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A Primer on Process Control Part 2

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A PRIMER ON PROCESS CONTROL PART 2

August 7, 2014

Allan Soon

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Blog, Controls

The sight of control blocks on a Piping & Instrumentation Diagram (P&ID) may seem confusing and daunting for
the uninitiated, but having some basic understanding of process control can help in deciphering these little black
boxes of logic. The following will build on the knowledge of PID-controllers, discuss more complex controls
beyond cascade control, and provide the reader with a brief overview of various control schemes typically
encountered in industry.
High / Low Select or Override Control
There are many cases in industry where a simple single-variable control is not the only controlling variable on
any given line. There may be other competing constraints at that same location. Examples include limiting both
discharge pressure and temperature on a compressor, or level control on a slurry tank with a minimum
discharge flow to prevent plugging.
Depiction of a high/low selector on a control diagram can indicate what variables are being compared. This can
be comparing min/max of two PVs, or more likely, the comparing of OPs of two controllers. This latter scenario
is more likely because it would be difficult in most cases to compare engineering values of two different
properties. In the case of comparing OPs, the direct-acting/reverse-acting nature of the controllers will
determine the control output and the high/low selector will simply select the higher/lower signals. Lets look at
the slurry tank example.

Slurry Tank Level with Min Flow Control

The primary control in the above example is a direct-acting level controller manipulating VFD of the outlet pump
(i.e., as level rises, a higher discharge flow is needed to bring the level back to SP). Because the commodity is
slurry, there is a possibility of plugging in the downstream line if a minimum flow is not maintained. Therefore a
secondary, reverse-acting flow controller will cause the VFD of the outlet pump to increase whenever the
discharge flow rate drops below the flow controller SP. In this case, a high-selector is used to give preferential
control to the flow controller during low flow conditions. Also note that the SP of the secondary controller should
be set such that during normal operation, it will not be active controller in order to prevent unnecessary
competition.
Ratio Control
Another common type of control scheme can be seen in many injections/mixing controls. There can be two
school of thought for implementing Ratio Control.
Ratio Relay Control measuring one flow, applying a ratio
multiplier, and using this as the setpoint (Remote SP, or
RSP) to control another flow.

5/19/2016 11:41 PM

Tetranex Solutions Inc. A Primer on Process Control Part 2

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RSP) to control another flow.

Ratio Relay Control

Flow
Fraction Control measuring both flows, applying a ratio SP,
and controlling one of the flows.

Flow Fraction Control

There are advantages/disadvantages to both depending on the capabilities of the underlying control system.
The Flow Fraction controller is advantageous because it allows operations access to the ratio SP, however not
every control system can implement this type of controller. The Ratio Relay control utilizes basic control
functionality however the ratio is hard-coded into the ratio function block and therefore less accessible. The
accessibility of the Ratio SP (i.e., allowing operations to change ratio) may be by design depending on the
application.
Bias Control
Traditional PID control may benefit in performance by having an additional variable give feedback or
feedforward information to the main controller. Take for example a typical outlet temperature controller on a heat
exchanger. If the inlet feed was measured, it can be used to help predict the upcoming increase in load and
help the slow-reacting temperature controller by increasing steam into the exchanger ahead of time. The inlet
flow in this case is referred to as a feedforward variable. Obviously, if the biasing variable is the variable being
controlled, it is referred to as feedback.

Bias Control (Feedforward/Feedback)

An Example
In steam generation, control of the air and fuel mixture is crucial to maintaining a safe and efficient combustion
in the boiler. The idea behind Cross-Limiting Air/Fuel control is to keep the air/fuel ratio from being too lean or
too rich. Because the dual nature of this constraint, a single high/low-selector will not be sufficient to implement
this control strategy. Consider the following control flow diagram to adjust fuel/air ratio with demand of steam,
here quantified as pressure controller based on steam header pressure (i.e, reverse-acting controller: with
increasing steam pressure, lower demand).

Cross Limiting Control with Oxygen Trim

High-Select (>)

Fuel Low

Fuel High

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