pointed out previously, the flow controller compensates for the effect of the upstream and downstream pressure variations and, in that respect, improves the performance of the primary control loop. Therefore, such a level-flow cascade may often be justified, but not for the smoothing of out-flow. 

In cascade control, we therefore have two control loops using two different measurements but sharing a common manipulated variable. The loop that measures the controlled variable (in the example, the reacting mixture temperature) is the dominant, or primary control loop (also referred to as the master loop) and uses a set point supplied by the operator, while the loop that measures the second variable (in the example, the cooling water temperature) is called the secondary (or slave) loop and uses the output from the primary controller as its set point. Cascade control is very common in chemical processes and the major benefit to be gained is that disturbances arising within the secondary loop are corrected by the secondary controller before they can affect the value of the primary controlled output. 

Cascade control significantly reduces the effect of certain types of disturbances by applying two control loops in tandem, i.e., the output of one controller is the setpoint for the other controller. The secondary or slave controller receives its setpoint from the primary or master controller and operates on a much faster cycle time than the primary. As a result, the secondary controller can eliminate certain disturbances before they are able to affect the primary control loop. 

The two feedback controllers are nested with the secondary control loop located inside the primary control loop. 

Figure 16.2 shows a cascade control configuration for the furnace, which consists of a primary control loop (utilizing TT and TC) and a secondary control... 

The primary control loop can change the set point of the pressure control loop based on deviations of the hot oil temperature from its set point. Note that all variables in this configuration can be viewed as deviation variables. 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 block diagram for a general cascade control system is shown in Fig. 16.4. Subscript 1 refers to the primary control loop, whereas subscript 2 refers to the secondary control loop. Thus, for the furnace temperature control example,... 

In control situations with more then one measured variable but only one manipulated variable, it is advantageous to use control loops for each measured variable in a master-slave relationship. In this, the output of the primary controller is usually used as a set point for the slave or secondary loop. 

A cascade control system can be designed to handle fuel gas disturbance more effectively (Fig. 10.1). In this case, a secondary loop (also called the slave loop) is used to adjust the regulating valve and thus manipulate the fuel gas flow rate. The temperature controller (the master or primary controller) sends its signal, in terms of the desired flow rate, to the secondary flow control loop—in essence, the signal is the set point of the secondary flow controller (FC). 

The modest 10% offset that we have in the slave loop is acceptable under most circumstances. As long as we have integral action in the outer loop, the primary controller can make necessary adjustments in its output and ensure that there is no steady state error in the controlled variable (e.g., the furnace temperature). 

A Routh-Hurwitz analysis can confirm that. The key point is that with cascade control, the system becomes more stable and allows us to use a larger proportional gain in the primary controller. The main reason is the much faster response (smaller time constant) of the actuator in the inner loop.2... 

It is useful to compare these values with those found for conventional control = 19.8 and oi. = 1.61. We can see that cascade control results in higher controller gain and smaller dosedloop time constant (the reciprocal of the frequency). Figure 11.26 gives a root locus plot for the primary controller with the secondary controller gain set at Two of the loci start at the complex poles s = rj which Come from the dosedloop secondary loop. The other curve... 

The reactor temperature controller (loop 2) is the primary controller, whereas the jacket temperature controller (loop 3) is the secondary controller. The advantage of the cascade control is that the reactor temperature control quickly reacts by the cascade system to disturbances in cooling fluid inlet conditions. The d3mamics of the transfer function G32 is faster than that of G 22-In the CSTR cascade control there are two control loops using two different measurements temperatures T and Tj, but only one manipulated variable Fj. The transfer function of the primary controller is the following ... 

In the other design, PWRs have two closed loops of water circulating in the plant plus a third, external loop to remove the waste heat. Water is pumped through the reactor core in the primary coolant loop to moderate the neutrons and to remove the heat from the core as in the BWR. However, the reactor vessel is pressurized so that the water does not boil. Steam is necessary to run the turbines, so the primary loop transfers the heat to a secondary loop. The water in the secondary loop is allowed to boil, producing steam that is isolated from both the core and the outside. The water in the primary loop usually contains boron (as boric acid H3BO3 0.025 M) to control the reactivity of the reactor. The steam in the secondary loop is allowed to expand and cool through a set of turbines as in the BWR the cold steam condenses and is returned to the primary heat exchanger. A third loop of water is used to maintain the low-temperature end of the expansion near room temperature and remove the waste heat. 

An addition to the noted advantages is that the set point of the secondary controller can be limited. In addition, by speeding up the overall cascade loop response, the sensitivity of the primary process variable to process upsets is also reduced, whereas the secondary loop can reduce the effect of control valve sticking or actuator nonlinearity. The primary or outer control loop of a cascade system is usually a PI or PID controller. A properly selected secondary will reduce the proportional band of the primary controller. 

Adding a cascade slave to a fast loop can destabilize the primary if most of the process dynamics (time lags) are within the secondary loop. The most common example of this is using a valve positioner in a flow-control loop. The... 

In heat exchanger applications, cascade loops are configured so that the master detects the process temperature and the slave detects a variable, such as steam pressure, that may upset the process temperature. The cascade loop, responds immediately and corrects for the effect of the upset before it can influence the process temperature. The cascade master adjusts the set point of the slave controller to assist in achieving this. Therefore, the slave must be much faster than the master. A rule of thumb is that the time constant of the primary controller should be ten times that of the secondary, or the period of oscillation of the primary should be three times that of the secondary. One of the quickest (and therefore best) cascade slaves is the simple and inexpensive pressure regulator. 

Inspecting Equation (5.29), we notice that three of the state variables (namely, Mr, My, and Ml) are material holdups, which act as integrators and render the system open-loop unstable. Our initial focus will therefore be a pseudo-open loop analysis consisting of simulating the model in Equation (5.29) after the holdup of the reactor, and the vapor and liquid holdup in the condenser, have been stabilized. This task is accomplished by defining the reactor effluent, recycle, and liquid-product flow rates as functions of Mr, My, and Ml via appropriate control laws (specifically, via the proportional controllers (5.42) and (5.48), as discussed later in this section). With this primary control structure in place, we carried out a simulation using initial conditions that were slightly perturbed from the steady-state values in Table 5.1. 

A DC motor is feedback-controlled by a current sub-control loop and a primary speed control loop. In order to close the control loop, the actual current value is fed back to the current control loop and a speed signal to the speed control loop. While current is measured in the power converter, a shaft encoder on the motor is required for speed signal feedback. Either a tacho-generator or a digital encoder is used as a speed transmitter. If speed measurement accuracy is not very important, the speed feedback can be measured via armature voltage. In this case, this measurement can also be done within the power converter. Static control accuracy reaches... 

Cascade control is one solution to this problem (see Fig. 8-35). Here the jacket temperature is measured, and an error signal is sent from this point to the coolant control valve this reduces coolant flow, maintaining the heat transfer rate to the reactor at a constant level and rejecting the disturbance. The cascade control configuration will also adjust the setting of the coolant control valve when an error occurs in reactor temperature. The cascade control scheme shown in Fig. 8-35 contains two controllers. The primary controller is the reactor temperature coolant temperature controller. It measures the reactor temperature, compares it to the set point, and computes an output, which is the set point for the coolant flow rate controller. This secondary controller compares the set point to the coolant temperature measurement and adjusts the valve. The principal advantage of cascade control is that the secondary measurement (jacket temperature) is located closer to a potential disturbance in order to improve the closed-loop response. 

Automatic valves are part of a control loop, which is shown in Figure 8.6. The loop contains a primary element, which measures the controlled variable, such as temperature, pressure, flow rate, and liquid level. The operation of a control loop is the same regardless of what variable is controlled. In the case of flow-rate control, the controller obtains the flow rate from transmitter a flow meter and compares the measured flow rate with a value that has been preset in the controller. If the flow rate is greater than the preset value, the controller increases air pressure on top or bottom of a diaphragm in the valve. Then, the valve partially closes to reduce the flow rate. On the other hand, if the flow rate is below the preset value, the controller will act to reduce the air pressure on the diaphragm, and hence the valve opens wider. Electric motors can also operate automatic control valves. 

Books have been written about each of these sub-topics and many standards exist to specify best practices or provide guidance. The Instrumentation, Systems and Automation Society (ISA) is the primary professional society that addresses many of these different aspects of process control. The focus of this chapter will be on control loop principles, loop tuning, and basic control strategies for continuous processes. 

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