Dynamic Control systemS


SKILLS / MAIN GOALS

At the end of this module the students will be capable of develop, integrate or improve PID controllers for dynamic systems.

CONTENTS

  • Control systems: introduction, examples, block diagrams, open and close loop systems

  • Control principles: mathematical modeling of dynamic systems, linearity, transfer function, block diagrams, frequency response, stability, computational simulation

  • Control approaches: classic, optimal, fuzzy, other approaches

  • ON-OFF and PID Control(P, PI, D, PID): designing and tuning by analytic and experimental methods, and study of the P, D and I control actions.

  • Analysis of systems of first, second and third order in transitory and steady state

GAMIFIED CONTEXT

In this module the student finds out that there are lots of opportunities to improve the factory’s results through better tuning the PID controllers in machines and processes. So the team leader recommends studying and developing PID controllers to 3 equipment which are available for tests.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Students will face practical situations in which they need to develop dynamic control systems with a PLC.

PLC TECHNOLOGY OPTIONS

In this module, the professor may use tools such as Codesys Development, that is free, WinPCL7 which has demo and lite free versions, Simatic Manager, TIA Portal or Logix5000. Naturally, if the institution decides to use a Rockwell or Siemens system, it needs to provide licenses to the students.

These equipment are 3 dynamic systems, each one with a different behavior: a valve(left), an electric furnace(middle) and a linear cursor(right). In the module the student applies every concept, approach and technique learned in 3 different dynamic systems

CHALLENGE/TASK VALIDATION

In the control module, most of the tasks are validated by verifying If the controller inmplemented by the student meets the requirements available in the instructions. As mentioned before, this is an automatic mechanism, so the platform gives feedback to the student about his applications results.
As you can see in the picture, in the left side the Siemens TIA portal is opened. The student has already developed his software and at the time of the screenshot, the student was testing the application and using the TIA trace feature.

MODULE STRUCTURE IN CHALLENGES

CHALLENGE 1. STUDYING AND EXPERIMENTING THE SYSTEMS

Project:​ The student is requested to study the behavior of the 3 systems and try to keep them at specific points using a potentiometer. In the end the student verifies that in one of them this task is easy. In another, not so easy and in one of them it’s humanly impossible.

CHALLENGE 2. OPEN-LOOP CONTROl

Project:​ The student implements an open loop control for the systems and finds out that it doesn’t work well in every case

CHALLENGE 3. TRANSIENT AND STEADY STATE RESPONSE

Project:​ The student must run experiments and verify each system’s transient and steady state behavior.

CHALLENGE 4. ON-OFF CONTROL

Project:​ The student must design and evaluate the response of an ON-OFF controller in each of the 3 systems.

CHALLENGE 5. PROPORTIONAL CONTROLLER

Project:​ The student must design and evaluate the response of a proportional controller.

CHALLENGE 6. SIEMENS PID BLOCK

Project:​ The student learns how to work with the Siemens PID Block and must implement a proportional controller using it for each of the 3 systems

CHALLENGE 7. PI CONTROLLER

Project:​ The student must design and evaluate the response of a proportional and integral controller.

CHALLENGE 8. PD CONTROLLER

Project:​ The student must design and evaluate the response of a proportional and derivative controller.

CHALLENGE 9 PiD CONTROLLER

Project:​ The student must design and evaluate the response of a proportional, integral and derivative controller.

CHALLENGE 10. ZIEGLER-NICHOLS METHOD (CLOSED-LOOP)

Project:​ The student must use the Ziegler-Nichols method to tune a PID controller.

CHALLENGE 11. ZIEGLER-NICHOLS METHOD (OPEN-LOOP)

Project:​ The student must use the Ziegler-Nichols method to tune a PID controller.

CHALLENGE 12. OTHER PARAMETRIZATIONMETHODS

Project:​ The student must tune PID controllers using other parametrization methods.

CHALLENGE 13. AUTO-TUNING

Project:​ The student learns how to use the auto-tuning in the Siemens PID block