Heuristic Algorithm Assisted Controller Design for Nonlinear Type Liquid Level Process

Abstract

In process control industries, controlling the liquid inside the non-linear tanks such as a conical tank, hopper tank and spherical tank is a highly challenging task due to the change in the cross section area of the tank. The aim of this project is to design a suitable controller to control the level of the hopper type tank by using conventional controllers like Ziegler-Nichols tuning method (ZN) and computational controllers using metaheuristic algorithms such as Bacteria Foraging Optimization (BFO) algorithm, Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm and Firefly Algorithm (FA). This controller can be used for the industries that deal with this nonlinear type of process. The mathematical model for the conical tank was done to identify the transfer function of the system. The conventional and computational controllers were designed and implemented using MATLAB/Simulink to choose the best controller for the conical/hopper type tank liquid level process based on the time domain specifications such as rise time, settling time and peak overshoot percentage. Moreover, the performance of the system was analyzed based on the error indices such as Integral Square Error (ISE), Integral Absolute Error (IAE), Integral Time Square Error (ITSE) and Integral Time Absolute Error (ITAE). Also, servo and regulatory operations were tested for the chosen best controller.