This project develops a process control laboratory for undergraduate chemical engineering students with experimental equipment which consists of one tank (equipped with temperature and level transmitters) and two other tanks which can simulate either interacting or non-interacting processes. This equipment provides the capability that the system temperature and/or liquid-level in one of the tanks can be designated as control variables. The manipulated variables can be inlet flow and/or heat added to the tank via an electric immersion heater. A personal computer is used for data acquisition and control. A wide range of experiments are performed in the undergraduate process control course and the transport operations laboratory. These experiments vary in complexity from simple open-loop dynamics to advanced process control strategies.
