RATIO CONTROL TECHNOLOGY

Ratio control paces (controls) the flow rate of one stream so as to maintain a specified ratio between that stream and the measured flow rate of another stream. The measured flow rate is called the wild flow, since (at least within the jurisdiction of this control loop) it is uncon - trolled. The controlled flow loop is often called the secondary loop. Figure 10 -1 depicts a ratio control system using both ISA (Ref. 10 -1) and SAMA (Ref. 10-2) symbols.

Although there may be some applications for ratio control that are not flow-based, most applications ratio flow-to-flow. The broad definition of flow u sed here is any form of mass or energy transfer. Typical applications for ratio control include: Blending two or more components. One ingredient may be set for the master production rate; other ingredients are then ratioed to this master ingredient. Air-fuel ratio control for a combustion process. In a simple air -fuel ratio control system, the fuel flow may be controlled by a temperature or pressure controller. A measure of the fuel flow is then used to determine the set point of the air -flow controller. 1 Controlling a product stream to feed rate, as a means of composition control. This is a common control technique for distillation towers.

In the most common configuration for ratio control, the measured value of the wild flow is multiplied by the specified ratio, controlled flow -to-wild flow. The product then becomes the setpoint for the controlled flow loop. For example, fuel flow could b e multiplied by a required air to-fuel ratio, which would result in the required air rate or set point for the air -flow controller. When ratio control is implemented with conventional analog hardware, the ratio adjustment settings as well as the multiplication function are built into the controller itself. In addition, there is usually a ratio/local switch that, in the local position, pe rmits the set point of the sec ondary loop to be directly adjusted. When ratio control is implemented in a microprocessor -based system, the multiplication function may be a part of the PID software function block or it ma y be a separate function block, depending on the vendors choice. Several modifications can be made to the basic ratio control configuration: A bias value may be added to (or subtracted from) either the wild or the controlled flow, as shown in Figure 10 -2a. With this arrangement, the relationship between the two is offset rather than being a ratio that extends all the way to zero. The wild flow rate may be used as the set point for the controlled flow controller, then the controlled flow PV is multiplied by the required ratio, wild -to-controlled flow, as shown in Figure 10 -2b. (Notice that this is the inverse o f the ratio shown in Figure 10 - 2a.) Thus, although the controlled -flow PV is scaled in units of the wild flow, it is sensitive to changes in controlled flow. This scheme was frequently used with analog control systems that used flow controllers for both the wild and controlled flows. If the controllers were mounted adjacent to each other on a panelboard, then the set point and PV indicators for both controllers would be in an identical position when the actual ratio was being maintained.

Occasionally, ratio control is implemented by calculating the actual ratio from the two mea sured values, as shown in Figure 10 -2c. The ratio itself then becomes the process variable of the PID controller. The required ratio is then directly entered as the set point of the PID. This has the advantage that the process variable of the controller as well as

the set point are dis played in terms of the desired quantity, which is the ratio between the two flows. It also has the advantage that limits may be placed on the values fo r entering set points. The disadvantages of this scheme, however, include: (a) If the flow that represents the denominator of the calculation falls to a low value, the calculated ratio will go to an extremely large value; (b) The gain of the ratio controller is inversely proportional to the controlled flow rate, even if the flow -measurement signal is linear or has been linearized. One distributed control system (DCS) manufacturer provides a ratio control algorithm in which the process variable and set point displayed on the CRT screen are the calculated and desired ratios, respectively. However, the actual PID control algorithm uses as its process variable the actual measurement of the secondary flow. The set point used by the PID is the prod uct of the entered (and displayed) ratio as well as the measured value of the wild flow. This configuration is shown by Figure 10 -2d. It provides the display advantages of the previous scheme without encountering the disadvantage of the nonline arity. This scheme can probably be configured in most DCSs by using multiple function blocks.

AUTOMATIC RATIO ADJUSTMENT

Ratio control using a constant value of the required ratio is no more technic ally challenging than an ordinary flow controller. However, a more interesti ng scheme with broader application is when the required ratio is adjusted automatically by the outp ut of another feedback control ler. We will use a combustion process, specifically an air -fuel ratio control system, to illustrate this control scheme. Figure 10-3 shows a P&I diagram of a process heater in which the fuel flow is measured and multiplied by the required air-to-fuel ratio. This results in the required air -flow rate, whi ch is introduced as the set point of a feedback controller. The new feature of this diagram is that the required airto-fuel ratio is automatically adjusted by the output of a stack O 2 controller. For simplicity, the same control scheme, without the process equipment, is shown in Figure 10-4. Additional components of the heater cont rol system are shown with lighter lines. This includes an outlet heater temperature measurement and controller that sets the fuel-flow rate. These components do not lie within the scope of our present discussion, however. The ultimate purpose of air -to-fuel ratio control is energy ef ficiency. For a given amount of fuel, a theoretical amount of air is needed if there were compl ete combustion of all the fuel. This is called the stoichiometric ratio of air and fuel. In practic e, however, a greater amount of air is required to provide good mixing of the air and fuel. If there is insufficient air, efficiency will drop because of the loss of unburned fuel. On the other hand, if there is too much air, effi ciency will drop because energy is carried away by the inert stack gasses (primarily nitrogen). Maximum combustion efficiency usually occurs at approximately 10 percent excess air, or 2 percent excess oxygen in the stack. Thus, the O 2 composition in the stack can be monitored and controlled by automatically adjust ing the air-to-fuel ratio. This discussion is not intended to be a complete treatment o f combustion control, but as an illustration of an application of ratio control. A complete combustion control system might also monitor and control other stack constit uents, such as %CO, total combustibles, or opacity. Also, the %O 2 controller set point might not be constant, especially for steam-generating systems. Rather, the set point would be increased at lower boiler loads to assure that fuel and air were adequately mixed within the combustion zone. A complete discussion of combustion control is beyond the scope of this text. In the control system depicted by Figure 10 -4, the air damper will be of the fail -open type; hence, the air -flow controller will be direct-acting. Alternatively, with some digital

processor based systems, the air-flow controller will be reverse -acting, and the analog output function block will be set with the reverse output feature. Since a decrease in the required air -to-fuel ratio will cause a decrease in the measured O 2, the O 2 controller must be reverse -acting. The ultimate effect of a drop in measured O 2 is that the air damper will open. Consider the control scheme of Figure 10 -5. This is obviousl y a simpler control system than Figure 10-4. Furthermore, it possesses all the attributes of a feedback control system, since a drop in measured O 2 will cause the air damper to open. Reflect for a moment on the relative merits of the schemes depicted by Figures 10 -4 and 10-5. Despite its simplicity, the primary deficiency of the scheme of Figure 10-5 is that there must be an error in the feedback loop in order to have a change in the contro ller output (i.e., in order to change the damper position). If the outlet temperature controller demands more fuel, the additional fuel will act as a load increase on the O 2 control system. This will cause measured O2 to drop. This is the feedback penalty that must be paid with this control system to change the air flow. In the control scheme of Figure 10-4, when there is an increase in fuel demand, the air and fuel will rise together if the output of the O 2 controller remains constant. At a constant air-to-fuel ratio, the O 2 in the stack can be expected to remain relatively stable; thus, there will be no need for a change in the controller output. In essence, we have obtained the control action (change in air flow) without having to pay the penalty of an error in the feedback loop. We shall see later that ratio control is often merely one form of feedf orward control.

SCALING THE RATIO CONTROL COMPONENTS

For direct operator -set ratio control systems, the entered value is usually indexed to the ratio actually required, rather than being the required ratio itself . For example, suppose a design ratio is to be maintained between wild flow stream A and controlled flow stream B. If the flow transmitters are calibrated so the ratio of their ranges is the same as the design ratio, then the incoming signal from the wild flow transmitter requires only a multiplication by 1.0 to give the required set point to the controlled flow controller. The ratio adjustment dial may be cali brated from 0 to 2, or the keypad entry may have software limits of 0 and 2, with 1.0 being the nominal entry. Of course, it may be desirable to limit the entry to a narrower range, for instance, 0.8 to 1.2. Then the operator could not inadvertently enter a value that is far from acceptable. If the output of a primary controller sets the required ratio automatically, then a simple scaling or computation must be performed so that the 0 100 percent output of the controller repre sents the acceptable range of ratio entry value. When the controller s output is 50 percent, the required ratio will be the design ratio if the flow transmit ters are calibrated so the ratio of the irranges is the same as the design ratio and if the output of the primary controller is multiplied by two. Controllers output excursions above or below 50 percent adjust the required ratio to greater or lesser values than the design ratio. The ratio represe nted by the extremes, 0 percent and 100 percent, must be determined by scaling. Appendix A presents a general methodology for determining s caling parameters. It also pre- sents an example of an air -to-fuel ratio control system in which the nominal ratio is 11:1. The objective is to limit the controllers authority to the range of 9:1 to 13 :1, or 2 ratio units on either side of the nominal value. For transmitter ranges of 0 to 15,000

scfm (air) and 0 to 1000 scfm (fuel gas), the following required scaling equation is derived: a = 0.267 (r + 2.25) f = (0.267 r + 0.6) f where a, f, and r represent normalized values (range: 0 1) of air, fuel, and the required ratio. Hence, the ratio control system could be implemented as shown in Figure 10 -6. Note that various manufacturers will provide different means to achieve the required computation. Also note that it is highly desirable that an initialization signal be passed back through the computation elements to t he primary controller whenever the secondary controller is not fully automatic cascade. This procedure should take the set point or PV of the secondary, invert the computation equations, and set the primary controller output so as to ensure bumpless transf er back to the automatic or cascade mode of the secondary.

RATIO CONTROL USING FOUNDATION FIELDBUS FUNCTION BLOCKS

One of the basic function blocks defined by the Fieldbus Fou ndation document FF -891, Part 2 (Ref. 10-3) is a ratio control block. As a contr ol class block, it supports the backcalculation/ initialization feature. It can be used for ratio control set direct ly by the operator, as shown in Figure 10-7. Here, the actual ratio would be back -calculated and the ratio block initialized any time the PID block is in the manual mode. If the operator set ratio is not to be initialized, then the back-calculation mechanism is not required, and a calculate -class block is used in place of the ratio block. Several manufacturers provide this type of bl ock, rather than a ratio block. Since the ratio block (as defined by Fieldbus Foundation) supports the back -calculation mechanism, it can be used with automatic -set ratio control systems, as shown in Figure 10 8. By setting the scale factors for the primary con troller output, the automatically set ratio may be limited in its excursion above and below the nominal value. T his accomplishes the purpose of the calculation shown in Figure 10 -6. Note that although the ratio block is defined in the FF standard, it may not be supported by all manufacturers.

REFERENCES
10-1. ISA-5.1-1984 (R 1992), Instrumentation Symbols and Identification. ISA The Instrumentation, Systems, and Automation Society, 1992. 10-2. SAMA Standard PMC 22.1 -1981, Functional Diagramming of Instrument and Control Systems. Scientific Apparatus Makers Association, 1981 (MCAA web site: http://www.measure.org). 10-3. Fieldbus Foundation, Foundation Specification: Function Block Application Process, Document FF-891, Part 2.