The importance of PID controllers

One of the biggest challenges in industrial processes is to reduce stoppage times during the production cycle. The constant flow, which you want to reach, can be affected by alarms or waiting in search of reaching the optimal conditions (temperature, pressure, level or flow) in each of the elements of the process. This downtime translates into energy and economic losses.

In this blog we tell how, at AM Soluciones, we use PID controllers to achieve and maintain the necessary conditions that allow us to achieve greater process performance.

What are PID controllers?

The PID Controller is an element used in the industry to adjust magnitudes such as temperature, level, pressure or flow, automatically and precisely, based on feedback loop control. This can be used in any element of a factory where there is a sensor to measure said magnitude and a device that can influence it. For example, in a pipe circuit, the speed of a pump influences the flow rate measured by a flow meter.

In general, the PID controller is based on two elements and one parameter:

• Sensor: element that measures the quantity to be adjusted.
• Actuator: element that affects the magnitude measured by the sensor.
• Setpoint value: value of the magnitude to be reached and maintained during a process.

In order to have precise and stable control of the measured variable, the AM Soluciones team must adjust the following PID parameters:

• Revenue.
• Derivative action.
• Comprehensive action.

Applications for this type of control:

PID controller is very useful for different applications. Some of them are:

• Volumetric control: where the volume or flow is the measure to be adjusted and elements such as a pump can maintain said volume or flow constant, varying its speed.
• Pressure control: the pressure would be the magnitude to adjust and elements such as a proportional valve would regulate its opening trying to maintain a constant pressure equal to the set value.
• Temperature control: the temperature would be the variable to be adjusted and elements such as a proportional valve would regulate its opening trying to maintain a temperature that adjusts to the set value.

Advantages of using PID Control:

A correct adjustment in the parameters of the PID controller allows to obtain the following advantages:

• Automatic regulation of magnitudes: Having different processes in a production, the PIDs will be in charge of keeping the magnitudes controlled around the setpoint values entered, achieving the desired conditions.
• Equipment protection: prevent equipment from acting in critical conditions that could cause damage (high temperatures, pressures or intensity). A correct adjustment of the PID parameters allows avoiding extreme measures at the moment in which the setpoint value is being reached.
• Performance increase: The PID controls, together with the new data analysis systems, make it possible to change its behavior by adjusting the key production setpoints in search of greater performance.

To conclude, PID controllers are a very useful and effective tool in the field of automation and process control. These controllers use a simple but effective mathematical algorithm that allows them to automatically adjust control parameters based on fluctuations in process variables. Furthermore, PID controllers are widely used in the industry due to their low cost and high reliability. Although there are other more advanced control techniques, PID controllers are still one of the most popular and effective options in many control processes.

At AM SOLUCIONES we have professionals with extensive experience in the use of PID controllers, which allows us to ensure the proper functioning of each industrial process.