Application of a fuzzy logic

controller in temperature
control of a pilot high-
temperature short-time heat
exchanger

J.S. Shieh, H.C. Chen and L.H. Ferng

This paper is based on the use of a personal computer (PC-AT), ADDA

(analogue to digitalldigital to analogue card) and an electro-pneumatic trans-
ducer to control an aseptic processing high-temperature short-time (HTST)
system, which requires accurate temperature control. In this study fuzzy
algorithms based on linguistic rules describing the operator’s control strategy were
applied to temperature control. The controller, with suitable membership
functions, rules and defuzzification mechanism, was a simple controller for
regulation of the HTST temperature and can be compared to the conventional
proportional-integral-derivative (PID) method which controlled temperature
within +0.5”C. Some results were not better than obtained with a traditional
PID controller but in certain temperature ranges it could control the system
temperature as well as the PID controller based on self-tuning of the rules and
membership functions for the system.

Keywords: HTST; fuzzy logic controller, PID controller

INTRODUCTION controller can control slightly better than the PI

Fuzzy set theory was first introduced by Zadeh (1965)
and it has been used successfully in a number of control
applications. The first application of fuzzy set theory to
the control of dynamic processes was reported by
Mamdani and Assilian (1975). They described control
of a small laboratory scale model of a steam engine and
boiler combination. Using a fuzzy logic controller to
regulate the engine speed and boiler pressure, they
obtained acceptable control. Kickert and Lemke (1976)
designed a fuzzy logic controller for a laboratory scale
warm water plant. The first expriment applied fuzzy
logic to design a controller on an industry plant was
undertaken by Rutherford and Carter (1976). The
purpose was to control the permeability at the Cleve-
land sinter plant and they showed that the fuzzy logic
Food Industry Research and Development Institute,
Box 246. Hsinchu, 30099, Taiwan, Republic of China
controller. There followed several publications both on
the theory and application of fuzzy control. Tong
(1976) applied fuzzy logic to a pressurized tank contain-
ing liquid, although it was no better than performance
obtained by a controller designed using conventional
techniques. Ostergaard (1976) applied fuzzy logic
successfully on a heat exchanger. Sheridan and Skjoth
(1983) attempted to use fuzzy algorithms to mimic kiln
operators at the Durkee plant of the Oregon Portland
cement company.
Ingredients of food are dependent on place, season
and climate. Food processes, therefore, often have ill-
defined, time-varying and complicated systems, and it
is suitable to control them using fuzzy set theory. The
firs applications of fuzzy set theory to food control were
reported by Eerikainen et al. (1988) and Aarts et al.
(1990). Several authors have since conducted research
P.O. into these fields, such as glutamic acid fermentation
(Czogala and Rawlik, 1989; Kishimoto, 1990), done-

0956-7135/92/02009146 0 Butterworth-Heinemann Ltd Food Control - Vol3 No 2 1992 91

Fuzzy logic control of HTST heat exchanger: J.S. Shieh et al.

ness of beef steaks (Unklesbay et al., 1988), driving a car, controlling room temperature, cooking a
sensory analysis (Lincklaen et al., 1989), process meal etc. Although they are not familiar with any
control for food process (Brown et al., 1990) and mathematical description of the process, they still
predictive control for corn quality control (Zhang et al., perform well. Fuzzy set theory, proposed by L.A.
1990). This study attempted to control temperature of a Zadeh (1965), offers the possibility of creating control
high temperature short-time (HTST) system in an actions which functions more like human thinking. For
aseptic process by using a fuzzy logic controller. example;
Conventional digital control algorithms, such as a
IF temperature is higher THEN valve is closed
proportional-integral-derivative (PTD) controller, can
IF temperature is lower THEN valve is open
be developed by formulating the transfer function of
the process which is usually very complex. Fuzzy logic This concept is very simple and similar to on/off
controllers can’ therefore incorporate human intelli- control, but it can also mimic human thinking. If
gence into an HTST system to obtain a more flexible suitable membership functions are chosen for the
control environment. system, the ‘higher’ and ‘closed’ concepts can be
divided into many fuzzy sets, such as PB, PS etc. (see
below). The control action is thus not just the on/off
THEORY control and depends on many linguistic sets. It is
therefore closer to human thinking and better than
It is very important to control temperature of a HTST conventional control theory which needs complicated
system in an aseptic process. The FDA regulation of mathematical equations to describe the system.
aseptic processing and packaging systems specifies that There are three steps (rules, membership functions
there shall be an accurate temperature recording device and defuzzification) which determine fuzzy logic con-
and sensor which are installed between the holding trol. To perform fuzzy inference and describe the
tube and the inlet to the cooler. When the product HTST system, the following notations will be used: PE,
temperature in the holding tube drops below the product error (set point -product temperature); HE,
temperature specified in the scheduled process, pro- hot water error (set point-hot water temperature); V,
duct flow should be diverted away from the filler or control valve output; PB, positive big; PS, positive
aseptic surge tank by means of a flow-diversion system. small; ZR, zero; NS, negative small; NB, negative big.
Meanwhile, the evaluation of lethal value, F0 (Merson et According to the operator’s experience and some
al., 1978; Teixeira and Manson, 1983) is dependent on expert knowledge, the following six rules can be
product temperature and time in the holding tube. defined to control the HTST system:
Therefore, if the temperature of HTST can be con-
trolled more accurately, the product will retain better 1. If PE is PB and HE is any, then V is PB
quality and the shelf life will be extended. 2. If PE is PS and HE is PS or ZE, then V is PS
The procedures of aseptic processing (Teixeira 3. If PE is ZR and HE is PS, then V is ZR
and Manson, 1983) are preheating, heating, holding, 4. If PE is ZR and HE is NS, then V is NS
cooling, subcooling and filling. Basically, these 5. If PE is NS and HE is NS or ZR, then V is NS
processes belong to a temperature control system. This 6. If PE is NB and HE is any, then V is NB
pilot-scale HTST system was equipped with hot-water There are many shapes (Dombi, 1990; Kouati and
heating and water cooling apparatus. A two-stage plate Jones, 1991) of possible membership functions, such as
exchanger was included in the system to heat and cool triangle, trapezoid etc. which can be used in the fuzzy
the product (Figure 1). Using the conventional PID logic controller. For simplicity, a trapezoidal shape is
method, it is very difficult to describe HTST transfer used in the HTST system (Table 1). There are two
function from energy balance and because of a too main methods for defuzzification procedures, mean of
complicated mathematical model, modelling reduction maximum (MOM) and centre of area (COA) (Braae and
was used to obtain low-order transfer function in order Rutherford, 1978). The latter procedure has been
to control the HTST system with the PID method. adopted because it gives smoother signals. Therefore,
It is possible for people to obtain good results when the control input can be written as follows (Li and Lau,
1989):
z_ CY(Mn x Un)
Ci’Mn
Pressure tube where M is the membership function; U is the universe
of discourse; n is the number of rules.
Relief valve

Table 1 Membership function of HTST

Raw prod Quantized levels

1Recycle process (-’ Linguistic
sets -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4

PB 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.6 1
Product out ; J PS 0 0 0 0 0 0.6 1 0.6 0
ZR 0 0 0 0.6 1 0.6 0 0 0
Cool water out
NS 0 0.6 1 0.6 0 0 0 0 0
NB 1 0.6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Figure 1 HTST flow chart

92 Food Control - Vol3 No 2 7992

 Fuzzy logic control of HTST heat exchanger: J.S. Shieh et al.

Table 2 Lookup table (Table 2). Comparing the third and fourth columns in
Table 3, itis easy to obtain the size of valve open. Using
Hot water error
Product
this method, the control valve can open to various sizes
error -2 -1 0 1 2 depending on product and hot water error.
-2 -2 -2 -2 -2 0
-1 -2 -2 -2 -1 0
0 -2 -2 0 0 0 EXPERIMENTAL METHOD
1 -2 0 2 I 1
2 0 2 2 2 2
A APV CREPACO pilot-scale HTST system was
equipped with hot water heating and water cooling
Table 3 Quantized variable apparatus. A two-stage plate heat exchanger composed
of stainless 316 material was included in the system to
HE (“C) PE (“C) V (mA) Quantized level heat and cool the product. Two T-type thermocouple
-5 -5 4 -2
sensors were installed at the site of product out and hot
-2.5 -2.5 8 -1 water input (Figure 2). High pressure steam from
0 0 12 0 a boiler through the reducing valve decreased pressure
2.5 2.5 16 I to 4 bars. Then, using regulating valve controlled steam
5 5 20 2
into water to produce hot water which can heat product
via a plate heat exchanger. The regulating valve was
When hot water error and product error have been adjusted by electro-pneumatic converter which was
obtained, one can decide which quantized levels belong controlled by an analogue to digital/digital to analogue
to them. The values of membership functions can then (ADDA) card. When product temperature was below
be obtained from Table 1. Meanwhile, each rule has a the set point the computer sends a signal via the
different grade of contribution for these errors. ADDA card to open the solid state relay (SSR) and
Combining all rules produces a lookup table(Table 2). control product returned to the original tank. On the
other hand, signals from thermocouples were so small
In this investigation, the electro-pneumatic trans-
that they need to be amplified to a suitable range via an
ducer has a range from 4 to 20mA to control the
amplifier card which connected to the ADDA card.
regulating valve from closed to open. Therefore, one
The whole system of process control was therefore
can define the following range: HE from -5 to SC,
accomplished with an IBM PC-AT compatible com-
PE from -5 to 5°C and V from 4 to 20mA. The
puter which was linked with the HTST through an
values of quantized variable are shown in Tabfe 3. The
ADDA and amplifier card (&we 2).
first and second column represent the hot water and
product temperature range in different quantized
levels. The third column is the valve range in different
quantized levels. When sensors detect the hot water RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
and product temperature, it can decide which quan-
tized level belongs to this value. Then, the quantized In general, the high-temperature short-time (HTST)
level of control input is obtained from the lookup table system is defined at a sterilizing temperature from 95 to

Recycle process

Product in

Air

Steam

Regulating Reducing valve

valve

Figure 2 Scheme of control system for HTST

Food Control - Vol3 No 2 1992 93

Fuzzy logic control of HTST heat exchanger: J.S. Shieh et al.

120°C and the holding time is >5 s. Regarding an ultra-
high temperature (UHT) system, the sterilized temper-
ature is defined as >135”C and the holding time is
about 3-5 s. The holding time is dependent on the flow
rate of product and length of the holding tube. From
the microbiological point of view, a suitable holding
time can be chosen as regards some bacteria. This
sytem can change the pump rate and adjust the holding
time from 20-30s. It is thus able to sterilize high-acid
food such as juice and cannot be used to sterilize low-
acid food such as milk except using UHT. Different set-
point values were therefore chosen between 95 to
120°C in order to simulate the HTST system. Accord-
ing to FDA regulations, product temperature through a
holding tube should be larger than the set point value,
which is the sterilized temperature, and the tempera-
ture variation at the holding tube should be <2”F
(?0.55”C).
Using a conventional PID method, the transfer
function of HTST can be obtained from the energy
balance. System parameters, such as process gain k,,
time constant 7 and time delay td are easy to acquire
from the reaction curve method. According to the
equation proposed by Ziegler and Nichols (1942),
Cohen and Coon (Stephanopoulos, 1984), Lopez et al.
(1967) and Rovira et al. (1969), it is very simple to
calculate the parameters: proportional (P), integral (I)
and derivative (D) P, Zand D. In the HTST system, the
values of k,, 7 and td are 0.9, 79.2s and 0.5s, so the
controller parameters of P, Z and D in the preceding
method are shown in Table 4.
Figure 3 shows temperature control of HTST with
the methods proposed by Ziegler and Nichols (1942)
and Rovira et al. (1969). The P, Z and D values were
209.7, 1.0s and 0.25s, and 97.7, 107.1s and 0.26s,
respectively. Although Figure 3 shows only two of the

Table 4 P, I and D values of HTST in different methods

Tuning method P 1 6) D (s)

Ziegler-Nichols 209.7 1.0 0.25

Cohen-Coon 233.2 1.2 0.18

Lopez et al. ISE 206.9 1.4 0.27

IAE 168.0 2.0 0.12
ITAE 181.2 2.2 0.19
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700
Rovira et al. IAE 97.7 107.1 0.26 a Time (s)
ITAE 80.8 99.6 0.22

125-

/’
--Controllerout

- I I /

.---___-...___

L_ 4 I !
/ ’ 100 200 300 400 500 600 700
I I I b
0 100 200 . 300 400 500 600 700 Time (s)
a Time (s)
125r
125-

..- .._..
__.___
25-

i-t J I _J
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700
b" 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 C Time (s)
Time (5)
Figure 4 Temperature control of HTST at different set-point values
Figure 3 Temperature control of HTST with different traditional using the method of Rovira ef al. Set-point: (a) 120°C; (b) 105°C;
methods. (a) Ziegler-Nichols; (b) Rovira et a/. (c) 95°C

94 Food Control - Vol3 No 2 1992

 Fuzzy logic control of HTST heat exchanger: J.S. Shieh et al.

methods from Table 4, it has similar results for the
other methods. In general, the tuning method proposed
by Rovira et al. (1969) is better than the other methods.
From Figure 3a, it can be seen that the product
temperature is stable but the controller output is
saturated quickly, as in on/off control. It is therefore
easy to damage the regulating valve and is not suitable
to control the system.
Figure 4 shows temperature control of HTST at
different set-point values using the method of Rovira et
al. The P, I and D values were 80.8, 99.6s and 0.22s.
The different set-point values were 120, 105 and 95°C.
From Figure 4, it can be.seen that the method of Rovira
et al. can control HTST temperature within kO.5”C.
125r
251
0 100 200 300 400 500
a Time (s)
125
Figure 3 and 4 show the experimental results of
HTST using the conventional PID method which
belong to a SISO (single input/single output) system. In
the HTST system, the feedback point can affect the
results. The holding time of this system is so long (i.e.
25s) that the feedback point must be the hot water to
prevent temperature cycling due to phase lag. Using
hot water as the feedback point, it can be seen that if
the hot water temperature can be kept stable, the
product temperature will be more stable as product
passes through the holding tube to exchange heat from
the hot water. Although this procedure has some
advantages, the main difficulty is determining the
temperature difference of hot water and product
product after the holding tube. According to FDA
____
regulation, product temperature is very sensitive to
food safety and quality after the holding tube. For this
reason we attempted to use the fuzzy logic controller to
solve this problem.
By using fuzzy set theory, the two input variables
were chosen to be the errors of hot water and product
temperature while the regulating valve was the system
output. The shape of membership function was chosen
to be trapezoidal. Six rules were taken from experience
and the defuzzification was chosen to be the centre of
the area. Figure 5 shows temperature control of HTST
at different set-point values using the fuzzy logic
controller. The product temperature was stable below
the set-point when the set-point was high (Figure AZ).
600 700 When set-point was low, the product temperature was
stable above the set-point (Figure 5~). In Figure 5b the
product temperature was just stable at the set point and
can be compared to the conventional PID method
which can control HTST temperature within f0.5”C.
This fuzzy logic controller is therefore designed to
control HTST temperature at 100°C. At other tem-
peratures rules and membership functions should be
adjusted to obtain a lookup table such as Table 2 and to
control the HTST system more accurately.

CONCLUSIONS

The results of temperature control of HTST with

various conventional PID methods has been proved
’ L-1)

100 200 300 400

I

500 600 700

I
very successful. Using the method of Rovira et al. gives
b Time (s)
better results than the other methods and it can control
HTST temperature within ?0.5”C. However, it
125 cannot use product temperature as a feedback point
r
which could be a disadvantage regarding food safety
and quality. A fuzzy logic controller was introduced to
this system in order to solve this problem. The results
with the fuzzy logic controller are not very successful
over some ranges, but, it offers a good approach to
solve this problem of controlling the system more
carefully and accurately. Much research will have to be
carried out especially in the area of self-tuning rules
and selection of membership function gain. Regarding
self-tuning rules, there are many publications (Procyk,
1977; Daley, 1984; Moore,l991) investigating this area
of self-organizing fuzzy logic control (SOFLC). It can
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700
provide an adaptive rule-learning capability to comple-
C Time (s) ment a fuzzy logic control strategy. The selection of the
Figure 5 Temperature control of HTST at different set-point values
gains in membership functions of fuzzy logic control is
using a fuzzy logic controller. Set-point: (a) 110°C; (b) 100°C; not wholly subjective and several authors (Daley, 1986;
95°C 1987; Linkens and Abbod, 1992) have conducted

Food Control - Vol3 No 2 1992 95

Fuzzy logic control of HTST heat exchanger: J.S. Shieh et al.

research relating this to fuzzy logic control. Combing Lopez, A.M., Miller, J.A., Smith, C.L. and Murrill, P.W. (1967)
Tuning controllers with error integral criteria. Instrum. Technol.
SOFLC and selection gain in membership functions will
14, 57-62
permit more accurate control of HTST temperature.
Mamdani, E.H. and Assilian, S. (1975) An experiment in linguistic
synthesis with a fuzzy logic controller, Inr. J. Man-Machine Stud.
7, 1-13
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