CHE 360 Process Control (#15095)

Course Syllabus
CHE 360 Process Control (#15095)
Fall 2011

Instructor Teaching Assistant

Dr. Michael Baldea Cara Touretzky
CPE 4.466 CPE TBA
Phone 471 1281 caratour@utexas.edu
mbaldea@che.utexas.edu Office hours:
Office hours: F: 1-3pm
W: 9-10 am
F: 9-11 am

Grader
Paul Chung
paulsheki@gmail.com

Schedule
Lectures: MWF 8:00-9:00 AM CPE 2.218
Recitation: F 12:00-1:00 PM CPE 2.212
Please be punctual. Attendance is strongly recommended. There will be 6 unannounced quizzes during
the lecture period, which will count towards the final grade (see below).

Goals and Overview of the Course

CHE 360 is an integrative Chemical Engineering course, bringing together knowledge from the other
disciplines in the curriculum, including Heat and Mass Transfer, Separations, Reaction Engineering,
Process Design and Numerical Methods. Starting from the material studied in these courses, CHE 360
aims to provide students with knowledge and understanding of process dynamics, process models,
process control, and control system analysis and design. The knowledge, abilities and skills that students
are expected to gain from this course are:
 Ability to develop mathematical and transfer function models for dynamic processes.
 Ability to analyze process stability and dynamic responses.
 Ability to empirically determine process dynamics for step response data.
 Familiarity with different types of PID feedback controllers.
 Ability to read block diagrams and process and instrumentation diagrams.
 Ability to design feed forward control, cascade control and Smith predictors.
 Knowledge of multivariable process interactions.

Prerequisites:
 A grade of C or higher in each of CHE 322 (basic understanding of thermodynamics), CHE 354
(ability to establish models for dynamic process operations), CHE 253M (Knowledge and lab
experience with sensors, dynamics and data analysis)
 Completion of CHE 348 (solve analytically and numerically algebraic and ordinary differential
equations and to perform basic matrix operations)
 The students are also expected to be able to write macroscopic energy and mass balances for
dynamic operations, to be able to solve analytically and numerically algebraic and ordinary
 CHE 360 Process Control (#15095)

differential equations and to perform basic matrix operations. Awareness of complex variables
and complex functions.
 Working knowledge of Matlab (CHE 210, CHE 348)

Textbook
Process Dynamics and Control
Duncan A. Mellichamp, Dale Seborg, Thomas F. Edgar, Francis Doyle, John Wiley & Sons Inc, 2010, Third
Edition
ISBN-13: 978-0-470-12867-1
The book is available at the CO-OP and from online booksellers.

Additional Course Materials

A set of PowerPoint slides covering the lecture materials will be made available online. It may be helpful
to print these out before class and use as templates for taking notes. Other notes and write-ups will be
provided as necessary on the web.

Computational Resources
Matlab is available in the CHE computer lab

Course Structure
The lectures will aim to define key theoretical concepts of process control; some examples will be
discussed. The recitation section will be dedicated to solving problems. Some of the lectures will be held
during recitation periods and vice versa; dates will be announced a week in advance.

Grading
The final grade will be based on

3 (three) one-hour exams to be administered in 60

class. They will count 20% of the final grade each.
1 (one) final three hour exam 20
Unannounced quiz grades (see below) 15 (combined)
Homework assignments 5 (combined)
Grades will be curved as necessary and letter grades will be assigned based on natural breaks in the
distribution; this course will be using plus/minus grading

Homework: Homework will be assigned weekly, typically on Mondays, and will be due at the beginning
of the specified lecture (usually a week from the assigned date). Homework should be handed in
individually. You are encouraged to discuss the homework assignments with your classmates but every
student must hand in their own solution. Homework will be graded with an emphasis on effort. Some
homework assignments will have a computational component that is based on Matlab, in which case
you will be required to email your code to the Teaching Assistant by the homework due date/time.
Random checks will be performed to ensure that every student’s code represents their own original
work. Cases of plagiarism will be addressed according to the Academic Integrity statement below.
There will be a 25% grade penalty for each week day that the homework is turned in late unless prior
approval has been obtained from the instructor.
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Reading assignments: Reading assignments will be given regularly. Students are expected to complete
these assignments prior to the start of the following lecture. Note that the assigned material may be
covered in the unannounced quizzes.

Exams: There will be three mid-term examinations to be held during the regular lecture period,
scheduled as follows:
1. Friday September 23, 8-9 AM
2. Friday October 28, 8-9 AM
3. Monday November 20, 8-9 AM
The final exam is scheduled for Tuesday, December 13, 2:00-5:00 PM.
You may use the textbook and your classroom notes during the exam. The use of computers or
similar devices is not permitted.
In-class reviews will be held prior to each mid-term exam either during the recitation or during the
lecture period. Tentative dates are 9/21, 10/19 and 11/18 for the mid-terms, 12/2 for the final
review.
Regrading requests: you have one week after the graded exams are returned to you to request a
regrade. Regrade requests should be submitted to the instructor in writing at the end of the lecture
period. The request should describe in a few sentences why you think a regrade is necessary. Please use
a separate sheet of paper and do not make any annotations on the original exam paper.

Quizzes: There will be a total of six unannounced quizzes given during the lecture period. They will
consist of one or two questions covering the material in the previous lectures, homework assignments
and/or reading assignments. Quizzes are NOT open-book, open-notes. You may drop the grade of one
of the quizzes, which may be the lowest grade or a quiz that you missed. As with exams, you have one
week after the graded exams are returned to you to request a regrade. Regrade requests should be
submitted to the instructor in writing at the end of the lecture period. The request should describe in a
few sentences why you think a regrade is necessary. Please use a separate sheet of paper and do not
make any annotations on the original quiz paper.

The University of Texas at Austin provides upon request appropriate academic accommodations for
students with disabilities. For more information, please contact the Office of the Dean of Students at
471-6259, 471-6441 (TTY).

Absences: No excuses for missed tests, exams or quizzes will be accepted other than written certified
medical excuses or letters written on university letterhead for UT-related school activities.

Academic Integrity
The University has a strict policy on academic integrity. Any form of plagiarism or academic dishonesty
will NOT be tolerated in CHE 360. Forms of academic dishonesty include copying homework
assignments, cheating on exams, use of unauthorized materials for exams, and changing solutions to
returned assignments and exams. If you have any questions, please consult the websites below:

http://deanofstudents.utexas.edu/sjs/acint_student.php
http://www.utexas.edu/courses/clubmed/plgrism_cit.html

Failure to comply with the University’s policy will result in a “zero” in the assignment and an
“F” for CHE 360.
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CHE 360 Course Schedule (subject to change)

Week Topics Reading

8/24 Introduction; Feedback control. Ch. 1
8/29 Mathematical modeling; dynamic responses Ch. 2
9/5 Laplace transforms Ch. 3
9/12 Laplace transforms (contd.); Transfer functions. First, second and higher-order Ch. 4-6
systems.
9/19 Fitting models to data Ch. 7
9/26 Fitting models to data (contd.)
10/3 Linear controllers; Process instrumentation Ch. 8-9
10/10 Closed-loop transfer functions. Block diagrams. Stability. Control loop analysis. Ch. 11
10/17 Controller tuning Ch.12
10/24 Feedforward control Ch. 15
10/31 Advanced control strategies Ch. 16
11/7 Multivariable control Ch. 17
11/14 Computer control; Real-time optimization Ch. 19;
appendix
A
11/21 Batch process control: pharmaceutical industry, bioreactors Ch. 22
11/28 Control logic; Safety interlocks; Process startup TBA