Computer simulation of a miniature distillation column and transfer function prediction
No Thumbnail Available
Authors
Meeting name
Sponsors
Date
Journal Title
Format
Thesis
Subject
Abstract
"The Department of Chemical Engineering is in the process of developing microprocessor control of a laboratory distillation. The purpose of this research was to construct a mathematical computer simulation of the distillation column that would be used in further studies for the digital control. The response of the overhead vapor concentration to step changes in feed concentration, and reflux and feed flow rates was calculated by the simulation program. Transfer functions of these responses were determined. Simulation of a chemical process is the creation of a mathematical model which represents the chemical process. The model is evaluated by comparing its response, due to changing inputs, to the actual response of the chemical process. The mathematical model, if it is an adequate representation of the process, will respond to disturbances and changing inputs in the same way as the real process. There are three basic steps in the development of a process simulation: 1. Define the process and derive a mathematical model to represent it. 2. Pro gram the computer. 3. Run and test the simulation by comparing it to the real process. Simulation applications are valuable for the improvement of startup, shutdown, changeover from one kind of feed to another, control strategies and needs, and responses of a process to disturbances. In the area of control synthesis, simulation has notable advantages. Inspection of the differential equations in the model will suggest control strategies to be studied. The knowledge obtained about the process during the formulation of the model, sometimes not obtainable experimentally, will often lead to better synthesis of solutions to control system problems. Also, transfer functions can be generated from data obtained by programming disturbances or variable inputs into the simulation from which control schemes can be designed. Once an adequate simulation is developed, different control methods can be programmed into the simulation, allowing testing of the control methods. This is a trial-and-error procedure by which the relative performance of the different control schemes is evaluated. An advantage here is that simulation programs can be operated at speeds many times faster than actual processes and the computer can perform the operation much more conveniently than an experimenter testing the actual process. Also, programming changes to alter control schemes are much more easily implemented than modifying live process equipment. The remainder of the thesis presents a description of the equipment and of the computer simulation program. The accuracy of the simulation in representing the real system is discussed and transfer functions are presented."--Introduction.
Table of Contents
DOI
PubMed ID
Degree
M.S.
Thesis Department
Rights
OpenAccess.
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License.