Automatic Process Control

Process dynamics, Laplace transforms

The classes have two components: expository and expository practice. Extensive tutorial time is offered to the
students to support their study and preparation for the exams.

The main goals are:
1. Simulation and control of food industry processes – this course follows the Dynamic Systems course. The
analysis of the dynamic behavior of controlled processes, which are representative of food industry processes,
is studied.
2. Advanced domain in food technology – the course aims at providing a general understanding of several
processes which are common in the food industry.

1. Fundamental concepts of automatic control of processes: main goals and motivations; project of a control
system; control configurations: feedback, feedforward and inferential.
2. Feedback control: the controller and the main basic control actions (proportional, integral and derivative);
transfer function models of control systems; direct and inverse control actions.
3. Key elements of a control loop: sensor; transmitter, transmission lines; final control element; representation
of control loops using block diagrams.
4. Open and closed loop response to simple inputs. Servo and regulator operation. Offset.
5. Stability analysis of feedback closed-loop systems: general stability criterion; Routh stability criterion; direct
substitution method.
6. Project of feedback controllers. Steady state and non-steady state performance criteria.

• - 2º teste escrito - 50.0%
• - 1º teste escrito - 50.0%

• - Prova escrita - 100.0%

NAO