Læringsutbytte

A candidate who has successfully completed the course will have a learning outcome in the form of aquired knowledge, skills, and general competence, as described below.

Knowledge:

The student will have knowledge about

• how control engineering can be applied to solve industrial and environmental problems,
• characterization of process dynamics,
• the structure of a feedback control loop,
• how the PID controller works,
• which factors influence control system stability,
• the principles of a number of different methods for controller tuning,
• the principle of and applications of cascade control,
• the principle of and applications of feedforward control,

• the principle of and applications of model-based predictive control (MPC),

• the basic principles of control structures for industrial processes,
• how control structures are documented with Piping and Instrumentation Diagrams (P&IDs),
• the principle of and applications of sequential control,
• the physical components of a feedback control loop, including automation devices, actuators and sensors,
• PC-based measurement, control and data logging with LabVIEW,
• simulation of control systems with commercial simulation software using premade process and control functions (blocks).

Skills

The student will be able to

• characterize process dynamics in terms of gain, time-constant, integrator (accumulator) gain, and time-delay from a given dynamic model in the time-domain (differential equations),
• design the structure of feedback control loops,
• explain how a PID controller works,
• identify factors which typically influence control system stability,
• apply various methods for controller tuning on a simulator and on a physical system,
• design the structure of cascade control systems,
• design feedforward controllers,
• explain the principle of a model-based predictive controller (MPC),
• design the structure of control systems for industrial processes in terms of a process and instrumentation diagrams to obtain specifications related to mass balances, production rate, temperature (energy) control, and quality control,
• design sequential control systems using sequential function chart (SFC),
• identify physical components of a feedback control loop, including automation devices, actuators and sensors,
• implement a PC-based system for measurement, control and data logging with LabVIEW,
• simulate a process control system using commercial simulation software using premade process and control functions (blocks).

General competences

The student will

• be able to evaluate the benefits of implementing control systems industrial processes and environmental engineerings systems,
• be able to communicate with control engineers,
• know how control systems are documented with block diagrams and process and instrumentation diagrams,
• master basic control systems terminology,
• be able to write a report for laboratory assignment and for a project task.

Innhold

Importance of control engineering for solving industrial and environmental problems. Characterization of process dynamics. Feedback control with PID (proportional-integral-derivative) controller. Factors influencing control system stability. Controller tuning. Cascade control. Feedforward control. Model-based predictive control (MPC) (introduction). Control structures for industrial processes. Sequential control. Automation technology. Sensors. Actuators. PC-based measurement, control, simulation and data logging with LabVIEW, including basic LabVIEW programming. Simulation of control systems with commercial simulation software using premade process and control functions (blocks).

Arbeids- og læringsformer

Self-study. Lectures. Exercises. Laboratory assignments.

An online, part-time version of the PT and EET study programmes will start Fall 2016. An online version of the present course is taught according to the online, part-time PT and EET study programmes. The course will continue to be taught as a traditional campus-based course. The course contents and the learning material used in the course will be the same in both programmes, however, with some differences in the organization of the course: In the online version of the course, there are no ordinary lectures. A number of relevant videos produced by the instructor(s), or external videos, will be provided. These videos will be provided both for the online course and for the campus-based course. In the online course, laboratory assignments will be organized at a gathering on the campus at the end of the semester.

Vurderingsformer

The compulsory laboratory assignments must be accomplished satisfactorily to pass the course. Once this requirement is fullfilled, the grade is given 100% by the results of the individual written examination which takes place without aids.

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