Mapua Institute of Technology

School of Electrical, Electronics and Computer Engineering

EE113L

Instrumentation and Control

Laboratory
Experiment #2

Manual Flow and Level

Control

October 22, 2015

2015
Date Performed

October 29,
Date Submitted

Name: Dator, Francival O.

Group No.: 4
Course and Section: EE113L/A6

Engr. Catherine Salvador

GRADE

Instructor
Objective
1. To demonstrate the balance filling and draining of tank using manual opening of valves.
2. To determine the % actuation at balance filling and draining process.
3. To set water level at 120mm equal to the set point.

Procedure
Part 1: Pump 1
1

Start all programs. Locate and execute UCP.

Select SN-1 and view graph A.

Locate control 2 and configure percentage discharge given in table 1. Turn on pump 1
and observe % actuation to achieve the set point.

Find the minimum percentage of the actuator of pump 1 and discharge valve 1.

Open valve 1 and control discharging.

Adjust valve 1 for different trials and control actuator to match discharging. Record
percentage actuation in table 1.

Part 2: Pump 1 and Pump 2

1

Repeat steps 1 to 3. Open both pump 1 and pump 2. Activate AVs-2. Open valve 1 and
observe % actuation for pump 1. If needed, open valve 3 to control water level at set
point.

Vary valve openings for remaining trials to maintain water level.

Record data in table 2.

Data

Table A: Pump 1
% valve 1

% actuation

25

35

50

43

75

55

80

100

Table B: Pump 1 and Pump 2

% valve 1

% valve 2

% valve 3

% actuation

100

100

100

50

100

85

100

35

85

100

100

35

Analysis and Discussion of Results

This experiment is the continuation of the previous experiment where we familiarize the
functions and control of the EDIBON equipment and the SCADA software. In this experiment,
we are to determine the percent actuation of the pump that will make the water level stay the
same as we balance the filling and draining of tank. The filling is controlled by the SCADA
software and the draining process is controlled by means of manual opening of the valves. The
experiment is divided into two parts, the first one is just using one pump and one valve and the
second one using 3 valves and 2 pumps.
In the first part of the experiment, we were to determine the percent actuation of the
pump as we change the percent draining of the valve. Determining the percent actuation is quite
easy since we are using a software to control it. For us to determine the percent actuation, the
water level must stay on the 120 mm mark for at least several seconds. At first it was quite hard
manipulating the percent actuation using the software since it is not consistent, but we had
managed doing it. We also had a hard time setting the percent opening of the valve since there is
no specific label on the percent draining of the valve. Even we say that it is opened at 50% since
the level is at the middle, we cant say that it is exactly at 50%. The original data of the percent
draining of the valve are 25%, 50%, 75% and 100%. The first three settings were achieved
except the 100% setting. Even though we had set the pump at 100% actuation, it is still not
enough to balance the draining and filling of the tank so we decided to change the data where the
100% actuation will balance the draining and filling of the tank thus we had achieved the 80%
setting of the valve.
In the second part of the experiment, the objective is still the same but this time, we are
using 2 pumps for the filling and 3 valves for the draining. The instructor had first instructed us
to use 2 valves for this part, but we had noticed that even though we are using a low setting of
percent actuation, the water is still being filled with water even though both has 100% setting of
the valve opening. The reason is that the pump 1 is the only one being controlled by the software.
The pump 2 is automatically set at 100% even though the setting at the software is 0% actuation.
To solve this problem, we had added another valve to open for the system to have more draining
flow. We had manipulated the data in such a way that we had enough data to fill in the table.

Conclusion
This experiment is all about the manual flow and level control process. By using the
EDIBON base unit and SCADA software we familiarize ourselves to the use of flow and level
control. The level control is already done in the first experiment so our groups already know how
to operate it. Using the level control with the addition of the valves to drain the water and the
continuous process will give us the flow control. A flow control valve regulates the flow or
pressure of a fluid. We can see the operation and the actuation percentage in the SCADA
software.
After performing the experiment, our group was able to observe and demonstrate how to
balance the filling and draining of the tank by manual means using the valves and actuation of
the pumps. Understanding how the set up will give us the balance point by determining the
actuation percentage and the valve percentage is the key to this experiment. There is a
maintaining level of water or what we called the set point where the water will not less than or
greater than 120mm in the process while filling and draining take place. Filling the tank by water
by means of pump while the drainages are open to dispose the water and continuous flow of the
water is the process in order to determine the actuation level we can set to pump 1 with the value
set to the valve with constant opening. We can see that there is a continuous process so the
objective is to balance the water level in 120 mm while the valves is open and the pump 1 vary
from 0 to 100 percent actuation.
By trial and error we estimate the amount of water flow in the tank with the valves opens
with different percentage and we can determine the right actuation percentage to balance the
system. We are able to meet the objective of this experiment; we balance the draining and filling
process to the 120 mm set point with different conditions on number of valves and pumps use. To
avoid overflow and lacking of required amount of liquid in a process especially in the industry is
important, so we need to study and understand the flow and level control.