Abstract
refineries, petrochemical and other chemical
This paper deals with the control dynamics of
transient simulation of heat transfer through
Cooling tower using simulation tool. The main
objective of this research is to find an
effective tuning method for controlling a
cooling tower using controller. Cooling tower
is one of the important systems with wide
diversity of applications in in oil refineries,
petrochemical plants and other chemical
plants, thermal Power stations. The transfer
function is taken as First Order System Plus
Dead Time (FOPDT). The effect of step change
in the temperature of ? is observed and
analysed at steady state. Transient simulation
response of heat transfer through cooling
tower is generated using Matlab Simulink. The
simulation results for the inlet step change in
heat transfer through cooling tower is
discussed in the paper.
Keywords— FOPDT, step change, steady state.
Introduction
A cooling tower is a heat rejection device that
rejects waste heat to the atmosphere through
the cooling of a water stream to a lower
temperature. It uses the evaporation of water
to remove process heat and cool the working
fluid to near the wet bulb air temperature.
Here, Markel’s theory is used which is based
on enthalpy potential difference as driving
force. The behavior of the cooling tower
should be predicted for transient operating
condition and steady-state operating
condition to reduce future possible failures
and loss in maintenance costs. Two factors
are mainly to be considered in the design of
the cooling tower-feasibility and
controllability .Feasibility refers to the stability
and flexibility at a given operation mode and
controllability refers to the transition between
different operation modes. The carrying of
liquid with the gas stream is termed as liquid
entrainment. This may be due to high rate of
air flow which should be avoided to get better
performance. Common applications include
cooling the circulating water used in Oil
plants, thermal power
stations and HVAC systems for cooling
buildings. The classification is based on the
type of air induction into the tower: the main
types of cooling towers are Natural
draft and mechanical draft (induced and
forced) cooling towers. The hyperboloid
structures which are as large as 660ft are
associated with nuclear power plants. A
model was formulated for forced draft cooling
tower which has been taken into account for
variation of outlet temperatures with respect
to time interval and flow rates. To know the
stability of the cooling tower the experiment
was carried out and the transfer function was
derived for different step changes in the
cooling tower, simulations were done using a
Proportional Integral Derivative (PID)
controller and the results are shown.
PID Controller
PID controllers are named after the
Proportional, Integral and Derivative control
modes they have. They are used in most
automatic process control applications in
industry. PID controllers can be used to
regulate flow, temperature, pressure, level,
and many other industrial process variables. A
PID controller has a Set Point that the
operator can set to the desired temperature.
The Controller’s Output sets the position of
the control valve. And the temperature
measurement, called the Process Variable
gives the controller its much-needed
feedback. The process variable and controller
output are commonly transmitted via 4 –
20mA signals, or via digital commands on a
Fieldbus. When everything is up and running,
the PID controller compares the process
variable to its set point and calculates the
difference between the two signals, also
called the Error (E).Then, based on the Error
and the PID controller’s tuning constants, the
controller calculates an appropriate controller
output that opens the control valve to the This setup consists of forced draft cooling
right position for keeping the controlled tower of height 2.03m and 0.0225 sq. m in
variable at the set point. If the controlled cross section where air is sent to the tower
variable should rise above its set point, the
with the help of blower at the bottom.
controller will reduce the valve position and
vice versa. A proportional controller (Kp) will Heating of water is done by heater at 230V.
have the effect of reducing the rise time but it Water is cooled by the air as long as its
will never eliminate the steady-state error. An temperature is above the wet bulb
integral control (Ki) will have the effect of temperature of the entering air. The flow of
eliminating the steady-state error, but it may water and air is counter-current as the former
make the transient response worse. A flows in downward direction and the latter in
derivative control (Kd) will have the effect of
upward direction through the aluminium foil
increasing the stability of the system, reducing
the overshoot, and improving the transient as shown in the figure. Temperature variation
response. All design specifications can be is realized by temperature sensors and flow
reached with the PID controller and 100% rates are adjusted with the help of rotameter.
desired conditions can be achieved . Tuning a Variation in air velocity is measured using
control loop is the adjustment of its control manometer.
parameters (proportional band/gain, integral
gain/reset, derivative gain/rate) to the
optimum values for the desired control
response. PID tuning is a difficult problem,
even though there are only three parameters
and in principle is simple to describe, because
it must satisfy complex criteria within
the limitations of PID control. There are
accordingly various methods for loop tuning,
and more sophisticated techniques are the
subject of patents; this section describes
some traditional manual methods for loop
tuning. Designing and tuning a PID controller
appears to be conceptually intuitive, but can
be hard in practice, if multiple (and often
conflicting) objectives such as short transient
and high stability are to be achieved. PID
controllers often provide acceptable control
using default tunings, but performance can
generally be improved by careful tuning, and
performance may be unacceptable with poor
tuning. Usually, initial designs need to be
adjusted repeatedly through computer
simulations until the closed-loop system
performs or compromises as desired. Some
processes have a degree of nonlinearity and Initially the valves V1-V5 and switches on the
so parameters that work well at full-load panel are ensured at off position. The by-pass
conditions don't work when the process is valve V3 is opened before switching on the
starting up from no-load; this can be pump. Then the water is heated up with the
corrected by gain scheduling (using different help of heater at 230V. Then the hot water is
parameters in different operating regions).
allowed to flow through the cooling tower ad
EXPERIMENTAL SETUP flow rate adjusted by control valve V2. Later,
the flow rate of air is adjusted with the help of
valve V4 provided in pipeline. The dry air time interval of 2 minutes. The variation in
outlet temperatures (T3) and water outlet outlet temperatures is measured with respect
temperatures (T6) are noted at two different to flowrates at constant time intervals.
flowrates of 30 LPH and 40 LPH at a constant
Results and Discussions
The system can be represented by first order system plus dead time (FOPDT): Where, G(s) Transfer
function Ʈ D Transport delay, (s) k Process gain, (k.s.kg-1) Ʈ Time constant, (s) The following table
shows the temperature of outlet air and water at two different flow rates.

Flowrate 30LPH 40LPH

Dry Air Cold Water Dry Air Cold Water

Outlet Outlet Outlet Outlet
Time(Min) Temperature Temperature Temperature Temperature

(Celcius) (Celcius) (Celcius) (Celcius)

2 49.3 31.1 52.1 33.3

4 49.5 31.3 51.5 34

6 49.7 31.4 52.2 34.5

8 49.8 31.5 52 34.6

10 49.7 31.7 52.5 34.6

12 49.8 31.8 52.7 34.6

14 49.9 31.9 52.5 34.5

16 49.8 32.1 52.4 34.8

18 50 32.3 52.1 34.2

20 50.1 31.9 51.8 34.3

Flowrate 30LPH
Temperature Dry Air Outlet Temperature Cold Water Outlet Temperature

(Celcius) (Celcius)

Method CC ZN ITAE MOM CC ZN ITAE MOM

ƮI 1.47 1.2 40.35 49.32 3.82 3.2 26.75 30.39

ƮD 0.217 0.3 0.00459 24.66 0.574 0.8 0.0169 15.19

Kc 42.48 38.09 17.21 0.584 18.63 14.58 8.07 0.860

Flowrate 40LPH

Temperature Dry Air Outlet Temperature Cold Water Outlet Temperature

(Celcius) (Celcius)

Method CC ZN ITAE MOM CC ZN ITAE MOM

ƮI 1.46 1.2 27.77 33.62 1.46 1.2 27.77 33.62

ƮD 0.217 0.3 0.0065 16.52 0.217 0.3 0.0065 16.52

Kc 56.46 50.55 24.115 1.1189 56.46 50.55 24.115 1.1189

Responses of closed loop for dry air outlet temperature and cold water outlet temperature at 40LPH
using PID controller tuned with different methods are obtained as follows,

Figure 1: Response of dry air outlet temperature while tuning the PID controller using CC method
Figure 2:Response of dry air outlet temperature while tuning the PID controller using ZN method

Figure 3:Response of dry air outlet temperature while tuning the PID controller using ITAE method
Figure 4: Response of dry air outlet temperature while tuning the PID controller using moment
method

Figure 5: Response of cold water outlet temperature while tuning the PID controller using CC
method
Figure 6:Response of cold water outlet temperature while tuning the PID controller using ZN
method

Figure 7:Response of cold water outlet temperature while tuning the PID controller using ITAE
method
Figure 8: Response of cold water outlet temperature while tuning the PID controller using moment
method

Responses of closed loop for dry air outlet temperature and cold water outlet temperature at 30LPH
using PID controller tuned with different methods are obtained as follows,

Figure 9: Response of dry air outlet temperature while tuning the PID controller using CC method
Figure 10: Response of dry air outlet temperature while tuning the PID controller using ZN method

Figure 11: Response of dry air outlet temperature while tuning the PID controller using ITAE
method
Figure 12: Response of dry air outlet temperature while tuning the PID controller using moment
method

Figure 13: Response of cold water outlet temperature while tuning the PID controller using CC
method
Figure 14: Response of cold water outlet temperature while tuning the PID controller using ZN
method

Figure 15: Response of cold water outlet temperature while tuning the PID controller using ITAE
method
Figure 16: Response of cold water outlet temperature while tuning the PID controller using
moment method

Conclusion

Steady-state and transient response of cooling tower using PID controller in Simulink model using
MATLAB has been studied for various step change in flow rates. The simulation result shows that the
change in air temperature and cold water temperature has reached steady state faster in Moment
method. Simulation result shows that the response of heat transfer through cooling tower has
reached steady state faster using a controller than open loop.

Ref
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PID_controller#Loop_tuning
https://www.slideshare.net/AbhishekMehta29/pid-controllers-52702591
http://blog.opticontrols.com/archives/344