ChE 475 Process Dynamics and Control Homework I

Due: September 27th, Wednesday

Please read pg. 4-6 and examine Figures 1.4, 1.5 and Table 1.1 in your textbook, prior to solving
homework questions.

1. You are responsible from a large and poorly insulated tank unit situated in an open field, used
to increase the temperature of the incoming water pumped from a nearby lake, so that this heated
water could be used in farm houses.

Heating utility is hot oil, which is supplied from a well-insulated and electrically heated reservoir,
of which you are not responsible. For the unit which you are responsible, what are the

a) Controlled variable(s), manipulated variable(s), and possible disturbances?

b) Which controlled variable should be paired with which manipulated variable? Construct
the necessary control loops.
 c) If there is suddenly an increase in Fin, what is going to be the initial response of the
controlled variables, and what would the controllers do to bring the process back to its
operating point? Is this regulatory or servo control?
d) If there is suddenly an increase in the desired outlet temperature, what is going to be the
initial response of the controlled variables, and what would the controllers do to bring the
process back to its operating point? Is this regulatory or servo control?
e) Note that the above control structure is called feedback control. If you would like to
replace one of the feedback loops with a feedforward loop, what would the control
structure look like?
2.
3. Solve Ex. 1.2 on pg. 12, and 1.5 on pg. 13 (neglect the sensor and actuator parts of the
question).
4.

(In part b of the question above, neglect process and instrumentation diagram; just draw a simple
schematic representation of human body, controlled variables, manipulated variables and
disturbances.)
5.
b. How do you realize a constant volume and constant temperature operation in the system? Which
variables are controlled and manipulated variables, and disturbances (name any necessary variable
not listed above)?

c. Assuming that the process is operated at the maximum capacity of the reactors, determine the
concentrations in both tanks.

d. How do tank concentrations change w.r.t. inlet flow rate at steady state? How do tank
concentrations change w.r.t. inlet concentration at steady state? Show the algebraic equations and
graphical solutions (using MATLAB).

e. If inlet concentration is increased by 5%, what is the dynamic responses of the tank
concentrations (solve using MATLAB)? Do the s.s. values obtained from dynamic responses
match with those determined in part (e)? What are the differences in the dynamic responses of the
two tanks?

Questions 2, 4 and 5 are taken from Bequette (2003).