Industrial PC control implementation on PID controllers: Application to pressure control system

This paper describes the implementation of industrial PC control of a process in a pilot plant. The overall model is built on MATLAB/Simulink, a technical computing software that has easily adaptable structure where control strategies and model variables can be modified. The MATLAB/Simulink model is interfaced to the plant via an xPC target card to enable real-time analysis of the control strategies. The flexibility in the model structure allows devising appropriate experimental designs, for tests to be performed in real-time to realize disturbances. The evaluation of five tuning methods, and the comparisons of three closed-loop oscillation-based-tuning for the PID control of pressure in the plant is presented. The findings demonstrate the viability of the system to provide a wealth of potential control strategy options, and confirm the behavior of the process in response to the different control strategies.