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Research Publications (Engineering and Built Environment)

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://ir-dev.dut.ac.za/handle/10321/215

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Author: search.filters.author.Pillay, N.Subject: search.filters.subject.PID control

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    Design and implementation of a didactic cascade tank level control system
    (IEEE, 2021-12-09) Pillay, N.
    Engineering students in the field of industrial process control usually experience difficulty in assimilating theoretical concepts and its practical application. Typically, a laboratory practical based solely on computer driven software simulation offers the course facilitator a simple and cost effective solution to demonstrate control engineering fundamentals. The use of commercially available educational hardware kits may provide an improved learner experience but are relatively expensive. This paper describes the design and implementation of a low cost alternative to introduce realism into control education. The didactic system consists of dual cascaded tanks, continuous level sensors, a pump, a regulated power supply and an Arduino® MEGA2560 microcontroller connected to a computer. An automatic control system is designed in MAT LAB SIMULINK™ and deployed to the proposed hardware system to ensure that the tank level reaches a desired set-point. Experimental results indicate that the embedded control system is beneficial in demonstrating practical process modelling techniques and satisfies automatic controller design objectives in a laboratory environment.
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    Controller performance assessment of servomechanisms for nonlinear process control systems
    (WCECS, 2014-10) Pillay, N.; Govender, P.; Maharaj, O.
    Abstract—This paper aims at assessing the setpoint tracking performance of proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controllers for nonlinear single-input-single-output (SISO) process loops. A comparison is made between the actual system output and an artificial process output response derived from nonlinear system identification and a user defined closed loop transient specification. Nonlinear system identification is achieved by fitting routine operating closed loop data to nonlinear autoregressive with exogenous input (NARX) models to describe a closed loop process model and the servo model. Once the nonlinear models are established they are linearized to corresponding autoregressive with exogenous input (ARX) models where they are incorporated into a controller performance strategy. The framework will allow for control practitioners to assess the current controller setpoint tracking performance for general nonlinear systems from a transient specification point of view. Simulation studies are given to validate the efficacy of the performance assessment procedure and demonstrate that it is an effective tool when setpoint tracking is of general interest.