Mathematical modeling and development of intelligent controllers for ameliorating the performance of Single Fluid Heat Transfer System using LabVIEW

To optimize cost and space in the pharmaceutical industry, it is desirable to heat and cool the utility fluid from the same equipment. The heat transfer for both heating and cooling is done using a single liquid. The system implemented with this concept is called Single Fluid Heat Transfer System (SFHTS). In this paper an actual SFHTS used by a pharmaceutical major company is considered. The essential objective is to eliminate overshoot and achieve set point in the shortest time possible for both thermal transfer unit and level control unit of SFHTS. Mathematical model of the real time SFHTS was developed and simulated using LabVIEW software. Tuned PI, PID and Sliding Mode Control were applied to the heating and cooling module (Thermal Transfer Module) and semi-automated level control module of the SFHTS. The results showed that all the controllers considered here aided in reaching the set point. However, the quantified results also denote that the swiftness and accuracy of the Sliding Mode Controller, the attributes required for faster settling time and overshoot elimination, was better than that of PI and PID Controllers. Hence Sliding Mode Controller was recommended for the thermal transfer module and semi-automated level control module of SFHTS.