WHAT/HOW PICLES TEACHES

ICLES, the Process Identification and Control Loop Explorer

System, is an easy to use educational simulator that provides
"real-world" experience to those studying process dynamics
and process control.
PICLES is not a control system analysis or design package.
Quite the opposite, PICLES provides a platform upon which
your favorite analysis and design packages can be employed.
If you now use software such as Digest, Matlab or
spreadsheets for process identification and controller design,
PICLES provides the realistic processes for you to practice
upon. Use PICLES to manipulate a process input variable to
obtain pulse or step test data for analysis. You may create
and print plots of the process response from within PICLES or
save data to disk to practice identification analysis using your
own software. After designing a controller, go back into
PICLES, implement your design and obtain immediate, visual
feedback on controller performance.
The processes available in PICLES encompass a variety of
behaviors. There are nonlinear processes so, for example,
you can experience how process behavior can change as a
function of operating regime. You can also practice
compromising controller tunings to maintain stability over a
wide range of nonlinear operation. There are low order and
high order processes, so you can literally see how model
order affects controller stability. The amount of noise in the
sampled data can be adjusted so you can demonstrate to
yourself that in practice, the difference between a 10%
overshoot and a 15% overshoot can sometimes be
indistinguishable.

The Gravity Drained Tanks process is easy to visualize and

thus provides a nice introductory experience to the real world
of process control. The Heat Exchanger is a more challenging
process with a negative steady state gain and a nonminimum
phase disturbance response. Use Design a Process to study
text book problems and to isolate specific characteristics
such as process order or dead time. The Mystery Processes,
where no a-priori expectation of process behavior is provided,
have you gain all intuition through identification studies that
you design. The Pumped Tank is different in that it is an
integrating process - just change the manipulated input
variable and find out the implications of this behavior. The
Jacketed Reactor has multiple stable/unstable steady-states.
And the Distillation Column has interacting control loops.
The available controllers include all combinations from P-Only
to full PID control, plus a discrete sampled data controller
form for Z-Domain design studies.
There is a PID velocity algorithm and PID position algorithm
so you can see the consequences of reset windup. You can
select derivative on measurement or derivative on error so
you can explore "derivative kick." For the P-Only controller,
you are responsible for determining and entering the bias or
null value. The Position PID algorithm has a bumpless feature
where the bias is automatically set in a fashion similar to
what you would encounter with some commercial controllers.
One of the model based PID modes includes a Smith
predictor. So, after learning about the how dead time affects
controller performance, you can prove to yourself that dead
time compensation offers real benefits. Another model based
PID mode includes a Feed Forward element. With this
controller, you can learn about disturbance rejection using
both static and dynamic compensators. Cascade control of

the Jacketed Reactor allows you to explore a two-input oneoutput control algorithm. Static and dynamic decoupler
models are available on the distillation column to let you
explore methods for minimizing loop interaction.
See Describe Processes & Challenges on this Help Menu to
learn more about the processes in PICLES. The Design Menu
& Controller Info selection will provide more information
about the controllers and adjustable parameters.
In short, PICLES provides those features that laboratory and
plant experiences offer. Use the software, explore, play and
learn!
Picles
Versin 4.5
Copyrigth 1996-1987
Prof. Douglas J. Cooper
Chemical Engineering Dept.
University of Connecticut, U-222
Storrs CT 06269-3222
Office: (860) 486-4020
doug.cooper@uconn.edu