Design of water tank level cascade control system

based on siemens S7--200

Hong Ying Cao,Na Deng
College of Electronic and Electrical
Kaifeng University
Kaifeng 475004, China
yingzi8172@163.com

control the water level of lower tank. The

Abstract—In the modern industrial production, level of communication between PLC and host computer is achieved
equipments and vessels is checked and controlled usually. by RS232 data bus. The whole process can be monitored by
According to volume delay of double tank and disadvantage of Kingview software.
single loop low properties , introduces Cascade control scheme.
This paper selects controller based on Siemens S7—200 and
control strategy based on PID, It realizes high- precision control electrically operated valve
and real-time display of double water tank by PLC and  S7-200 computer
Kingview software.
 CPU224
EM235 pressure upper tank
Key wordsüdouble water tank; cascade; PLC; PID control;
Kingview  i

ɚ. INTRODUCTION pressure  lower tank

In the modern industrial production, level is an important
parameter of control system. It is more important in the
petroleum, chemical industry, environmental protection, water
treatment, metallurgy and other industries. Level of equipments
and vessels is checked and controlled usually. We can see the
quantity of raw materials, semi-finished products or finished
products in the container by checking and adjust the balance of
the input and output materials. We can monitor the production
process or container level in order to ensure the quality and
quantity.
Double water tank is typical nonlinear, delay object.it is
highly representative.In industry whole or local of many
controlled objects can be viewed as mathematical model of
double water tank[1]. At present, PID controller has been widely
applied. This paper not only designs PID parameters but also
analyzes the impact of interference.
ɛ. OVERALL DESIGN OF SYSTEM
Cascade system not only can overcome early interference of
the secondary loop but also can improve the dynamic
characteristics. The secondary regulator has the effect of "coarse
tuning " and the main regulator has the effect of "fine tuning", so
that the control quality of cascade system is improved. The
system diagram is shown in figure 1.
The water level of lower tank is compared with setting
value of the main loop, then plc calculates the control signal
based on PID. The control signal is used as setting of the
secondary loop, which is compared with water level of upper
tank. According to the deviation, plc calculates again based on
PID. The output is a 4̚20mA current signal, then electrically
operated valve will regulate valve opening, so that we can
i
Fig.1. system diagram
ɜ. HARDWARE DESIGN OF SYSTEM
The tank of THJ-2 process control experimental device
is viewed as controlled object. The water level of lower
tank is the main variable and the water level of upper tank is
the secondary variable. The water level of lower tank is
equal to the setting through automatic adjustment. The KYB
pressure transmitter is used for detecting level .QSTP-16K
electrically operated valve is used for regulating water
inflow.
S7-200 CPU224 is the controller and EM235 is
extension module. EM235 consists of 4 analogue input
channels and 1 analogue output channel[2].
ɝ. SOFTWARE DESIGN OF SYSTEM
Special relay SM0.0 produces initialized pulse after the
PLC power onˈthen the system is initialized. Setting and
PID parameters are writed in date register, at the same time
timer is reseted. The system begins to work after the start
button is pressed. The sampling period of main controller is
setted to 2S and the sampling period of secondary controller
is setted to 1S. Input channels are shown in Table 1, offset
address is shown in Table 2.
S7-200 PLC communicates with host computer by
RS232 data bus and Kingview communicates with PLC by
host computer. [3]

978-1-4673-8644-9/16/$31.00 2016
c IEEE 1926
 TABLE 1ˊI/O ADDRESS
Input Function Output Function

AIW2 input of upper AQW0 control signal of

pressure transmitter electrically
operated valve
AIW4 input of lower
pressure transmitter

TABLE 2. MAIN AND SECONDARY VARIABLE OFFSET ADDRESS

Offset Main Offset Secondary

Address Variable Address Variable (b) the second figure
Fig. 2. simulation result
VD200 process VD600 process variable
variable PV1 PV2
In the first figure (P1=2.5ˈI1=50minˈD1=0ˈP2=8
VD204 setting SP1 VD604 setting SP2 ˈ I2=99999min ˈ D2=0 ˈ the 15mm step ), the main
VD208 output OP1 VD608 output OP2
controller is PI controller, so the control precision of the
system is improved. The secondary controller is P
VD212 gain P1 VD612 gain P2 controller.Proportional control can improve the response
VD216 sampling peri VD616 sampling period speed of the system and eliminate interference quickly, but
od TS1 TS2 oscillation of the system is more severe.
DV220 integration DV620 Integration time
In the second figure(P1=2.5 ˈ I1=80min ˈ D1=0 ˈ
time constant constant I2 P2=8 ˈ I2=100min ˈ D2=0 ˈ the 15mm step), main and
I1 secondary controllers also are PI controller, stability based
on new parameters is better.
VD224 differential VD624 differential time 
time constant constant D2
D1

ɞ. RUNNING RESULT AND ANALYSIS

The simulation results are as follows by step-by- step
method˖

 
Fig. 3ˊ effect of main interference

System produces main interference by changing the

water of the lower tank. Main and secondary variable
produces un-attenuated oscillation, so we should try to avoid
the main interference.
(a) the first figure

2016 IEEE 11th Conference on Industrial Electronics and Applications (ICIEA) 1927
 We come to conclusion by simulation, when main and
secondary controllers also are PI controller, the control effect
of system is better. Secondary loop can produce timely
adjustment effect, so Cascade system can eliminate
secondary interference quickly. The characteristic of the
system meet the design requirements.

REFERENCES
[1]QI Wei-hong,Process Control System [M].Beijing: Electronic Industry
Press, 2012.
[2]LI Dao-lin,principle and Application of electric control and
PLC(Siemens) [M].Beijing: Electronic Industry Press, 2011.
[3]Kingview middle training Course, Baidu Library

Fig.
4ˊ effect of secondary interference

System produces Secondary interference by changing the

water of the upper tank. Secondary loop can eliminate
interference quickly. Effect of interference on main variable is
very small.

CONCLUSION

1928 2016 IEEE 11th Conference on Industrial Electronics and Applications (ICIEA)