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NOVEL FUZZY FRACTIONAL ORDER PID CONTROLLER FOR

NON LINEAR INTERACTING COUPLED SPHERICAL TANK
SYSTEM FOR LEVEL PROCESS

A Jegatheesh , C Agees Kumar

PII: S0141-9331(19)30165-6
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.micpro.2019.102948
Reference: MICPRO 102948

To appear in: Microprocessors and Microsystems

Received date: 20 March 2019

Revised date: 8 November 2019
Accepted date: 2 December 2019

Please cite this article as: A Jegatheesh , C Agees Kumar , NOVEL FUZZY FRACTIONAL
ORDER PID CONTROLLER FOR NON LINEAR INTERACTING COUPLED SPHERICAL
TANK SYSTEM FOR LEVEL PROCESS, Microprocessors and Microsystems (2019), doi:
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.micpro.2019.102948

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 NOVEL FUZZY FRACTIONAL ORDER PID CONTROLLER
FOR NON LINEAR INTERACTING COUPLED SPHERICAL
TANK SYSTEM FOR LEVEL PROCESS
1
Jegatheesh A and 2Agees Kumar C
1,2
Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering,
1
DMI Engineering College, Kumarapuram

2
Arunachala College of Engineering for Women, Vellichanthai, Kanniyakumari

1
ajegatheesh.research@gmail.com
2
ageesofficials@gmail.com

ABSTRACT:
In this paper, a novel Fuzzy Fractional Order Proportional Integral Derivative
(FFOPID) controller is proposed to control the liquid level of Two Tank Spherical
Interacting System (TTSIS). Spherical tanks are widely used in process industries due to
its high storage capacity. These are non-linear due to its varying surface area with respect
to its height and hence the level control of a spherical tank system is a challenging task.
Fractional Order Proportional Integral Derivative (FOPID) controller is designed for a
liquid level control of a spherical tank which is modeled as a fractional Order System.
The performance indices such as rise time, settling time, peak time and peak overshoot
are analyzed for the proposed control scheme and compared to conventional controllers
such as PI, PID, PID-SMC, FOPID. Moreover the time integral performance measures
such as ITAE, IAE and ISE are analyzed. Experimental results are shown to validate the
obtained results with those of simulations. It has been proven that FFOPID outperforms
all other existing techniques in terms of various time domain specifications and time
integral performance measures.
Key words:

1
 Spherical two tank system, PI controller, PID controller, PID-SMC controller,
Fractional order PID controller (FOPID), Fuzzy Fractional Order PID controller
(FFOPID), MATLAB/SIMULINK, FOMCON toolbox.

I INTRODUCTION
A system whose performance cannot be described by equations of the first degree
is termed as a nonlinear system. Most economic and social processes are nonlinear,
where mathematical analysis is unable to provide general solutions. Generally, nonlinear
problems are difficult to solve and are much less understandable than linear problems.
Many industries use conventional tank system such as cylindrical tanks, cylindrical tanks
with conical bottom for their processing. The major problem in process industries is the
control of fluid levels in storage tanks, chemical blending and reaction vessels. The rate
of change of flow from one tank to another and the level of fluid can be considered as the
two important operational factors. Petrochemical industries, paper making industries,
water treatment industries, etc need the control of liquid level and flow.
Pharmaceutical industry is the backbone of Indian economy. New
technologies are implemented to develop pharmaceutical industries in India. Spherical
tanks have smaller surface area and higher strength as compared to cylindrical vessels but
the thickness of the wall is same in both spherical and cylindrical tanks. Spherical tanks
are highly nonlinear due to its variation in shape and stress concentration is uniform. The
advantages of using spherical tank are have smaller surface area per unit volume, the
amount of heat transfer from hot surrounding to tank is less compared to other tanks, loss
of production is reduced, economical and efficient washing, intensified fabrication.
Advantage of fuzzy based FOPID technique is less sensitive and is used to control the
level of liquid, real time implementation, good time domain characteristics better
performances and cost effective. Maintaining liquid in a particular height in spherical
tank is difficult due to its nonlinearity. Other tanks normally used in industries are linear.
The dynamical system was controlled by using Fractional integrals and derivatives for
variety of applications. The main advantage of the fractional order controller is that, it is
2
very less sensitive to the change of parameter of the controlled system and controller and
hence FOPID controller is applied in various process industries.
A real time implementation of fuzzy logic controller, FOPID technique and
various intelligent controllers are individually applied for spherical tank system to search
out the superior results. It is proved that Fuzzy based FOPID technique applied for non
linear interactive coupled spherical tank system is superior in the control of level of
liquid.
Section I explains the overall introduction of the paper. Section II describes the
various literature reviews of different controllers used in the system. Section III explains
the proposed system. Section IV displays the mathematical modelling of interacting
spherical two tank system. Section V discusses about the design of various controllers
used in the system as well as controllers used for comparison. Section VI describes about
the simulation results and its discussions. Section VII concludes the paper and explains
about the future work of the presented paper.
II LITERATURE REVIEW
Several times, liquids are treated as chemicals but the fluid level in the tank must
be set at a desired point. If the level is too high it can disturb the reaction balance, harm
the equipment or result in leakage of valuable/harmful materials [1]. These industries
mainly operate on three processes: synthesis, fermentation and extraction. Synthesis of
chemical compounds from mixture is done using tanks [2]. The amount of heat moved
from warmer surrounding to the liquid in spherical storage is less in comparison to
rectangular or cylindrical storage. Conventional controllers are largely applied in
industries due to its simplicity, robust structure and acquainted to the operator [3].
Control of nonlinear processes is challenging when compared to those of linear
processes. Conventional PID controllers can be used to control nonlinear processes based
on a condition that these controllers must be tuned in such a way that they should provide
a very stable behaviour over the entire range of operating conditions. In spite of tuning
the PID controllers, it still results in a degradation of the control system performance. In
order to stabilise nonlinear systems, multi model control approaches are found suitable.
3
 Gap metric based weighting methods for design of multi-model control schemes
for control of levels in a spherical tank process and a conical tank process. IMC-
PI controllers are designed for the corresponding linear models [5]. Overshoot is noticed
to be high. Better control of liquid level is achieved compared to Zeigler Nichols method.
Cuckoo algorithm for PI controller applied for conical tank to control the liquid level in
pharmaceutical industry [6]. A GAPID controller that can cope up with the non-linear
tank characteristics at various operating points such as 23, 35 centimetres of water
column in the coupled spherical tank is proposed in [7]. A GAPID controller was
introduced and the time domain performance measures are noticed to be less as compared
to Conventional controller. In [8], the iterative learning control (ILC) was applied to an
extremely nonlinear system together such as non-interacting two spherical tank system.
The classical PI controller was not adequate for controlling the highly nonlinear process
i.e. the liquid level in the spherical two-tank process.
In [9], various optimization techniques such as PSO, BFO, ACO are used to
optimize the PID Controller gains for control liquid level in coupled spherical tank
system. The error values are calculated and are compared using Anova test. A
conventional controllers (PI and PID) and algorithm based those controllers are used to
control the liquid level in non linear interacting coupled spherical tanks but some
drawbacks are invoked. A fluid level in single spherical tank was controlled by using
Fractional Order PI (FOPI) controller in [10]. This controller was designed in the system
of fractional order (FOS).
A set of fractional order controller is designed and tuned based on Internal
Model control (IMC) for a first order Spherical tank in [11]. The comparison of IMC
based integer order controller was effectively carried out in [11]. The fuzzy logic based
PID controller performs better in control of the liquid level compared to conventional
PID controller [12]. In the previous literatures, a real time implementation of fuzzy logic
controller, FOPID technique and various intelligent controllers are individually applied
for first order spherical tank system to search out the superior results.

4
 From the literature survey, it is evident that there is a need for an effective
algorithm that improves the time domain performance measures and hence this research
addresses the above mentioned issue.
III PROPOSED SYSTEM DESCRIPTION
Level control in an interacting spherical tank system is one of the benchmark
problems of process industries. The spherical tank system is considered an extremely non
linear process due to having variation in the radius of the tank and also due to the
interaction of the two tanks. The radius of spherical tank varies from top to bottom.
Figure 1 represents the set- up of interacting spherical tanks used in the industries and it
implicates MIMO and SISO system is considered here. A height of 50cm (H) and radius
of 25 cm (R) twice spherical tanks are , used for the process. First tank
used for a storage and second tank is used for processing of chemicals. Chemical
blending and mixing takes place in second tank. The valve used to interconnect
those two tanks.

5
 PC
FT
FT

FIN2
FIN1
INTERFACING UNIT

CV1 CV2

H TANK 1
h1 TANK 2 h2
DPT DPT

MV1 MV2

FOUT1 MV12 FOUT2

PUMP1 PUMP2

Storage Tank

Figure 1 Model for spherical two tank interacting system

The opening of this valve the liquids are flow from to
is the flow of input in and is the flow of input in . The output flow of
is to control the flows at to sumph1. These fluid heights are estimated by
Differential Pressure Transmitters (DPT). Here liquid level in will be
controlled. And indicates control valves. The raw materials are stored in storage
tank. The input flows and can be measured by Magnetic Flow Transmitters
(MFT). The transmitted signals of DPT and MFT are current signals (4-20 mA) and it
passed through to interfacing unit of the PC. By considering the advanced control scheme
of PC is implemented later. A 4-20 mA current signal is created by the signal of control
and it transmit to the SMART control valves to create particular flow to
and . SISO process is considered in this paper to measure and manipulated
variable.

6
IV MATHEMATICAL MODELLING FOR NONLINEAR SPHERICAL TWO
TANK SYSTEM
Figure 1 shows the modelling of spherical two tank system. Tank 1 model can be
expressed as,

Linearization of above equation (1) as,

In equation (2) apply partial differentiation,

( ) ( ) ( )

Rearranging above equation,

√ √
In equation (4) apply Laplace transformation,

The Tank 2 model can be expressed as,

√ √

Linearization of above equation (6) as,

In equation (7) apply partial differentiation,

( ) ( ) ( )

Rearranging above equation,

7
 √ √ √
Applying Laplace transformation,

[ ]
√ √ √
Substituting (5) in (10) we get,

√
[ ] [ ]
√ √ √
√

Let us assume,

√ √

Substituting the above variables in (11) we get,

[ ]
Table 1 and 2 shows the specification of Spherical Tank and the modelling parameters to
be used in the four regions.
Table 1 Specifications of spherical tank
Parameters Description Values

D Diameter of spherical tank 50 cm

R Radius of spherical tank 25 cm

H Height of spherical tank 50 cm

Maximum inflow to tank 1 107.85 cm2/s

8
 Valve co-efficient 78.28 cm2/s

Valve co-efficient 19.69 cm2/s

Table 2 Modelling parameter in four regions

Region Flow Height Height C1 C2 R1 R2 τ1 τ2
(cm3/sec) h1(cm) h2(cm)

1 0-25 1.714 1.612 1.5656 0.3938 0.0082 0.12897 2.1441 31.7151

2 26-50 6.856 6.448 0.7828 0.1969 0.0163 0.2579 15.232 226.659

3 51-75 14.97 14.06 1.066 0.1332 0.01198 0.3813 28.4936 851.768

4 76-107.85 31.9 30 0.3627 0.09128 0.03522 0.5564 63.85 1048.258

By substituting the parameters of spherical tank and parameters of the model in

four regions given in table 1 and 2, the transfer functions for four regions are obtained is
displayed in table 3.
Table 3 Transfer functions for four regions
Region Transfer functions
1

V DESIGN OF CONTROLLERS
9
 The various controllers (PI, PID, PID-SMC, FOPID, fuzzy FOPID) used are
discussed in this section along with its design performances.
PI controller:
PI control does not cause offset associated with proportional control. It yields
much faster response than integral action alone. It is widely used for process industries
for controlling variables like level, flow, pressure, etc., those do not have large time
constants. The general control structure of PI controller is given in Figure 2.

Process

Figure 2 Structure of PI controller

A mathematical equation of the PI controller is given by,

Where is the proportional gain, is the integral gain, is the control

variable and is the error value.
PID controller:
Conventional PID controllers are widely used in process industry as they are
easy to implement and maintain. It provides quick response and removes offset error
from the system. For quick response PID controller should be adjusted at a level where
there is no fault arise among process variable and set point. The capability of PID
controller is limited when the parameter of the system are varying or when the parameters
are not known [14]. It is most widely used controller in industrial process due to its low
cost [15]. An industrially confirmed PID controller is used to control many non-linear

10
processes [16]. A PID controller provides physical tuning and has ability to handle many
complex and non-linear process [17]. The general control structure of PI controller is
given in Figure 3.

Process

Figure 3 Structure of PID controller

A mathematical equation of the PID controller is given by,

PID controller finds the universal application. But proper tuning of the
controller is difficult. It is particularly useful for controlling slow variables, like PH,
temperature etc., in process industries.
PID-SMC controller:
SMC is one of the robust control techniques that can be applied to both
linear and nonlinear system. SMC is capable of changing the dynamic behaviour of the
system by allowing it to track the trajectory defined by the sliding surface. These are
achieved by applying both continuous mode and discrete mode on the system. SMC
controller will have an error (e) and process output (X) as an input vector and
manipulated variable (u) as the output of the controller. The SMC block diagram is given
in Figure 4.

11
 +
R E PID S(t) SMC U X
Process
Controller Controller
-

Figure 4 Structure of PID-SMC controller

The mathematical equation for the PID-SMC controller is given by,

( )

Here, is the controller gain,

is the control variable and Boundary layer width .
FOPID controller:
A sliding mode controller (SMC) with a fractional-order proportional plus
integral plus derivative (FOPID) sliding surface for level control in a two-tank hybrid
system is developed. A modified SMC with a fractional-order PI-D (FOPI-D) sliding
surface is also proposed, in which the output of the system is directly applied to
the derivative term of the sliding surface equation. The performance of the proposed
controller is found to improve with an increase in the fractional value of the derivative
term in the FOPI-D sliding surface. [18, 19]. The application of FO calculus for the
dynamic system has been started in the year 1960 [20]. Since then the research on FO
control was extended to various fields of engineering. The controller gain between the
sums of fractional operators are called fractional order PID controller. Figure 5 shows the
structure of FOPID controller.

12
 Error
Controller
Output

Figure 5 Structure of FOPID controller

The FOPID controller transfer function is expressed as,

Where is controller transfer function, (??) is error, and (??) is the

output. and are the gains for proportional, integral, and derivative terms. The
term ?? is the fractional component of integral parts and ?? is the fractional component of
derivative parts. The FOPID controller time domain representation is given as,

The FOPID controller design procedure consists of solving five nonlinear

equations with five unknowns’ ????, ????, ????, ??, and ?? related to the system. Mainly
fractional order is very significant compared to other complexity of five nonlinear
equations. Figure 6 shows the general form of FOPID controller.

13
 µ

µ=1 PD PID

P PI λ

λ=1

Figure 6 Normal form of FOPID controller

It is Clear, by selecting λ = 1 and μ = 1, a classical PID controller can be
improved. Using λ = 1, μ = 0, and λ = 0, μ = 1, respectively corresponds to the
conventional PI & PD controllers. The PIλDµ controller has some special cases compared
to other typical PID controller.
FUZZY FOPID controller:
The advanced control structure FLC uses the error and derivative error inputs
and computes the scaling factor for proportional, integral, and derivative terms and then
these values are utilized to refresh the gain parameters of FOPID controller. So, the final
gain values , , and for FOPID controller are computed from the following
expression:

(18)
where , , and are the initial gain value of FOPID controller and Δ????,
Δ????, and Δ???? are the scaling factors computed from FLC. The frame of a typical
FFOPID control structure is appeared in Figure 7.

14
 ⁄

+
_

Figure 7 Fuzzy FOPID controllers in coupled spherical tank

The triangle membership functions are used for input and output fuzzy sets and
Mamdani-type fuzzy inference system is applied.

[ ]

(19)
The inputs of the fuzzy controller are an error e (k) and the change in the error ∆e (k).
Fuzzy rules for , are displayed in table 4 and 5.
Table 4 Fuzzy rules for
e(k)
NB NM NS ZO PS PM PB
NB B B B B B B B
NM S B B B B B S
NS S S B B B S S
ZO S S S B S S S
PS S S B B B S S
PM S B B B B B S
PB B B B B B B B

15
 Table 5 Fuzzy rules for
e(k)
NB NM NS ZO PS PM PB
NB S S S S S S S
NM B B S S S B B
NS B B B S B B B
ZO B B B B B B B
PS B B B S B B B
PM B B S S S B B
PB S S S S S S S

The fuzzy logic consists of three stages: fuzzification, inference system and
defuzzification. Figure 8 demonstrate the membership function for seven levels: Negative
big (NB), Negative medium (NM), Negative small (NS), Zero (ZO), Positive small (PS),
Positive medium (PM), Positive big (PB).
NB NM NS ZO PS PM PB
µ

X= e(k) or ∆e(k)

Figure 8 Membership function for seven levels in fuzzy

VI SIMULATION RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
A non linear interacting coupled spherical tank system used for the process
industries uses various controllers to control the liquid level in the system. The simulation
is carried out in MATLAB/SIMULINK software to achieve the output performance of

16
the system using various controllers and its disturbance rejection in all regions is obtained
in simulation. The liquid level (0-107.85 cm) in the tank is spitted in to four regions to
control the flow rate of each region. Figure 9 shows the output trajectory of open loop
coupled spherical tank system in all regions for the step input with set point as 30 cm.

Figure 9 Output trajectory of open loop performance in given step input

The various controllers like PI, PID, PID-SMC, FOPID, and fuzzy FOPID are
used for the system in closed loop performance and the level of liquid is controlled.
PI Controller Output:
Figure 10a shows the output trajectory of PI controller for a given step input
for all regions.

17
 Figure 10a Output trajectory of PI controller for a given step input for all regions
Figure 10b shows the Output trajectory of PI controller for an external disturbance
rejection for all regions.

Figure 10b Output trajectory of PI controller for an external disturbance rejection

for all regions

18
The time domain performances and integral performance indices are varied in each
region so; a PI controller is tuned to get the best output performances. The time domain
and integral performance indices for a PI Controller is given in table 6.
Table 6: Time domain and integral performance indices for PI controller
PI controller
Region Region 1 Region 2 Region 3 Region 4
Rise time (sec) 5.238 ks 2.909 ks 1.703 ks 1.442 ks
in each region. The
Time do The time

performances and

performances and
indices are varied

indices are varied

in each region.
performance

performance
time domain

Settling time (sec) 8.023 ks 1.075 ks 7.5 ks 10.169 ks

integral

integral
domain

main
Peak time (sec) 29.993 ks 27.32 ks 3.637 ks 2.420 ks
Under shoot (%) 0.0015 % 1.998 % 1.978 % 0.864 %
Over shoot (%) 0.009 % 0.495 % 4.737 % 14.368 %
ISE 8.607e5 4.759e5 5.03e5 5.376e5
Performance indices

IAE 7.275e4 3.638e4 3.059e4 3.697e4

ITAE 2.249e8 5.333e7 3.202e7 6.042e7

PID Controller Output:

Figure 11a shows the output trajectory of PID controller for a given step input
for all regions. PID controller is used to control the liquid level in all regions and external
disturbances also reduced.

19
Figure 11a Output trajectory of PID controller for a given step input for all regions
Figure 11b shows the Output trajectory of PID controller for an external
disturbance rejection for all regions.

Figure 11b Output trajectory of PID controller for an external disturbance rejection
for all regions

20
PID controller performance is preeminent compared to PI controller. The time domain
and integral performance indices for a PID controller is given in table 7.
Table 7: Time domain and integral performance indices for PID controller
PID controller
Region Region 1 Region 2 Region 3 Region 4
Rise time (sec) 4.871 ks 2.320 ks 1.223 ks 1.019 ks
Time domain

Settling time (sec) 7.5 ks 7.52 ks 7.122 ks 6.194 ks

Peak time (sec) 28.869 ks 28.9 ks 3.361 ks 3.210 ks
Under shoot (%) 1.9 % 1.996 % 1.985 % 1.954 %
Over shoot (%) 0.493 % 0.459 % 0.505 % 6.989 %
ISE 4.776e5 2.6e5 2.88e5 3.078e5
Performance indices

IAE 5.085e4 2.543e4 1.796e4 2.108e4

ITAE 1.4e8 3.792e7 1.05e7 2.088e7

The time domain performances and integral performance indices are varied in each
region.
PID-SMC Controller Output:
In figure 12a shows the output trajectory of PID-SMC controller for a given
step input for all regions.

21
 Figure 12a Output trajectory of PID-SMC controller for a given step input for all
regions
PID-SMC controller is used to control the liquid level in all regions and external
disturbances also reduced. Figure 12b shows the Output trajectory of PID-SMC controller
for an external disturbance rejection for all regions.

Figure 12b Output trajectory of PID-SMC controller for an external disturbance

rejection for all regions

22
PID-SMC controller performance is preeminent compared to PID controller. The time
domain performances and integral performance indices are varied in each region. The
time domain and integral performance indices for a PID-SMC controller is given in table
8.
Table 8: Time domain and integral performance indices for PID-SMC controller
PID-SMC controller

Region Region 1 Region 2 Region 3 Region 4

Rise time (sec) 4.056 ks 1.776 ks 958 s 851.662 s

Time domain

Settling time (sec) 16.320 ks 10.082 ks 4.521 ks 5.488 ks

Peak time (sec) 41.660 ks 49.273 ks 2.245 ks 1.969 ks
Under shoot (%) 1.998 % 1.992 % 1.975 % 1.321 %
Over shoot (%) 0.485 % 0.402 % 1.531 % 8.152 %
ISE 3.649e5 2.111e5 2.506e5 2.744e5
Performance indices

IAE 4.127e4 2.064e4 1.509e4 1.88e4

ITAE 9.95e9 2.699e6 7.165e6 1.665e7

FOPID Controller Output:

Figure 13a shows the output trajectory of FOPID controller for a given step
input for all regions.

23
Figure 13a shows the output trajectory of FOPID controller for a given step input
for all regions.

Figure 13b Output trajectory of FOPID controller for an external disturbance

rejection for all regions

24
In figure 13b shows the Output trajectory of PI controller for an external disturbance
rejection for all regions. The time domain and integral performance indices are given in
table 9.
Table 9 Time domain and integral performance indices for FOPID controller
FOPID controller
Region Region 1 Region 2 Region 3 Region 4
Rise time (sec) 6.765 s 25.110 s 24.680 s 25.970 s
Time domain

Settling time (sec) 347.34 s 69.942 s 479 s 600.583 s

Peak time (sec) 18.175 s 40.08 s 58.89 s 72.8 s
Under shoot (%) 1.907 % -0.483 % 3.549 % 7.253 %
Over shoot (%) -0.648 % 34.459 % 40.141 % 36.301 %
ISE 7713 2.721e4 1.616e4 2.404e4
Performance indices

IAE 836.9 1128 1340 1554

ITAE 3.361e5 2.421e4 1.374e5 1.129e5

FOPID controller is used to control the liquid level in all regions and external
disturbances also reduced. The time domain performances and integral performance
indices are varied in each region. In FOPID controller performance is preeminent
compared to PID-SMC controller.
FUZZY FOPID CONTROLLER
Figure 14a Output trajectory of fuzzy FOPID controller for a given step input
for all regions.

25
 Figure 14a Output trajectory of fuzzy FOPID controller for a given step input for
all regions
In figure 14b shows the Output trajectory of PI controller for an external disturbance
rejection for all regions.

Figure 15b Output trajectory of fuzzy FOPID controller for an external disturbance
rejection for all regions

26
Fuzzy FOPID controller is used to control the liquid level in all regions and external
disturbances also reduced. The time domain performances and integral performance
indices are fluctuated in each region. In fuzzy FOPID controller performance is
preeminent compared to fuzzy PID controller. The time domain and integral performance
indices are given in table 10.
Table 10 Time domain and integral performance indices for fuzzy FOPID controller
Fuzzy FOPID controller
Region Region 1 Region 2 Region 3 Region 4
Rise time (sec) 1.327 ms 3.937 ms 9.5 ms 15.840 ms
Time domain

Settling time (sec) 0.053 ms 2.056 ms 4.26 ms 9.504 ms

Peak time (sec) 0.080 ms 0.040 ms 0.120 ms 0.020 ms
Under shoot (%) 0% 0% 0% 0%
Over shoot (%) 0% 0% 0% 0%
ISE 3 3.009 2.74 3
Performance indices

IAE 0.1 0.09 0.09 0.1

ITAE 3.586e-16 4.619e-16 1.17e-16 3.719e-16

In fuzzy FOPID controller applied for the spherical tank having the rise time
is 1.327 ms, settling time is 0.053 ms, peak time is 0.080 ms, and 0% of overshoot and
under shoot in region 1. In region 2 having the rise time are 3.937 ms, settling time is
2.056 ms, peak time is 0.040 ms, and 0% of overshoot and under shoot. In region 3
having the rise time are 9.5 ms, settling time is 4.26 ms, peak time is 0.120 ms, and 0% of
overshoot and under shoot. In region 4 having the rise time are 15.840 ms, settling time is
9.504 ms, peak time is 0.020 ms, and 0% of overshoot and under shoot. Compared to all
controllers the fuzzy FOPID controller is better to control the liquid level in coupled

27
spherical tank system and performance indices also minimized. In region 1 fuzzy FOPID
controller is best for other region. Table 11 shows the parameters specifications for
various controllers used.
Table 11 Parameters specifications
Controller parameters
Controller Values
PI Kp = 2.353, Ki = 0.003
PID Kp = 5.152, Ki = 0.005, Kd = -29.661
PID-SMC Kp = 36.153, Ki = 0.033, Kd = -2592.668, ῼ =50, K= 8.5997
FOPID Kp = 11.153, Ki = 0.052775, Kd = -5.6676, λ = 0.94797, µ = 2.3358
Fuzzy FOPID Ku = 5.1278, Tu = 2.72, Kpmin = 1.640896, Kpmax = 3.07668,
Kdmin = 1.1158, Kdmax = 2.0921424, λ = 0.94797, µ = 2.3358

VII EXPERIMENTAL SETUP OF SPHERICAL TANK SYSTEM

Figure 15 shows the experimental setup of spherical two tank system.

Figure 15 Experimental setup of spherical two tank system

28
 The spherical tanks are widely used in most of the process industries because their
shape gives better disposal of solids and liquids. The level control in a spherical tank is a
challenging problem due to nonlinearity and uncertainty associated with the change in the
shape of the tank. An experimental set-up and the schematic diagram of the hardware set-
up for spherical tank level process are shown in Figure 15 respectively. The set-up
consists of a spherical tank, pump, Rotameter, water reservoir, level sensor, I/P converter
(electro pneumatic converter), an interfacing module VMAT (Data Acquisition Module),
a pneumatic control valve with positioner and a personal computer (PC). The output of
the level sensor is interfaced with the computer by means of VMAT through RS-232 port
of the PC. The interface module is used to link the programs written in script code using
MATLAB software with sampling period of 60 milliseconds.
The experimental output of FFOPID controller is given below:
Figures 16a and 16b display the practical output results of FUZZY FOPID controller for
step input and external disturbance rejection

Figure 16a Practical result for Fuzzy FOPID controller for a given step input

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 Figure 16b Experimental result for FOPID controller for a given step input
From Figure 16a and 16b it is observed that, with the proposed FFOPID controller tanks
reach the desired level with taking less settling time.

Figure 16c Practical result for Fuzzy FOPID controller for external disturbance
rejection

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Figures 16c and 16d show the experimental output results of FUZZY FOPID controller
for step input and external disturbance rejection.

Figure 16d Experimental result for Fuzzy FOPID controller for external
disturbance rejection
From Figure 16c and 16d it is observed that the proposed FFOPID controller response to
the set point with less settling time and little steady state error. Using FFOPID controller
the Undershoot and Overshoot is 0% for a given step input and external disturbance
rejection.
VII CONCLUSION
In this paper, Fuzzy Fractional Order PID (FFOPID) controller is designed in such
a way that the level of liquid in a spherical two tank system is controlled effectively. The
spherical tank is divided into four regions and in each region the various controllers such
a PI, PID, PID-SMC and their performances were analysed. The proposed Fuzzy FOPID
controller eliminate under shoot and overshoot, lowers the rise time, settling time and
peak time and provide less ISE and IAE indices when compared to other controllers. The
simulation is carried out using MATLAB / SIMULINK software with FOMCON

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toolbox. A proposed fuzzy FOPID controller provide better time domain specifications
such as rise time, settling time, peak time, steady state error and peak overshoot.
Moreover the external disturbance rejection capability of the proposed scheme is proved
for given step inputs. The obtained results through experimental prototype prove the
effectiveness of the proposed control scheme.

Declaration of competing interests

The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest

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 Biographies
Jegatheesh A. received the B.E degree in Electronics and Instrumentation Engineering from Noorul

Islam College of Engineering affiliated to Anna University and M.E degree in Applied Electronics from

Annna University Regional Campus-Tirunelveli. Currently, he is pursuing Ph.D. degree in Information

and Communication Engineering in Anna University Chennai, India. His research interests include

modeling and control of PV systems,dc-dc converters and maximum power point tracking.

Dr. C. Agees Kumar received the B.E. degree in Electronics and Instrumentation Engineering from

National Engineering College, Kovilpatti affiliated to MS University, Tamil Nadu, India, and M.E.

Degree from Annamalai University, Chidambaram, Tamilnadu, India. He obtained his Ph.D. degree from

Anna University, Chennai. Also, he is working as Professor in the Department of EEE, Arunachala

College of Engineering for Women, Vellichanthai, Tamil Nadu, India. His current research interests

include power electronics, electrical drives, and soft computing, image processing, big data analytics.

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 Author’s Photos
Jegatheesh A.

Dr. C. Agees Kumar

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