CHE 446 Final

April, 2008

Remember to list and justify all assumptions!

Total number of marks is 100
Total Time for Examination: 120 Minutes

Question 1: 20 marks

True/False questions (marking is right minus wrong to prevent guessing):

1. A large gain margin is always better than a large phase margin.
2. Feed forward control can improve the stability of a closed-loop system.
3. The time delay of a process can be improved using a well-tuned PID controller.
4. The theoretical closed loop response of a first-order process with no time delay and
a proportional only controller will never have oscillations in the output in response
to a step change in the set-point.
5. In the ChE 446 process control lab, the gain of the PID controller in the DeltaV
system is dimensionless.

Question 2: 30 marks
Consider the reactor system shown in Figure 1. Your goal is to control the temperature in
the reactor by manipulating the flow of water to the cooling jacket.

Part I [5 marks]
Write down the process variables and classify them as disturbances, inputs and outputs.

Part II [5 marks]
Which disturbance(s) can be handled best using feed-forward?

Part III [5 marks]

Which disturbances can be best handled using cascade?

Part IV [15 marks]

To Figure 1 add the logic and wiring to show the implementation of a PID controller in
cascade as well as a feed-forward controller, as appropriate in this case.

Question 3: 20 marks
Consider a system with containing two tanks in series. The tanks are used to mix water
and salt. The input of each tank is the concentration of the salt in the inlet and the output
is the concentration of salt in the outlet. Let the two tanks have transfer functions given
by G1 (s) and G2 (s), respectively, with
G1 (s) =
G2 (s) =

3
s+1
1
3s + 1

Design a PID controller for regulating the concentration of the salt coming out of the 2nd
tank by manipulating the flow of salt into the first tank.

Question 4: 30 marks
Consider a differential equation given by
dy
= 6cos(y) + sin(u)
dt

(1)

Part I [5 marks]
Compute at least one set of steady state values for y and u in System 1.

Part II [15 marks]

Linearize the differential equation given in (1) about y = /2 and u = 0.

Part III [10 marks]

Obtain a transfer function that will describe the dynamics of the linearized system you
obtained in Part II.

Figure 1: Process Diagram for Question 2