29

and current carrying capacity of wires. All considerations are necessary to ensure that
all connections are connected properly and correctly to right terminals. Furthermore,
before connecting devices to the SCADAPack 350, correct fuses should be added to
provide proper protection to the system.

2.4.1 Wiring
In this project, the wiring technique, selection of fuses, and some safety notices are
mainly introduced in this section. There are four main parts in the control box,
which is shown in Fig 2.1. They are Power Supply 1 and 2, Terminal Block, and
the SCADAPack 350. The power supply 1 is a DC adapter. It can transfer 120
VAC input to 20VDC, 600mA output. The power supply 2 is a GE Fanuc standard
power supply programmable controller. The power supply 2 can transfer 120 VAC
to 24 VDC, 800mA. The system wiring schematic is shown in Fig 2.14. Table 2.9
demonstrates the definition of acronyms of elements.

Figure 2.14: System Wiring Schematic

2.4.2 Fuses
From Fig 2.14, the external power supply, which provides a 120 VAC input to the
system, is separated into three different wires: Live (L), Neutral (N), and Ground
 30

Acronym Element Acronym Element

CV Control Valve PT Pressure Transmitter
F Fuse SP SCADAPack 350
FT Flow Transmitter SPT Spare Ports
GND Ground TB Terminal Block
PS Power Supply AI / AO Analog Input / Output

Table 2.9: Acronym Explanation

(GND). The PS1 and PS2 are connected to the three different wires correspondingly.
To protect the system, fuse 1 and 2 (F1 and F2) are added to play protectors for
the live wire in case of a fail external power supply. Then, a 20 VDC and maximum
600 mA current flows through F100 into the SCADAPack 350, and a 24 VDC and
maximum 800 mA current flow through F101 into pressure transmitter and flowrate
sensor. Both F100 and F101 project the devices in case of a fail PS1 or PS2. The
specifications of fuses that are used in this project are shown in Table 2.10.

Name AGC Series 2.5 Name AGC Series 10

Fuse Current 2.5 A Fuse Current 10 A
Voltage Rating 250 V Voltage Rating 250 V

Table 2.10: Fuses Information

 31

Chapter 3

PLC Programming and

Experimental Results

In Chapter 2, we describe the specifications of each experimental components includ-

ing SCADAPack 350 PLC, WIKA C-10 pressure sensor, SMRT 101 flowrate sensor,
and Fisher 3660 positioner. Additionally, the discusses pressure distribution and flow
simulation of the water have been analyzed. This Chapter focuses on the SCADA-
Pack 350 PLC programming and the water tank system modelling. The simulation
results of the water level control have been presented, and this chapter concludes with
the experimental results.
To control the water level of the water tank accurately, it is important to moni-
tor the system output, and compare the measurements with desired output. A PID
control algorithm is used to eliminate the difference between the actual output and
desired output. The PLC based water level control system is designed as a feedback
control system. The pressure sensor monitors the water level by measuring the pres-
sure, and sends the measurements to the SCADAPack 350. The difference between
the actual height and the desired height is calculated, and a PID control algorithm
is used for eliminating the difference. The control input is calculated by the PLC
program, and the control valve takes its action to decrease the difference between the
actual height and the desired height. When the difference is zero or nearly zero, the
water level successfully tracks the desired reference signal.
 32

3.1 Telepace Studio

In this project, we use Telepace Studio for the PLC programming. This software is
used by electricians, engineers and programmers to program sequencing and process
control [16]. The ladder diagram is adopted as the programming language in this
project. The process of solving a ladder diagram can be briefly described as: I/O
update, solve the ladder diagram, and update. In each solving ladder diagram process,
all rungs in the ladder diagram can be solved. However, the inputs or outputs states
are only changed at I/O update. Moreover, a ladder diagram is similar to an electrical
diagram, but the direction of current flow is different from the electrical diagram. In
ladder diagram, current can only flow from left to right and from up to bottom.
After the logic of the ladder diagram has been defined, a data format is carried out
to determine. According to the manual of Telepace Studio, this software can read the
process value in analog and digital format, and the analog signal is represented by an
integer [16]. Therefore, Telepace Studio satisfies the requirement of the SCADAPack
350.

3.1.1 Telepace Studio Setup

In Telepace Studio, a ladder diagram can be programmed and monitored in the
Telepace Ladder Network Editor. To program a ladder diagram in Telepace Stu-
dio, there are several steps to follow. The flowchart in Fig 3.1 shows the steps of
programming a ladder diagram in the Telepace Studio, and Table 3.1 shows the de-
tails of Telepace Studio setup.

3.1.2 PLC Programming

Desired Objective In this water level control system, the desired objective is to
maintain the water level at the desired height by controlling the outflow speed of the
water tank. In this project, the desired height is set at 40 cm. According to the (2.1),
the height in the range of the pressure sensor can be measured, and the result of the
(2.1) is the actual height represented by integers. As a result, the desired height is
set as 10288 in the Telepace Studio. The actual height of the water level is calculated
and represented in the same format in the Telepace Studio.
 33

Figure 3.1: Steps of Telepace Setup

Features Details
Type of SCADAPack 350
Controller 5V/10mA Controller
30001 Pressure Sensor
Register Analog
30002 Flowrate Transmitter
Assignments Inputs
30003 &
Spare Port
30004
Analog 40001 Control Valve
Outputs 40002 Spare Port
Protocol Method Modbus USB
IP 192.168.0.2
Serial Subnet Mask 255.255.255.0
Communication Gateway IP Address 192.168.0.2
Station Number 3

Table 3.1: Details of Telepace Studio Setup

Experimental Process To design a ladder diagram for this project, the first step
is to understand how the system works in the experimental. In order to achieve an
accurate result, the first objective of the system is to get rid of the air pressure error.
Then, the pressure sensor measures the water pressure and transmits the measured
result to the PLC controller. Then, by using PID algorithm, the control input signal
value is generated and transmitted to the control valve. Finally, the control valve
adjust the outflow rate of the water tank to achieve the control objective. By repeating
 34

the above process until the actual height is nearly equal to the desired height, we can
conclude that this PLC based water level control system achieved its goal. Fig 3.2 is
a flowchart which shows the logic of the PLC program.

Figure 3.2: The Logic of The PLC Program

Ladder Diagram The ladder diagram consists of different types of function blocks
and each function block has its particular register addresses. In the Telepace Studio,
each address of a function block can be tagged as a different name in order to be
easily monitored and modified in the host PC. The function blocks that are used in
this project are SUB, STOF, PIDA, FTOS, ADD, CALL and SUBR, and DLGF.
The definitions are shown in Table 3.2.

Function
Definitions
Blocks
SUB Subtract Signed Values
STOF Signed Interger to Floating-point
PIDA Analog Output PID
FTOS Floating-Point to Signed Integer
ADD Add Signed Values
CALL & Execute Subroutine &
SUBR Start of subroutine
DLGF Data Log to File

Table 3.2: Function Block Definitions

 35

Furthermore, because the Telepace Studio limits the size of ladder diagram up to
8 rungs, the program is written by 3 parts: main Program, air error elimination, and
PID level control. The ladder diagram of the main program is shown in Fig 3.3. The
first line of the main program is an execute subroutine which is the signal to call for
air error elimination (CALL 100). The second line is a latching switch function which
is used to turn off CALL 100 and turn on CALL 101, which is the network of the
PID level control.

Figure 3.3: Main Program Ladder Diagram

In Fig 3.3, there is a boolean switch 10001 which is the start button of the system.
When the start button is pushed, the air error elimination function is executed. Fig
3.4 shows the ladder diagram of air error elimination function. To get rid of the air
pressure error, the control valve is turned off for 5 seconds, and turned on for 5 seconds
repeatedly for a while. When the start switch is ON, the timer 1 is implemented,
and a ‘close’ signal value is set on the control valve for 5 seconds. Then, the coil 1 is
implemented. At the same time, the timer 2 is executed, and an ‘open’ signal value
is set on the control valve for 5 seconds. Finally, after 5 seconds, a ‘close’ signal value
is set on the control valve. At the same time, the coil 2 is executed. The coil 2 causes
switch 2 in Fig 3.3 being turned on, and the latching coil 3 turns off the air pressure
error elimination and turn on the PID level control network. Fig 3.5 shows the ladder
diagram of PID level control.
In Fig 3.5, the desired height in the PLC program is set at 10288, which represents
 36

Figure 3.4: Air Pressure Error Elimination Ladder Diagram

40cm. When the PID level control network is activated, the pressure sensor transmits
a value into register 30001. At the first function block, the value from 30001 is
subtracted by the desired height, and the difference is stored at register 40013. Then,
the difference is compared with 0 at CMP function block. If the error is less or equal
to 0, which means the actual height is lower than the desired height, the control valve
stays at the closed position. With the water level rises, the difference is getting smaller
and smaller until the error greater than 0, which means the actual height is higher
than the desired height. At this time, the error is transmitted to PIDA function
block. At the PIDA function block, the error is calculated by PID algorithm, and a
new signal value is generated and held at 40021 register. Before and after the PIDA
function block, there are two number converters, STOF and FTOS. According to the
Table 3.2, these two function blocks are used for converting integer to floating-point
and floating-point to integer respectively. Finally, the signal value at register 40015
is added by 6552, which is the minimum operating current of the control valve, to
operate the control valve. As a result of repeating the process above, the water level
can be maintained at the desired height 40 cm with inlet flow and outlet flow. To
 37

Figure 3.5: PID Level Control Ladder Diagram

drain all water out after the experimental test, there are two more lines under the
main program. The ladder diagram is shown in Fig 3.6. The switch 10002 is going
to fully turn on the control valve and the switch 10003 is going to close the control
valve. This action is done manually.

3.2 System Modeling and Simulation

In this section, we will discuss the system modelling of the water tank system. A
simulation is conducted to verify the model, and the simulation will help us to choose
the PID control parameters in the experiment.

System Modeling The following symbols are defined:

• H: Actual Height

• H0 : Desired Height
 38

Figure 3.6: Drain Out Ladder Diagram

• A: Cross area of the water tank

• a: Cross area of the pipe

• qin : Inflow of the water tank, which is assumed to be constant

• qout : Outflow of the water tank

• g: Gravity Acceleration

• K1 : Valve flux proportional coefficient

• K2 : Flux proportional coefficient at desired height (H0 )

The physical meanings of the symbols of the water tank system are shown in Fig
3.7. It is noted that the A, a, qin , and g are time invariant parameters, and qout is
related to the current value of the control valve.
Then, based on the law of conservation of mass, the actual height is equal to
the total inflow mass subtracts the total outflow mass. As a result, (3.1) shows the
relationship among these three parameters. The outflow can be calculated by (3.2).

∂H
A× = qin − qout (3.1)
∂t
p
qout = K1 a 2gH (3.2)
 39

Figure 3.7: Water Tank System

From (3.2), it can be seen that the water level control system is a non-linear
system. However, around the desired height, the outflow equation can be linearized
as a linear model. (3.2) is rewritten approximately as (3.3):

qout K1 × a
≈√ = K2 (3.3)
2gH 2gH0

qout = K2 × 2gH (3.4)

Then, by substituting (3.4) to (3.1), the model of the system is generated as (3.5):

∂H
A× = qin − K2 × 2gH (3.5)
∂t
1 ×a
where, K2 = √K2gH 0
, and K1 = IImax
act
because the valve coefficient is proportional
to the valve position and equal to the actual current of the valve over the maximum
current of the valve. By taking K1 and K2 in to (3.5), the model of the system can
be represented by the actual current Iact and the actual height H. The equation is
written as (3.6) The values of each parameters are shown in Table 3.3.

∂H
= C1 × qin − C2 × Iact × H (3.6)
∂t
1 2ga
where, the constant C1 and C2 can be calculated by C1 = A
, and C2 = √
2gH0 ×Imax ×A
.

Simulation Result According to (3.5), the simulink model is built up as shown

in Fig 3.8 and Fig 3.9. The simulink model consists of two parts: the main program
and a subsystem which is the water tank model.
 40

Parameters Value Unit

A 78.5 cm2
a 1.25 cm2
H0 40 cm
qin 40 cm3 /s
g 1000 cm/s2

Table 3.3: Parameters

r(t) e(t) u(t) x(t)

40 PID(s) In1 Out1

Desired Height Saturation Final Result

PID Controller Water Tank

Figure 3.8: Main Simulink Block Diagram

1
1
1 -K- s
Product Out1
In1 Gain Integrator

-C- Inflow

Figure 3.9: Water Tank System

The desired height is represented by a constant signal in the constant function

block. The reference signal is marked by r(t) . The error between the desired height
and the actual height, which is represented by e(t) , is generated after the sum function.
The saturation function is set from the lower bound -20 to upper bound 0 because
if the actual height is lower than the desired height, the system does not take any
actions except being filled. When the actual height is near the desired height, the
PID function block is enabled. The PID controller calculates a control signal u(t)
based the e(t) . Then, the control signal u(t) is applied to the subsystem which is
tagged as Water Tank in Fig 3.8. In the subsystem, Fig 3.9, the gain block represents
the parameter C2 . Since the inflow qin and the cross area of the water tank A are
constant, the result of qAin is set as a number into a constant function block marking
as inflow in Fig 3.9. Finally, the actual height is integrated by the integrator, and
the output of the system is x(t) . The simulation overview result is shown in Fig 3.10
 41

and a magnified result is shown in Fig 3.11.

50
Actual Height
45 Desired Height

40

Actual Height (cm)

35

30

25

20

15

10

0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Time (sec)

Figure 3.10: Overview Result

44 Actual Height
Desired Height

42
Actual Height (cm)

40

38

36

34

32

30
60 80 100 120 140
Time (sec)

Figure 3.11: Magnified Result

From Fig 3.10, it can be seen that the actual height goes up with a constant slope
because the system is under the filling process without piping out action. When the
actual height is over 40 cm, the PID function is enabled. The PID adjustment is
reflected in the period after 20 seconds. From the simulation result, we can see that
 42

the PID controller works very well, and the final goal is achieved. However, this
simulation result does not cover air pressure error elimination.

3.3 Experimental Results

In this section, we will explore the experimental results of the water level control of the
water tank. Then, by comparing the experimental results with the simulation results,
we can verify the design of the overall system. Also, we compare the performance of
the PID controller with that without PID controller.

3.3.1 Open Loop Control Scheme

In an open loop control system, the control valve only has two positions: fully close
and fully open. When the actual height is higher than the desired height, the control
valve is fully opened to drain out water. Similarly, the control valve is fully closed
when the actual height is lower than the desired height. As a result, the water level
raises up and down but does not stay at a constant level. The experimental data
result of the open loop control scheme is shown in Fig 3.12.

41
Actual Height
40.75 Desired Height

40.5
Actual Height (cm)

40.25

40

39.75

39.5

39.25

39
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
Time (sec)

Figure 3.12: Experimental Result of Open Loop Control System

 43

3.3.2 Closed-loop Control Scheme

Different from the open loop control, the position of the control valve can be adjusted
upon the requirement of the system. For example, when the actual height decreases
from a higher height to the actual height, the control valve is closed slowly instead of
fully closed. The open-close degree of the control valve is determined by the difference
between the actual height and the desired height. As a result, the actual height can
be maintained nearly at the desired height. An overall experimental result is shown
in Fig 3.13. Fig 3.14 shows a zoomed part of Fig 3.13 from 60s to 140s.

50
Actual Height
45 Desired Height
40
Actual Height (cm)

35

30

25

20

15

10

0
0 25 50 75 100 125 150
Time (sec)

Figure 3.13: Experimental Result of Closed Loop Control System

3.3.3 Experimental Result Analysis

Comparing simulation results in Fig 3.10 with the experimental results in Fig 3.13, we
can conclude that the overall experimental result is almost the same to the simulation
result. The main difference occurs in the level raising up period. In the simulation
result, the actual height is raising up in a constant rate; however, the raising rate in
the experiment has a significant change. The reason is due to the sensitivity of the
pressure sensor. During the period of the system operation, any vibrations happened
to this system can cause a change to the value of the pressure sensor. As a result, the
actual height can not raise up straightly in this system. Between Fig 3.11 and Fig
3.14, the difference is the transient time. In the simulation result, we can see that it
 44

44 Actual Height
Desired Height
42

Actual Height (cm)

40

38

36

34

32

30
60 80 100 120 140
Time (sec)

Figure 3.14: Zoomed Experimental Result of Closed Loop Control System

takes 40 seconds. However, in the experimental result, it only takes approximately

3.5 seconds in the transient period. This is because of the different models. As we
mentioned above, around the desired height, the outflow can be modeled linearly in
the simulation, and some intricate details are simplified; however, in the real system
test, the outflow is a nonlinear model and more sophisticated than the simulation.
Overall, the simulation result exhibits an approximate situation of the experimental
result.
A comparison between Fig 3.12 and Fig 3.13 shows an importance of a PID con-
troller. In an open loop control system Fig 3.12, it can be seen clearly that the actual
height is maintained at a higher level than the desired height. Also, Fig 3.12 shows
that the actual height oscillates around 43cm. Then, the actual height is near but
still above the desired height because some remaining water in the inlet pipe goes
into the water tank. All in all, the result of open loop control system is unacceptable.
However, when a PID controller is added, the final result in Fig 3.13 is acceptable.
Because there is a time delay between the SCADAPack 350 and the control valve,
from Fig 3.13, we can still see errors between the actual height and the desired height,
but the errors are invisible and acceptable.
 45

Chapter 4

Conclusion and Future Works

4.1 Conclusion
This report investigates a designing process of PLC based level control system. In
Chapter 1, a brief history and development of PLC are introduced. The initial idea
of developing a PLC is to simply a process control by using PLC to replace electrical
relays. With an increasing requirement of the industrial process, PLCs become a
significantly used controller in most industries. Also, a water level control system is
a typical process control system, so understanding how a water level control system
works is necessary for us to know other design procedure in other industrial process
control system. For this reason, a PLC based water level control system is designed
in our laboratory.
The experimental setup is proposed in Chapter 2. In this system, an SCADAPack
350 PLC, Fisher 360 control valve, and WIKA C-10 pressure sensor are used. To
mount all the equipment, a steel frame is installed on a cart. Furthermore, in order
to select a water tank gasket and set the position of filling entrance correctly, a
water tank finite element analysis and flow simulation are described in Chapter 2. In
Chapter 2, the PLC schematic is discussed. With filling water into a water tank, the
pressure sensor converts the water pressure to the analog signal. The PLC controls
the valve based on the analog signal which comes from the pressure sensor.
After a complete experimental setup, Chapter 3 introduces the PLC ladder di-
agram programming, system modeling and simulation results, experimental results
and system stability test results. The PLC ladder diagram programming is achieved
on Telepace Studio which is developed for SCADAPack Series PLC. Before the exper-
 46

imental test, the system simulation is run on Matlab/Simulink. The system modeling
is based on the law of conservation of mass. In order to get a better result, a PID
control algorithm is introduced. In programming PLC, a PID control algorithm is
used. A PID control block is provided in the Telepace Studio. By using PID control
algorithm, we get better results on both experimental tests and the simulation. As
results showing, the PLC based level control system is stable and accurate.

4.2 Future Works

In this project, the PLC based level control system is used to maintain the water level
at a constant height. The simulation and experimental results show that the PLC
contributes an accurate and stable performance. However, the weak point is that we
only focus on the final result but ignore the system efficiency, such as responding time,
air consumption, and power consumption and so on. As a result, a further study on
improving system efficiency is required.
Next, due to financial limitation and equipment size limitations, this project only
discusses on a simple water tank level control problem. However, in real industries, a
control problem is more comlicated than what we did in our laboratory. Therefore, a
couple water tank interacting system design and control will be studied in the future.
In addition, an HMI should be considered. In industry, an HMI is used in combi-
nation with a PLC based system. The HMI is playing a role in monitoring the system.
Moreover, engineers can easily modify the system parameters setup using the HMI.
However, the HMI programming is a challenging and valued work in designing a PLC
based system so that the further work will focus on the HMI programming.
This project is a short distance control system. In order to apply PLCs to the
real industrial control problems, how to design a long distance control and monitor
system is necessary. From previous work which we reviewed in Chapter 1, an Internet
based remote control technique can be used with a PLC system. To achieve that, the
TCP/IP setup is worth to be proposed as a part of the future work.
 47

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