UK Weblab

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UK Weblab Setup and Use

• Markus Kraft, Andreas Braumann,
• Charles Immanuel, Phillip Robbins
• 14 March 2008

2
People

• Markus Kraft, Andreas Braumann
• Charles Immanuel
• Phillip Robbins

3
The Weblab project

• Cambridge-MIT Institute (CMI)
• Prof Clark Colton (MIT), Dr Markus Kraft (CU)
• Explore the use of remotely accessible
  experiments in chemical engineering curriculum
• MIT heat exchanger
• Cambridge reactor

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Cambridge Weblab

• Chemical Reactor
• Industrial Process Control System (PCS7)
• Set up in 2006
• used at differentuniversities

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Selmer and Goodson
Anders Selmer
Mike Goodson
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Equipment

• Chemical Reactor
• Ancillary equipment
• SIMATIC S7-400 controller
• Siemens Industrial PCs

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Reactor

• 100 300 ml variable volume
• Variable, ideal non ideal
• Variable stirrer speed
• Temperature controlled
• Three controlled feeds
• Conversion monitored by spectrometer
• Dosing of tracer

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Ancillary Equipment

• Storage tanks
• Siemens Coriolis flow meters
• Peristaltic pumps

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Ancillary Equipment

• Dosing unit
• Heater bath
• Flow cell with fibre optics
• Spectrophotometer
• Webcam

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Computers

• Programmable Logical Controller (PLC) SIMATIC
  S7-400
• Engineering Station
• Operating System Server
• Web Server

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Plant wiring scheme
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Graphical User Interface

• Mimic
• Block Icons
• Faceplates
• Trends

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Non-ideal Reactor Exercise

• Ideal and non-ideal reactor
• Reaction constants based on batch data
• RTD tests
• Predict required flow rates for desired
  conversion under continuous operation
• Experimental session to test predictions

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Users

• University of Cambridge
• MIT
• Imperial College London
• University of Birmingham
• University of Newcastle
• Loughborough University

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Imperial College London

• Enormous educational value in hands-on laboratory
  experiments
• - Course Process Modelling, Dynamics and
  Control
• Industry standard control software
• - Siemens distributed control system
• Ideal process
• - Challenging yet realistic

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Process Dynamics Control Exercise

• Dynamic modelling
• - experimental data for validation
• Design of feedback controllers
• - tuned through experiments,
• empirical tuning laws, and
• theoretical considerations
• Design of feedforward
• controllers
• Experimental testing of the
• controller effectiveness
• - faced with real-life vagaries

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Process Dynamics Control Exercise
Manipulated variable

• Dynamic modelling
• - experimental data for validation
• Design of feedback controllers
• - tuned through experiments,
• empirical tuning laws, and
• theoretical considerations
• Design of feedforward
• controllers
• Experimental testing of the
• controller effectiveness
• - faced with real-life vagaries

Controlled variable
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Process Dynamics Control Exercise

• Student comments
• - very enjoyable/ challenging
• - opportunity to appreciate
• limitations of theory
• Lecturer comments
• - excellent motivational tool
• - cover much ground through single
• exercise

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Weblab University of Birmingham

• Who used it?
• 2nd Year chemical engineering undergraduates
• Which course?
• Forms part of a linked control course, the first
  half is Process Systems, and the second
  Principles of Process Control within the Chemical
  Engineering at Birmingham.
• Why?
• Wanted to have an experiment as part of the
  control laboratories that showed something of
  what a modern PLC control interface would look
  like and something of what is technically
  possible in terms of remote operation.

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Weblab University of Birmingham

• How?
• A lab experiment sheet was written to take the
  students through the use of the Weblab and then
  to look at estimating some suitable control
  parameters from performing step changes.
• It forms one of a series of labs the students
  look at. The other labs cover aspects of control
  more related to the taught material than the
  real world.

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Weblab University of Birmingham

• Overall experience?
• Staff/demonstrators Has worked well, it is
  low maintenance and the additional details
  available on the website allow the students to
  get a good feel for what the control equipment
  actually looks like and what it is for.
• Students A very positive response, most like
  the idea of being able to control a rig in
  Cambridge, having the webcam means they can also
  see changes occurring.

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Weblab University of Birmingham

• Thanks to staff at Cambridge who have supported
  the Weblab use
• Markus Kraft
• Andreas Braumann
• Mike Goodson
• Jon Etheridge
• And at Birmingham to Dr Chris Kent and various
  demonstrators.