A real time approach to process control education with an open-ended simulation tool

Abstract Process simulators are widely used in industrial process designs and academic research. These simulation tools are also perfectly suitable for the process dynamics and control education of junior chemical engineers and students, as these tools mimetically help them with comprehending the basic theories of process control, such as process capacity, dead time, control loops, controllers and multi-unit processes such as distillation columns. At the University of Auckland, New Zealand, final year Chemical and Materials Engineering students who participate in the process dynamics and control paper are required to complete a series of simulation workshops in auxiliary sessions to help them in their understanding of process dynamics and control. This paper introduces the content of the workshops as well as reviews the student feedback on the introduction of the simulator and their perceptions of their learning of process dynamics and control as assisted by the software and instruction. Three case studies are provided in this paper to illustrate the benefits of running workshops. The motivation of this paper is to share our workshop design with other universities.

[1]  Raphaël Duboz,et al.  The Virtual Laboratory Environment - An operational framework for multi-modelling, simulation and analysis of complex dynamical systems , 2009, Simul. Model. Pract. Theory.

[2]  William L. Luyben.  Plantwide Dynamic Simulators in Chemical Processing and Control , 2002 .

[3]  Wolfgang Marquardt,et al.  A framework for work process modeling in the chemical industries , 2011, Comput. Chem. Eng..

[4]  Brent R. Young,et al.  A completely real time approach to process control education for process systems engineering students and practitioners , 2000 .

[5]  David E. Clough.  Bringing Active Learning Into The Traditional Classroom: Teaching Process Control The Right Way , 1998 .

[6]  Sebastián Dormido,et al.  Development of virtual-labs for education in chemical process control using Modelica , 2012, Comput. Chem. Eng..

[7]  Brent R. Young,et al.  Real‐time computer simulation workshops for the process control education of undergraduate chemical engineers , 2001, Comput. Appl. Eng. Educ..

[8]  R B Newell,et al.  Resource based education for training chemical engineers , 1990 .

[9]  Mirjana Minceva,et al.  Modelling and simulation in chemical engineering: Tools for process innovation , 2005, Computers and Chemical Engineering.

[10]  Brent R. Young,et al.  A Real-Time Approach to Process Control , 2000 .

[11]  Daniel R. Lewin,et al.  Teaching advanced process control to undergraduates , 1996 .

[12]  Melvyn Song,et al.  Enhancing process control education using a web-based interactive multimedia environment , 2003 .

[13]  Sebastián Dormido,et al.  Object-oriented modelling of virtual-labs for education in chemical process control , 2008, Comput. Chem. Eng..