MPC Strategy for the Three-tank System

Abstract

The emergence of process industries with its large production volume, high economic and environmental constraints has created the need for state-of-the art automation, which in turn has motivated the development of sophisticated process control technology such as model predictive control (MPC). The recent advances in digital computers have facilitated the implementation of sophisticated control technologies on prototype such as the three-tank system.

This master's thesis aims to develop a new automation system for the three-tank system with MPC as a controller in order to overcome the limitations posed by the old automation system. The aim is to study the importance of MPC as a controller and to find various applications for the three-tank system.

In the literature part, the theory and technique behind the success of MPC are studied. This study also presents and reviews various applications of the three-tank system in academic research in order to obtain a clear understanding of the three-tank system. This study emphasizes the importance and credibility of the MPC to be implemented successfully in the newly developed three-tank system.

The aim of the experimental part is to build a new automation system for the three-tank process in order to control it through Matlab using the data acquisition cards. The overall functionality of the three-tank system is increased to overcome the problems posed by the old automation system. The three-tank system is modelled after a mechanistic approach. The closed-loop control involving the PID and the MPC controllers is implemented on the newly automated three-tank process.

The new automation system for the three-tank process is proved to be fully functional and was thoroughly validated. The issues relating to the system integration were solved successfully to build a highly flexible, reliable and robust automation system. The real-time closed-loop performance of the three-tank system is compared to that of simulations and they were identical. A graphical user interface was developed to operate the newly automated three-tank system. Finally, suitable assignments are designed for the students of the laboratory in order to obtain hands-on-experience on the three-tank system.