Objective.

1. To identify the important components of the air pressure control system and to mark them
in the P&I Diagram.
2. To carry out the start-up procedures systematically.
3. To control the pressure in single capacity and two capacity processes using PID
controller.
4. To tune the PID controller using Ziegler Nicholas closed-loop method.

Summary.

Introduction.

Gas pressure regulators reduce high-pressure gas in a cylinder or process line to a

lower, usable level as it passes to another piece of equipment. They also maintain
pressure within a gas delivery system. Gas pressure regulators are not flow control
devices; they are used to control delivery pressure only. There are three basic
operating components in gas pressure regulators: a loading mechanism, a sensing
element, and a control element. These three components work together to
accomplish pressure reduction.
Loading mechanisms for gas pressure regulators determine the setting of the
regulator delivery pressure. Most gas pressure regulators use a spring for the
loading mechanism. When a gas pressure regulators hand knob is turned, the
spring is compressed. Force is placed on the spring and is communicated to both
the sensing element and the control element to achieve the outlet pressure.
Sensing elements in gas pressure regulators sense the force placed on the spring
and set the delivery pressure. Most gas pressure regulators use a diaphragm as the
sensing element. These diaphragms may be constructed of elastomers or metal.
The sensing element communicates this change in force to the control element.
In gas pressure regulators, the control element is the valve that accomplishes the
reduction of inlet pressure to outlet pressure. When the gas regulators hand knob is
turned, the loading mechanism is compressed. The spring displaces the sensing
element and the diaphragm then pushes on the control element, causing it to move
away from the gas pressure regulators seat. In turn, the orifice becomes larger in
order to provide the flow and pressure required.

Theory.
Ziegler and Nichols first proposed their method in 1942. It is a trial-and-error loop tuning
technique that is still widely used today. The automatic mode (closed-loop) procedure is as
follows:
Set our controller to P-Only action and switch it to automatic when the process is at
the design level of operation.
Guess an initial controller gain, Kc, that we expect (hope) is conservative enough to keep the
loop stable.
Bump the set point a small amount and observe the response behavior.
If the controller is not causing the measured process variable (PV) to sustain an oscillating
pattern, increase the Kc (or decrease the proportional band, PB) and wait for the new
response.
Keep adjusting and observing by trail and error until we discover the value of Kc that causes
sustained uniform oscillations in the PV. These oscillations should neither be growing nor
dying out, and the controller output (CO) should remain unconstrained.
The controller gain at this condition is called the ultimate gain, Ku. The period of the PV
oscillation pattern at the ultimate gain is called the ultimate period, Pu.

Results and discussion.