Educational offer - University of Padova

Syllabus

Prerequisites:	Steady state and dynamic material and energy balances; equipment for transport of fluids, for heat exchange, for fluid separation; chemical reactors.
Target skills and knowledge:	The students are expected to learn a set of techniques for i) the analysis of the dynamic behavior of chemical process systems, ii) the analysis and design of a process control scheme, and iii) the analysis of controller performance. At the end of the course, the student is expected to be able to: • develop the dynamic model of simple processing units; • identify which design parameters or operating parameters the dynamic response of a unit depends upon; • quantitatively characterize the dynamic response of a system to a change in the inputs; • understand the rationale behind conventional and enhanced control schemes for single processing units and for plantwide systems; • design feedback and feedforward control schemes for processing units; • tune a PID controller; • size a control valve.
Examination methods:	The exam includes three mandatory sequential activities: in-course homeworks, final written exam, and final oral exam. The homeworks contribute about 12% of the final grade, the written exam about 44%, while the remaining 44% is contributed by the oral exam. The written exam requires solving one or two exercises in about 2 hours; the use of lecture notes and/or textbooks is permitted. A typical oral exam includes three questions on the entire course syllabus, and lasts about 45 minutes. The oral exam may be done either in Italian or in English, according to the student’s preference.
Assessment criteria:	HOMEWORKS AND WRITTEN EXAM • correctness of the final solution • clarity and synthesis in the presentation of the results • appropriateness of use of technical terminology • rigor of the calculation methodology ORAL EXAM • knowledge and understanding of the course contents • ability to provide quantitative (rather than only qualitative) information on the characteristics of the dynamic response and control system performance of process systems • ability to discuss the topics in a clear and concise way, and with appropriate use of technical terminology • time elapsed from the end of the classes and the date of the oral exam
Course unit contents:	FIRST-PRINCIPLES DYNAMIC MODELING OF CHEMICAL PROCESSES. PROCESS DYNAMICS. Laplace transform; transfer functions; dynamic response of first-order and second-order systems; dynamic response of more complicated systems; effects of poles and zeroes; processes with dead times. Linearization of nonlinear models. Identification of dynamic models from process data. PROCESS CONTROL. Feedback control for SISO systems: on-off controllers; PID controllers; issues in the practical implementation of PID controllers: reset windup, derivative filters, derivative kick, digital implementation; measurement and control instrumentation; sizing of control valves; dynamic behavior and stability of controlled systems; tuning of PID controllers. Feedforward and ratio control. Enhanced feedback control techniques: cascade control, inferential control, selective control, override control, split-range control, valve position control. Control of MIMO systems: coupling and interaction; relative gains and control loop pairing. Control of distillation columns.
Planned learning activities and teaching methods:	Classroom lectures (including numerical examples and short activities in team) and computer lab interactive lectures.
Additional notes about suggested reading:	A digital copy of the lecture slides will be made available in the Moodle platform. The reference textbook (Seborg et al., 2017) is indicated in the next box. Consultation of the following additional textbooks may also prove useful: • Smith, C.A. and A. Corripio (2006). Principles and practice of automatic process control (3rd edition). Wiley, New York (U.S.A.). • Riggs, J.B. and M.N. Karim (2008). Chemical and bio-process control (3rd edition). Pearson Education International, Boston (U.S.A.). • Ogunnaike, B.A. and W.H. Ray (1994). Process dynamics, modeling and control. Oxford University Press, New York (U.S.A.).
Textbooks (and optional supplementary readings)	Seborg, D.E., T.F. Edgar, D.A. Mellichamp and F.J. Doyle III, Process dynamics and control (4th edition). New York: Wiley, 2017.