CONTROL ENGINEERING LABORATORY

MODUL 4: Water Level

Control System PCT-100
 Laboratorium Teknik Pengaturan
Departemen Teknik Elektro
Fakultas Teknologi Elektro
Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember

Water Level Control System PCT-100

OBJECTIVE
To provide controlled process in a learning environment which reflects the control problems
experience in industry. Students may know about control system in liquid level control and can
carry out detailed analysis of alternative control techniques. To illustrate simply and clearly,
the fundamental control techniques of proporsional, integral and derivative control.

REFERENCE
Ogata K. Modern Control Engineering. 2010
Anonymous. User’s Manual Process Control Technology-100
Ljung L. System Identification, Theory for the user 2nd edition

EQUIPMENT REQUIRED
1 set Process Rig
1 set Control Module
1 set PC

INTRODUCTION
Process Control Technology (PCT-100)
Process control is a branch of control engineering relating to the operation of the plant in an
industries such as petrochemicals, foodstuffs, steel, glass, paper, energy, etc. The main objective
is to maintain the stability of all variables in the process. Temperature, level, flow, and pressure
are the four most common process variables. This four variables are key to process control
because it provide a critical condition for boiling, chemical reaction, distillation, extrusion,
vacuuming, and air conditioning. Bad control of this four variables can cause safety, quality,
and productivity problems. Therefore, it is highly desirable to keep under control and
maintained within its safety limits. Process Control Technology PCT-100 is an instrument used
to demonstrate various aspects of process control. This equipment facilitate the process control
via computer or Programmable Logic Controller (PLC). The main elements of the PCT-100 are
the process rig and control module.

Process Rig
Process rig is the main elements of PCT-100 for a diagram of the PCT- 100 can be shown in
Figure 2. PCT-100 includes the following elements:
1. Process tank 12. Pressure relief valve
2. Sump tank 13. Heater
3. Cooler Unit 14. Level sensor
4. Sump tank Temperature sensor (PRT) 15. Pressure transducer
5. Variable speed pump with filter 16. Float switch
6. 3/2 Diverter valve 17. Overvlow
7. 2/2 Proportional control valve 18. Digital LCD displays
8. Flow rate sensor 19. Indicator Light
9. One way check valve
10. 2/2 Proportional drain valve

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Departemen Teknik Elektro
Fakultas Teknologi Elektro
Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember

11. Needle valve

Figure 1. Process Rig of PCT-100.

The sump contains a store of distilled water which may be pumped around the system at flow-
rates up to about 3.2 liters/minute. Water may be pumped directly from the sump tank to the
process tank or be diverted via the cooler. The fluid in the process tank may be drained via the
manual or computer controlled valves below the tank, so completing the fluid cycle. The five
digital displays are used to show the sump tank and process tank temperatures, flow-rate,
pressure and level and the indicator lamps reveal the on/off status of the cooler fan, and
computer controlled drain and diverter valves and the heater.

Control Module
The control module incorporates all of the electronic circuitry required to link the process rig to
the controller. The design of the circuits demonstrates the interfacing principles required in
many process control situations where a mix of analogue, digital and frequency signals have to
be processed. Shown in Figure 3, the front of the Control Module has a schematic of the Process
Rig, On/Off indicator, six illuminated fault switches, test points, indicators to show the
operational status of the elements on the rig, and a backlight switch to turn on the backlights for
the displays on the rig.

Figure 2. Front part of Control Module of PCT-100

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 Laboratorium Teknik Pengaturan
Departemen Teknik Elektro
Fakultas Teknologi Elektro
Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember

All connections to the process rig and power supply unit are made at the rear of the control
module. The USB port on the PC is connected to the USB sockets on the control module and
there are analog and digital I/O that is connected to the Process Rig as shown in Figure 4.

Figure 3. Rear part of Control Module of PCT-100

Heater Control
Since the heating element is capable of heating the water in the process tank to a high
temperature or causing damage to the tank, several safety features have been incorporated into
the PCT-100 system. The safety requirements are as follows:
 The heating element must only be energized when the water level in the process tank is
at the required level.
 If any connection between the computer and control module fails or the computer
"crashes", the heating element must be switched off automatically.
 Tank full signal. The software supplied incorporates an interlock to prevent power being
applied to the heater until the signal from the level sensor shows that the process tank is
the required level. If students are to write their own control software it is crucially
important that they duplicate this software interlock in their program, before they use
the heating element.
 Failures or crashes. If the computer-to-control module communication fails, the circuitry
on the control module detects this and turns the heating element off.
The heating element contained in the process tank is controlled by the computer using a pulse
width modulation (PWM) technique. The required "mark/space ratio" is determined by a
software algorithm in the case of computer control. As the mark/space ratio increases the
average rate at which electrical energy is dissipated by the heating element increases, increasing
the rate at which the water is heated.

Pump Control
The software initially outputs zero and gradually increases the output to whatever value is
necessary to achieve the required flow rate. A PID algorithm utilizing feedback from the flow-
meter re-calculates the output value at each sample interval.

Switched Faults
With the understanding of how systems operate within industrial control systems there is a great
need for individuals with fault finding skills. To help develop these skills, PCT-100 incorporates

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Departemen Teknik Elektro
Fakultas Teknologi Elektro
Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember

six individually selectable switched faults located on the front panel of the control module (see
Figure 2. Front Part of Control Module). The switched faults are typical of those found in real
industrial applications. Generally an electrical fault may be due to one or more of the following:
1. Component failure
2. Electrical short circuit to supply.
3. Electrical short circuit to ground.
4. Crossed signal wires either due to a short or incorrect commissioning.
5. Open circuit due to a broken wire, burnt circuit track or bad connection.
The student may be given fault finding tests following his observation of the correct operation
of the PCT-100. The effect of each fault is shown in Table 1. Using standard test equipment in
conjunction with circuit diagrams, the faults may be successfully diagnosed.

Table 1. List of switched faults

PID Controller
PID controller has three main components there are the proportional or denoted by P , Integral
or I, and a differential or D as shown in Figure 2. A typical structure of a PID control system
is shown in Equation 1, where it can be seen that in a PID controller, the error signal e(t) is
used to generate the proportional, integral, and derivative actions, with the resulting signals
weighted and summed to form the control signal u(t) applied to the plant model. A
mathematical description of the PID controller is

 1
t
de(t ) 
u (t )  K p e(t )   e( )d   d , (1)
 i 0 dt 

Figure 4. Block Diagram of PID Controller.

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 Laboratorium Teknik Pengaturan
Departemen Teknik Elektro
Fakultas Teknologi Elektro
Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember

Where u(t) is the input signal to the plant model, e(t) is defined as e(t)=r(t) − y(t), and r(t)
is the reference input signal.

Proportional Controller
Proportional controller providing action that is proportional to the recent error. The controller
consists of a constant proportional gain shown in Equation 2. Proportional controller used to
speed up the response but the greater the value, the greater the error that occurred and will also
cause the system to oscillate.

u(t )  K p e(t )  K p (r (t )  y(t )), (2)

Integral Controller
Integral controller providing action is proportional to the integral of the error. This controller
can eliminate errors that occurred but system response is slow. The relationship between the
error and the integral action can be seen in Equation 3. Integral controller can be use to eliminate
the steady state error.
t
u (t )  K i  e( ) d (3)
0

Differential Controller
When the controller is proportional giving of action based on the current error and provide
integral controller action based on the value of the previous error , then the differential controller
provide action based on the prediction error value coming as defined in Equation 4.

de(t )
u (t )  K d (4)
dt
The advantage of the differential controller is have zero at the origin. So that if it is added , the
system can become more stable . Differential controllers can’t be stand alone because , if applied
would give a zero value if the error that occurs is constant and will increase the control signal
is given . As a result, noise at high frequencies will be enlarged, therefore, form a differential
controller converted into Equation 5.

U ( s) Kd s
 (5)
E (s) K d s
1
N

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 Laboratorium Teknik Pengaturan
Departemen Teknik Elektro
Fakultas Teknologi Elektro
Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember

Level Measurement

Figure 5. A magnetising force, H, causes a dimensional change due to the alignment of

magnetic domains.

Magnetostriction is a property of ferromagnetic materials such as iron, nickel, and cobalt.

When placed in a magnetic field, these materials change size and/or shape
The physical response of a ferromagnetic material is due to the presence of magnetic
moments, and can be understood by considering the material as a collection of tiny permanent
magnets, or domains. Each domain consists of many atoms. When a material is not
magnetized, the domains arc randomly arranged. When the material is magnetized, the
domains are oriented with their axes approximately parallel to one another. Interaction of an
external magnetic field with the domains causes the magnetostrictive effect. This effect can
be optimized by controlling the ordering of the domains through alloy selection, thermal
annealing, cold working, and magnetic field strength.

The ferromagnetic materials used in magnetostrictive position sensors are transition metals
such as iron, nickel, and cobalt. In these metals, the 3d electron shell is not completely filled,
which allows the formation of a magnetic moment. (i.e., the shells closer to the nucleus than
the 3d shell arc complete, and they do not contribute to the magnetic moment). As electron
spins are rotated by a magnetic field, coupling between the electron spin and electron orbit
causes electron energies to change. The crystal then strains so that electrons at the surface can
relax to states of lower energy. When a material has positive magnetostriction, it enlarges
when placed in a magnetic field; with negative magnetostriction, the material shrinks. The
amount of magnetostriction in base elements and simple alloys is small, on the order of 10
6 m/m.

Since applying a magnetic field causes stress that changes the physical properties of a
magnetostrictive material, it is interesting to note that the reverse is also true: applying
stress to a magnetostrictive material changes its magnetic properties (e.g., magnetic
permeability). This is called the Villari effect. Normal magnetostriction and the Villari effect
are both used in producing a magnetostrictive position
sensor.

The Wiedemann effect describes the

twisting due to an axial magnetic field applied to a
ferromagnetic wire or tube that is carrying an
electric current.

Figure 6.
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 Laboratorium Teknik Pengaturan
Departemen Teknik Elektro
Fakultas Teknologi Elektro
Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember

An important characteristic of a wire made of a magnetostrictive material is the Wiedemann

effect (see Figure 2). When an axial magnetic field is applied to a magnetostrictive wire,
and a current is passed through the wire, a twisting occurs at the location of the axial
magnetic field. The twisting is caused by interaction of the axial magnetic field, usually from
a permanent magnet, with the magnetic field along the magnetostrictive wire, which is
present due to the current in the wire. The current is applied as a short-duration pulse, 1 or 2
µs; the minimum current density is along the centre of the wire and the maximum at the wire
surface. This is due to the skin effect.

The magnetic field intensity is also greatest at the wire surface. This aids in developing the
waveguide twist. Since the current is applied as a pulse, the mechanical twisting travels in the
wire as an ultrasonic wave. The magnetostrictive wire is therefore called the waveguide. The
wave travels at the speed of sound in the waveguide material, ~ 3000 m/s.

The operation of a magnetostrictive position sensor is shown in Figure 3

The interaction of a current pulse with the position magnet generates a strain pulse that travels
down the waveguide and is detected by the pickup element.

Figure 7.
The axial magnetic field is provided by a position magnet. The position magnet is attached
to the machine tool, hydraulic cylinder, or whatever is being measured. The waveguide wire
is enclosed within a protective cover and is attached to the stationary part of the machine,
hydraulic cylinder, etc.

The location of the position magnet is determined by first applying a current pulse to the
waveguide. At the same time, a timer is started. The current pulse causes a sonic wave to be
generated at the location of the position magnet Wiedemann effect. The sonic wave travels
along the waveguide until it is detected by the pickup. This stops the timer. The elapsed time
indicated by the timer then represents the distance between the position magnet and the
pickup.

The sonic wave also travels in the direction away from the pickup. In order to avoid an
interfering signal from waves travelling in this direction, their energy is absorbed by a
damping device (called the damp). The pickup makes use of the Villari effect. A small piece
of magnetostrictive material, called the tape, is welded to the waveguide near one end of the
waveguide. This tape passes through a coil and is magnetized by a small permanent magnet

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Departemen Teknik Elektro
Fakultas Teknologi Elektro
Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember

called the bias magnet. When a sonic wave propagates down the waveguide and then down
the tape, the stress induced by the wave causes a wave of changed permeability (Villari
effect) in the tape. This in turn causes a change in the tape magnetic flux density, and thus a
voltage output pulse is produced from the coil (Faraday Effect). The voltage pulse is detected
by the electronic circuitry and conditioned into the desired output.

EXPERIMENT
Experiment 1. Proporsional Control
It is sometimes necessary to perform the identification experiment under output feedback, i.e.,
in closes loop. The reason may be that the plant is unstable or that it has to be controller for
production, economic, or safety reasons, or that it contains inherent feedback mechanisms.

Operational Procedure
1. Open software PCT-100, and go to fluid level window.
2. Set SP value of level by 20%
3. Set PG value by 2
4. Change the value of PG between 2 and 10 in accordance with the Table 2 below and write
the steady state value in Table 1. Record the response
5. Set the sample time by 0.1
6. Start the simulation and record the response by File → Save.
Experimental Data
Steady state value each changing PG and SP can be write in Table 2. Draw the response
from data in step 4 changing PG and SP.

Table 2. Experiment data of proportional control

SP (%) PG Steady State
20 2
20 4
20 6
20 8
20 10

Analysis and Experiment Task

1. What is the effect increasing and decreasing PG value? (prove it)
2. What conclusions about the nature of proportional controller may be drawn from
your observations?
3. What is the characteristic P controller?
4. Design proportional controller and calculate the value of error steady state to the
system above, by design specification 𝜏 ∗ = 𝜏 x ([3 last digits NRP]/10. Given
K=[3 last digits NRP]/100, 𝜏 =[3 last digits NRP].
𝑲
𝝉𝒔+𝟏

Experiment 2. Proportional + Integral Control

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 Laboratorium Teknik Pengaturan
Departemen Teknik Elektro
Fakultas Teknologi Elektro
Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember

Integral controllers are often used to eliminate the offset caused by proportional control. Short
setting controller Integral Action Time (IAT) resulting integral effect greater action on the
controller output. Correction is performed on the output by the integral action relating to the
PG setting. PG great value means a major correction on the output due to the integral action.
Integral Action Time (IAT) is defined as the time taken for the integral action to duplicate the
proportional action of the controller, if the error were to remain constant during the period.

Operational Procedure
1. Run a set of fluid level control experiments beginning with an empty process tank
2. Ensure that the Auto Drain feature is turned off in each case
3. Set PG value by 5 and the SP value of level 20%
4. Set the value of I between 999 and 1 in accordance with the table 3 below and write the
steady state value in Table 3.
5. Start the simulation and record the response by File → Save

Table 3. Experiment data of proportional and integral control

SP PG I Steady State Observations
30% 5 999
30% 5 600
30% 5 300
30% 5 100
30% 5 10
30% 5 1

Analysis and Experiment Task

1. What conclusions about the nature of these fluid level experiments may be drawn from
your observations?
2. Why is the characteristic system level tank to be better when given controller
Integral? (Prove it use to performance characteristic of transient response and
steady state response analysis)
3. Design proportional integral (PI) controller, by design specification 𝜏 ∗ = 𝜏 x ([3
last digits NRP]/ 10). Given K=[3 last digits NRP]/100, 𝜏 =[3 last digits NRP].
𝑲
𝝉𝒔+𝟏

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