Group Number:

B-7

Name & Seat No of Group Members

Muhammad Faizan (B1333043)
Fasih Asif (B1333020)
Bilal Hassan (B1333016)
Mujtaba Hussain (B1233025)

Date: 5th of April, 2020

Complex Engineering Problems

Problem:

Consider the stirred tank heater as shown in figure. A liquid enters the tank with a
flow rate Fi and a temperature Ti, where it is heated with steam having flow rate
Fst. Let F and T be the flow rate and temperature of the stream leaving the tank.
The tank is considered to be well stirred, which implies that the temperature of
the effluent is equal to the temperature of the liquid in the tank.
The operational objectives of this heater are:
1. To keep the effluent temperature T at a desired value Ts.
2. To keep the volume of the liquid in the tank at a desired value Vs.
3. Develop the control strategy feed forward and feed backward for
controlling the above two requirements.

Solution:

The control objectives are to maintain the temperature of the outlet (T) and the
volume of the fluid (V) in the tank at desired values.
For this example the quantification of the control objectives is direct and
straightforward: that is,
T= T,
V= V,
Where T, and V, are given, desired values.

The operation of the heater is disturbed by external factors such as changes in the
feed flow rate and temperature (F, and T,). If nothing changed, then after
attaining T=Ts & V=Vs, we could leave the system alone without any supervision
and control. It is clear, though, that this cannot be true since Ti, and Fi, are subject
to frequent changes. Consequently, some form of control action is needed to
alleviate the impact of the changing disturbances and keep T and V at the desired
values.
In this figure we see such a control action to keep T = Ts, when Ti or Fi changes. A
thermocouple measures the temperature T of the liquid in the tank, Then T is
compared with the desired value Ts, yielding a deviation
e = Ts-T. The value of the deviation e is sent to a control mechanism which
decides what must be done in order for the temperature T to return back to the
desired value Ts. If e > 0, which implies that T < Ts. the controller opens the steam
valve so that more heat can be supplied. On the contrary. the controller closes
the steam valve when e < 0 or T > Ts. It is clear that when T = Ts, (i.e., e = 0), the
controller does nothing. This control system, which measures the variable of
direct importance (T in this case) after a disturbance had its effect on it. is called
the feedback control system. The desired value T, is called the set point and is
supplied externally by the person in charge of production.
On the other hand in the following figure:

we realize that we can use a different control arrangement to maintain T = Ts

when Ti changes. Make sure the temperature of the inlet stream Ti and open or
close the steam valve to provide more or less steam. Such a control configuration
is called feed forward control and is shown in above figure. We notice that the
feed forward control does not wait until the effect of the disturbances has been
felt by the system, but acts appropriately before the external disturbance effects
the system.
A similar configuration can be used in above (a) & (b) figure if we want to keep
the volume V. or equivalently the liquid level h, at its set point hs when Fi
changes. In this case we measure the level of the liquid in the tank and we open
or close the valve that affects the effluent flow rate F. or inlet flow rate Fi. It is
clear that the control systems shown in above figures are also feedback control
systems.