School of Engineering and Computer Science

Engineering Final Year Project

PLAN REPORT
To control the Water level in a tank using PI controller

Family Name:

Forename/s:

Degree Programme: BEng-Mechanical Engineering

First Supervisor:

Second Marker:

Academic Year: 2018/ 2019

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Abstract

In certain applications such as chemical and industrial processes, it is important to keep the
level of water or any other liquid in a tank or similar container at a certain desired level. In this
work, we present PID based controller system where the level of water is controlled by
adjusting the rate of the incoming water flow to the container by varying the speed of a DC
motor water pump that is filling the container. The accuracy of the PID based controlling is
demonstrated using the MATLAB simulation software. In this project, the level of water in a
three tank system will be observed using PID controllers. This would be done using non-linear
observer techniques. Matlab will be used for modelling, designing and simulation.

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Table of Contents
Abstract ...................................................................................................................................... 2

1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 4

2 Aims and Objectives ........................................................................................................... 4

3 Motivation .......................................................................................................................... 5

4 Methodology/Approach ...................................................................................................... 5

4.1 Mathematical model of Tank ...................................................................................... 6

4.2 Mathematical model of Motor..................................................................................... 6

4.3 PID .............................................................................................................................. 7

4.4 Overall System Transfer Function .............................................................................. 7

5 Required Components/Resources ....................................................................................... 8

6 Project Timeline ................................................................................................................. 8

7 Expected Results............................................................................................................... 10

8 Bibliography ..................................................................................................................... 10

List of Figures

Figure 1 Schematic of model (Getu, 2016) ................................................................................ 7

Figure 2 Gantt-Chart for the project ........................................ Error! Bookmark not defined.

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1 Introduction
Water is an essential natural resource, which is vital not only to sustain life for drinking
purposes but also used in many industrial, chemical, commercial and agricultural processes. In
chemical or industrial processes such as treatment of water in desalination plants, the level of
water in a container like a tank need to be kept at certain set desired point. The level of the
water is need to be maintained at the desired set point for the proper functioning of the process
and achieve the desired target or product. In this case, a controlling system such as proportional
integral derivative (PID) controller plays a significant role in maintaining the accurate level by
implementing the system in a feedback control system. PID controllers are used in most
practical control systems. These controllers are widely used for temperature, flow and motion
control. The PID controller helps to get our desired output, which could be velocity in moving
objects, temperature in particular environment, position at certain location, liquid level in a
container and etcetera where we want to achieve a certain set point in a short possible time
with minimal overshoot and with little steady state error. The performance of the PID controller
are also determined by overshoots, rising time, settling time and steady state error parameters
(Hagglund, 2005).

In the past few decades, PID controllers have become very popular in industry due to their
wide range of application and ease in using. It has a simple control structure which can be
easily understood by plant operators and they can tune it according to their requirements.
Moreover, it is possible to tackle a variety of control problems using PID controllers due to
which they are very appealing to engineers. Many researchers have been working on tuning of
PID controllers for optimum performance.

In order to control the water level of the tank a feedback control system would be employed.
Feedback control makes a system more precise and less vulnerable to disturbances. Feedback
loops can be easily controlled using a PID controller.

2 Aims and Objectives

The main aim of this project is to develop a PID control loop for the three tank system present
in the laboratory which can measure the level of water in the tanks at all times. This control
should regulate the water levels of the two tanks through adjusting outflow of the pumps
attached to it. The water level control system using PID controller is an intelligent measurement
system that enables the user to measure and set the level of water or any other fluid in a tank
to a desired value. The major objectives of this project are identified as follows:

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  To perform an extensive literature review on control strategies using a PID controller.
 To mathematically model a coupled tank system.
 To design a PID controller for measuring water levels in the three tank system at all
times based on non-linear observer techniques.
 To develop the designed controller and test it using the three tank system present in
laboratory.
 To develop a model of the system on Matlab and perform simulations.
 To compare the experimental and simulation results.

3 Motivation
Measurements are a basic part of our everyday life. Measurements have been in this world
since the beginning of humans and every creation starts with measurements. Humans have
evolved to develop extremely complex and astounding technologies which further arise need
for a control system. Accuracy is an important parameter of any measurement and higher
accuracy in measurements is extremely crucial in several circumstances. For instance in an oil
refinery plant, if oil overflows from a tanks it can be hazardous to people and machinery around
it and can cause severe loss in terms of money and safety. Determining the accurate level of
water or any other fluid is a necessity in process industries where inaccurate measurements can
lead to defects in the final product resulting in higher costs.

In most cases, human supervision is limited to a particular time and are more prone to making
mistakes. Even if humans supervise hazardous contents of tanks the extra working hours would
result in higher cost. In case of hazardous contents in tank in any industry, continuous
monitoring and adjustment is a necessity. To monitor and control several plants use PID
controllers. PID controllers can provide accurate measurement of water level in the tank at all
times and can also allow the user to set the level to a desired point.

4 Methodology/Approach
It is more difficult to control non-linear systems as opposed to controlling linear systems.
Modelling of non-linear systems is also complex and no systematic approach exists for
predicting their behaviors. Most of the practical systems used in industries are non-linear in
nature. In this project the water level in a three tank system has to be measured. The system
consist of three cylindrical tanks of equal diameter as shown in Figure 1. The aim of this project
is to use the non-linear observer based techniques to determine the water level in the second
and third tank based on the measurement of level in the first tank. Observed based control

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design is a systematic design method which has been widely used for control application.
Observer based control methods have a state observer. A state observer is a system that
provides an estimate of a certain measurement based on the input and output of the system. So
instead of measuring a value directly, it would be measured using observers. The observers in
this case would be level in tank 1 “h1” and the flow rate of water through the pumps that would
be used to indirectly measure water level in other tanks.

Figure 1: The three tank system

4.1 Mathematical model of Tank

Consider that motor pumps water to the container at a rate of qin [m3/s] through an inlet pipe,
the container with cross-sectional area A[in m2], is filled to water level, h and water is leaving
the container at a rate of qo [m3/s] through an outlet pipe. Using the balance of the flows into
and out of the tank, the height, h is related to qin and qo as:

𝑑ℎ
𝑞𝑖𝑛 − 𝑞𝑜 = 𝐴
𝑑𝑡
The out flow from the tank and the height can also be related assuming linear resistance to flow
for simplicity of analysis and it is given as:

ℎ
𝑞𝑜 =
𝑅𝑓
Where Rf [in s/m2] is the flow resistance.
4.2 Mathematical model of Motor
The free body diagram of the rotor with armature circuit is shown in Figure 1. An input voltage
“V” is applied in response to which rotational speed of the shaft w(t) =d /dt. It is assumed that
the rotor and shaft are rigid and do not undergo deformation. Furthermore, it is assumed that
friction is present and the frictional torque is directly proportional to angular velocity of the

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shaft. Viscous friction model is assumed for the system. The equations of the system are as
follows:

𝐽𝜃̈ + 𝑏𝜃̇ = 𝑇 = 𝐾𝑡 𝑖

𝑑𝑖
𝐿 + 𝑅𝑖 = 𝑒 = 𝑉 − 𝐾𝑒 𝜃̇
𝑑𝑡

Taking Laplace Transform:

𝑠 2 𝐽𝜃(𝑠) + 𝑠𝑏𝜃(𝑠) = 𝐾𝑡 𝐼(𝑠)

𝑠𝐿𝐼(𝑠) + 𝑅𝐼(𝑠) = 𝑉(𝑠) − 𝑠𝐾𝑒 𝜃(𝑠)

Overall transfer function is:

𝜔(𝑠) 𝐾𝑡
𝑃𝑚 (𝑠) = = 2
𝑉(𝑠) 𝑠 𝐽𝐿 + 𝑠(𝐽𝑅 + 𝑏𝐿) + 𝑅𝑏 + 𝐾𝑡 𝐾𝑒

Figure 2 Schematic of model (Getu, 2016)

4.3 PID
Transfer function of PID controller is:

𝑉(𝑠) 𝐾𝑖
𝐶(𝑠) = = 𝐾𝑝 + + 𝑠𝐾𝑑
𝑒(𝑠) 𝑠

(For PI control Kd=0)

4.4 Overall System Transfer Function

By simultaneously solving the equation of tank and assuming the linear relation between Speed
and flow rate, we get:

ℎ(𝑠) 𝑅𝑓
𝐺(𝑠) = =
𝜔(𝑠) 𝐾𝑓 + 𝑠𝐾𝑓 𝑅𝑓 𝐴

The overall transfer function of the forward path, F(s) is

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 ℎ(𝑠)
𝐹(𝑠) = = 𝐶(𝑠)𝑃𝑚 (𝑠)𝐺(𝑠)
𝑒(𝑠)
The overall transfer function, Gsys(s), of the overall system including the unity feedback loop
is given as:

ℎ(𝑠) 𝐹(𝑠)
𝐺𝑠𝑦𝑠 (𝑠) = =
ℎ𝑜 (𝑠) 1 + 𝐹(𝑠)
5 Required Components/Resources
 Water tanks
 Arduino
 Water pump
 Motor driver L298N
 Pipes and jumper wires
 Pressure Sensor (Expensive)/ Ultrasonic Sensor(Cheap)

6 Project Timeline
Our project is expected to be completed in the time span of 7 months from now onwards. The
scheduled timeline of the project is shown in the Gantt chart below.

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# Task Oct 19 Nov 19 Dec 19 Jan 20 Feb 20 Mar 20 Apr 20
7 14 21 28 4 11 18 25 2 9 16 23 30 6 13 20 27 3 10 17 24 2 9 16 23 30 6 13 20 27
1 Collection of data
resource
2 Literature review of
water level control
using PID
controllers
3 Mathematical model
of the system
4 Project planning
report
5 Introduction and
literature review of
the dissertation
6 Progress report
7 Update
methodology
8 Design of controller
9 Modelling in Matlab
10 Develop the
controller and
perform
experiments
11 Compare results of
experiment and
simulation
12 Develop a GUI for
displaying and
controlling water
level
13 Writing
Methodology
14 Writing results
15 Writing conclusion
16 Submission of final
draft
17 Meeting with
supervisors

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7 Expected Results
The level of water in the two tanks will be regulated by the outflow of the pump. The tanks can
be two or three as well. One will be able to see the level value on serial plotter. We can also
display the value of the height/level on the screen display.

8 Bibliography
Getu, B. N. (2016). Water Level Controlling System Using Pid Controller. Water Level
Controlling System Using Pid Controller, 11. Retrieved from
http://www.ripublication.com

Hagglund, T. (2005). PID Controllers: Theory, Design, and Tuning. ISA: The Instrumentation,
Systems, and Automation Society.

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