Real-time monitoring and control of a pressure control system

Abstract

Constant pressure control within a hydraulic pumping pumping system is conventionally performed by the use of an electric pump with a variable speed drive controlling the speed of the pump. A pressure transmitter is used as a feedback to control the speed of the pump which in turn, also controls the pressure in the system. The aim of this project is to develop and test an automated pumping controller, which is able to maintain constant pressure in a hydraulics system without any physical contact with the medium. The medium in this instance being a pressure transmitter. This project was chosen in order to address the lack of products currently available within the industrial control field for pump pressure control. Personal experience has presented a number of instances where applications have required a pressure feedback but because the medium is so corrosive and/or dangerous the pressure transmitter becomes prohibitively expensive. Along with the control system itself, a user interface was developed to operate over the ethernet ensuring the ability to utilise current WEB server interfaces such as windows Explorer and the like.