Hi,
I started off my career in PLC programming doing water/wastewater on AB around 20 years ago, but then moved overseas a few years later and got mostly into manufacturing and materials handling on Siemens equipment. I have now moved back to the US and back into water/wastewater on AB, but I am a bit rusty on PID pump control and don't have other programs to go off of, and it seems RSLogix has changed a bit as well, with some new blocks specifically the PIDE. I am looking for some advice on best practices and potentially an example program if someone can point me to one if easily available.
I need to control 4 pumps in lead/lag configuration using ascending level start/stop setpoints to sequentially start/stop the pumps while using a PID to control them to maintain the level of a wetwell at a target level. I also need to include soft start functionality and control the initial ramp up rate as the site is regularly on generator power.
I am looking at the PIDE function block, which is new to me, and thinking about how best to set up my pump control. All 4 pumps will be trying to maintain the same target level setpoint, but will engage at different stages when they are within their window of level start/stop setpoints, and I'm trying to determine if I should use separate PIDE blocks for each pump or one PIDE to control them as a group, and what that structure should look like. Also, how to integrate the soft start and ramp up feature with the PIDE. Can the PIDE block be configured to do this with the rate of change limit or do I just need to put it manual and use a ramp block before switching it to auto? This PIDE block has so many features, it's a bit overwhelming. Can anyone point me to some good examples I can review? Any advice is appreciated.
Thanks!
I started off my career in PLC programming doing water/wastewater on AB around 20 years ago, but then moved overseas a few years later and got mostly into manufacturing and materials handling on Siemens equipment. I have now moved back to the US and back into water/wastewater on AB, but I am a bit rusty on PID pump control and don't have other programs to go off of, and it seems RSLogix has changed a bit as well, with some new blocks specifically the PIDE. I am looking for some advice on best practices and potentially an example program if someone can point me to one if easily available.
I need to control 4 pumps in lead/lag configuration using ascending level start/stop setpoints to sequentially start/stop the pumps while using a PID to control them to maintain the level of a wetwell at a target level. I also need to include soft start functionality and control the initial ramp up rate as the site is regularly on generator power.
I am looking at the PIDE function block, which is new to me, and thinking about how best to set up my pump control. All 4 pumps will be trying to maintain the same target level setpoint, but will engage at different stages when they are within their window of level start/stop setpoints, and I'm trying to determine if I should use separate PIDE blocks for each pump or one PIDE to control them as a group, and what that structure should look like. Also, how to integrate the soft start and ramp up feature with the PIDE. Can the PIDE block be configured to do this with the rate of change limit or do I just need to put it manual and use a ramp block before switching it to auto? This PIDE block has so many features, it's a bit overwhelming. Can anyone point me to some good examples I can review? Any advice is appreciated.
Thanks!