International Journal of Latest Trends in Engineering and Technology (IJLTET) ISSN: 2278-621X

Comparative Performance Analysis for Two

Tanks Liquid Level Control System with
Various Controllers using Matlab
Damrudhar
M.Tech Student
Electrical Engineering Department
B.I.T Sindri, Dhanbad, Jharkhand India

Dr. D.K. Tanti

Associate Professor
Electrical Engineering Department
B.I.T Sindri, Dhanbad, Jharkhand India

Abstract- Liquid level control in tanks and between tanks are basic industrial problem. Often the tanks are so
coupled in interacting and non-interacting way they exhibit non-linear behaviour. This paper deals with the level
control of two tank system which are connected in interacting and non-interacting mode to control the level of
system. In interacting mode the level of first tank will depend on the level of second tank while in case of non-
interacting mode level of first tank is independent of level of second tank. Here comparative analysis of the transient
response obtained by different controllers- Conventional controller PID, Feed forward-feedback controller, IMC
(Internal Model Controller) and Fuzzy Logic Controller has been done using MATLAB simulation. It has been
observed that IMC performs better than other controllers for both interacting and non-interacting mode.

KEYWORDS- Level Control, PID, Feed forward-feedback, IMC, FLC, MATLAB

I.INTRODUCTION
The Control of liquid level in tanks and flow between tanks is the basic problem in process industries. In
Process industry the liquid pumped and store in the tank and then pumped to another tank. Many times the
liquid will be processed by chemical or mixing treatment in the tanks. The liquid should be processed such that
the level of fluid in the tanks must be controlled and flow between the tanks must be regulated [1]. It is essential
to understand that how the tank is controlled and how the level control problem solved. Here in this paper
performance will be analysed on the basis of characteristics e.g. rise time ( ), settling time ( ), % overshoot
( ).
There are different types of controllers for get the optimized response for any system. PID is one of the
effective conventional controller that used from long years back. Ziegler Nichols- tuning method for PID
controller is a popular tuning process [2]-[3]. The disadvantage of PID controller is that it is not suitable for
higher order nonlinear system. Feed forward controller uses two loops in its structure which helps to minimize
interaction coefficient of the system and improve the response [4]. IMC controller is used to minimize the
disturbance of the system and to make the system internally stable. IMC gives better result than other
implemented controllers [5]. Fuzzy Logic Controller (FLC) is an intelligent controller which uses IF and THEN
rule to obtain optimized result. However FLC makes the system little sluggish [8]-[9].

II. MATHEMATICAL ANALYSIS

Here in this work two tanks are connected in interacting and non-interacting manner. Mathematical
calculation for both the tank has been done to distinguish interacting and non-interacting connection [2] [6]. A
disturbance has also been introduced in the considered system. Disturbance is nothing but an extra input for
second tank.

Case I: Two Tank Interacting system

In this connection two tanks are connected together to form a coupled tank system. Here level of 1st tank
will depend on level of 2nd tank.

http://dx.doi.org/10.21172/1.72.555 345 Vol 7 issue 2 July 2016

 International Journal of Latest Trends in Engineering and Technology (IJLTET) ISSN: 2278-621X

Level of tank 1 is represented by and level of tank 2 is represented by .

Fig.1 Two Tank Interacting tank system with disturbances

Here,
=Volumetric flow rate in to tank 1( )
=Volumetric flow rate from tank 1 to tank 2 ( )
= Volumetric flow rate from tank 2( ) =Height of the liquid level in tank 1 (cm) =Height of
the liquid level in tank 2 (cm)
= Cross sectional area of tank 1 ( )
= Cross sectional area of tank 2 (
=Linear resistance of flow from tank 1 through valve 1 (sec/ )
=Linear resistance of flow from tank 2 through valve 2 (sec/ )

For Tank 1:-

By Mass Balanced Equation;
= (1)
By Torcilli equation linear resistance to flow is ( ) and the relation between Volumetric flow rate into tank
and linear resistance ( ) can be given as
=( ) (2)
Putting the value of equation (2) in equation (1)
= ( )
(3)
=
(4)

For Tank 2:-

By Mass Balanced equation;

(5)

By Torcilli equation linear resistance to flow ( ) through valve 2 and relation between output Volumetric rate
( ) and Linear resistance to flow ( ) can be given as;

(6)

Putting the value of from equation (2) and from equation (6) in equation (5)

(7)

+
(8)

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 International Journal of Latest Trends in Engineering and Technology (IJLTET) ISSN: 2278-621X

By Laplace transform,

(9)
Where;

Disturbance analysis for two tanks interacting Water Level Tank System will be given as:

(10)
Table.1 Parameters value for two tank

Parameters Value Unit

250

250

0.01

0.01

30 Cm

15 Cm

Using the parameters shown in table 1 the final transfer function for the interacting system will be

(11)

Transfer function for Disturbance will be given as;

(12)

Case II: Two Tank Non- Interacting system

In Non-Interacting connection two tank will not be connected in series. The significant of non- interacting
tank is that here the level of 1st tank will not depend on the level of 2nd tank.

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 International Journal of Latest Trends in Engineering and Technology (IJLTET) ISSN: 2278-621X

Fig.2 Two Tank Non-Interacting system with disturbance

For Tank 1:

From above figure Mass Balance Equation; (13)

By Torcilli equation the relationship between linear resistance of flow through valve 1 and input flow
rate of liquid ( ) will be given as (14)

Putting the value of in equation (13)

(15)

For Tank 2:
By Mass balance equation;

(16)
Again by Torcilli equation the relationship between linear resistance of flow through valve 2 and output
flow rate for tank ( ) will be given as follow

(17)

(18)

Using Laplace transform.

(19)

Where;

Using parameters value from table 1 transfer function for non-interacting system will be given as;

(20)

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 International Journal of Latest Trends in Engineering and Technology (IJLTET) ISSN: 2278-621X

III.CONTROLLERS DESIGN

(i)PID CONTROLLER
A PID controller is a controller that includes proportional gain ( ), integral gain ( ), and the derivative
gain . Defining u(t) as the controller output, the final form of the PID algorithm is:

Fig.3 General Control Structure of PID

(21)
and have been used for effective performance of the system.
Major drawback of this method is that oscillation will be present in the system response.

(ii) FEED FORWARD-FEEDBACK CONTROLLER

Feed-forward controllers are always used along with feedback controller. Feedback controller is used to
tracking the change in set point and also minimized the effect of disturbances which is unmeasured in nature and
such type of disturbances are always present in the real plant. Conventional feedback control loops can never
achieve perfect control. It is difficult for the conventional loops to keep the process output continuously at the
desired set point value if the load or set point changes. This is because a feedback reacts only after it has
detected a deviation in the value of the output from the desired set point. Unlike the feedback control systems, a
feed forward control configuration measures the disturbance directly and takes the control action to eliminate its
impact on the process output.

(22)
Where,
_
DC gain of the controller
- Are the time constant of the controller

Fig.4 Block diagram of Feed forward –Feedback Controller

Where,
G 1 - transfer function between output and disturbance
G f - transfer function of feed forward controller
G c - transfer function of PID controller
G p - transfer function of plant
Table. 2 Tuning rule for Feed-forward controller
Sr. No Mode IJ IJ
1 2
1. Lead 1.5 peak time 0.7 peak time

2. Lag 0.7 peak time 1.5peak time

(iii) IMC CONTROLLER

The IMC design procedure is exactly the same as the open loop control design procedure. Unlike open loop
control, the IMC structure compensates for disturbances and model uncertainties. The IMC filter tuning

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 International Journal of Latest Trends in Engineering and Technology (IJLTET) ISSN: 2278-621X

parameter “lem( )” is used to avoid the effect of model uncertainty. The normal IMC design procedure focuses
on set point responses but with good set point responses good disturbance rejection is not assured, especially
those occurring at the process inputs. A modification in the design procedure is proposed to enhance input
disturbance rejection and to make the system internally stable.

Fig.5 Basic Block Diagram Of IMC

(s)= *(s).f(s)={inv[ (s)]}f(s) (23)

Where, f(s) is transfer function for LPF. Used to make the system at least semi-proper. Because Improper system
has not stable response.
f(s) =

where, ȜLVDGMXVWDEOHDQGQ WRWDOQXPEHURISROH 

Ȝ

IMC design for 2nd order system:

=
(24)

*(s)= *(s). -*(s)=

(25)
Since here both poles are in left side of s-plane

*(s)=inv[ -*(s)]=

Since here in this system there are two poles so value of n=2

*(s)

)RUȜ DQGQ 

(26)

(iv) FUZZY LOGIC CONTROLLER

Fuzzy logic controller makes rules rather than complicated mathematical expressions; it also uses linguistic
variables rather than numerical values. The linguistic variables are in the form of natural languages like very
high, high, medium, low and very low. These rules are executed by the inference rule which convert the input
data into linguistic values and thus fuzzification is done. Decision making is made by the controller with the set
of rules and the variables. The controlled action from the controller is then defuzzified that gives a numerical

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 International Journal of Latest Trends in Engineering and Technology (IJLTET) ISSN: 2278-621X

value based on linguistic values. In this the input to the fuzzy logic controller is error and change in error; it is
then fuzzified and converted to linguistic variables. The rules are framed by trials and error method and thus the
desired response is obtained. The IF-THEN rules have been used here. The triangular membership functions for
the input and output are chosen and their ranges are split.
Table.3 Rule base array for FLC (25)

E(n)/CE(n) NB N Z P PB
NB NB NB NB N Z
N NB NB N Z P
Z NB N Z P PB
P N Z P PB PB
PB Z P PB PB PB

IV. SIMULATION RESULTS

Fig.6 Comparison of responses for two tank interacting system

for all controllers Fig.7 Comparison of responses for two tank non- interacting
system for all controllers

V. PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS
Table.4 and Table.5 describe the performance analysis of all controllers. IMC has least settling time and no
overshoot. Hence the IMC control scheme is the best suited for this system as it provides best overall
performance.

Table.4 Comparative analysis for two tank interacting system

Controller Rise Settling %Overshoot
Time( ) time( )
PID 1.24 6.5 12.3
Feed f/w- 5.19 29.08 15.2
feedback
IMC 1.77 3.10 0
FLC 14.15 24.07 0

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 International Journal of Latest Trends in Engineering and Technology (IJLTET) ISSN: 2278-621X

Table.5 Comparative analysis for two tank non-interacting system

Controller Rise Settling %Overshoot
Time( ) time( )
PID 1.01 5.86 17
Feed f/w- 4.05 14.73 11.5
feedback
IMC 1.77 3.10 0
FLC 8.4 14.1 0

VI. CONCLUSION
It has been observed that IMC controller performs better than other controllers. It has been found out that
IMC rejects disturbance and provides a stable system. It has also been shown that non-interacting connection
has better performance for different controllers except IMC where interacting and non-interacting both have
similar characteristics.

REFERENCES

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