10th IFAC Symposium Advances in Control Education

The International Federation of Automatic Control

August 28-30, 2013. Sheffield, UK

Teaching Cascaded Controllers with a Fuel

Cell Plant in a Hands-on Laboratory
uning, Ulrich Epple
Lars Evertz, Kai Kr

Chair of Process Control Engineering / RWTH-Aachen University,
52064 Aachen, Germany
(e-mail: {l.evertz, k.kruening, u.epple}@plt.rwth-aachen.de)

Abstract: It is generally accepted that practical experience has a positive effect on the learning
process. Hence, a hands-on laboratory is a main pillar of the education concept of the Chair for
Process Control Engineering, RWTH Aachen University. The topic of cascaded controllers was
added to the lecture Process Control Engineering recently. The behaviour of these controllers
is not trivial to imagine. Therefore, the hands-on laboratory is a predestined way to deepen the
students knowledge and build up a basic image of the correlations. In this paper we show how
the hands-on laboratory is extended to include the new topic. We will introduce a fuel cell plant
which is build up in the laboratory for the new experiments and show how these experiments
are fit into the overall laboratory course.

Keywords: Education, Closed Loop Control, PID, Cascaded Controllers, Process Automation,
Online Simulation, Fuel Cell

1. INTRODUCTION

It is generally accepted that practical experience has a

positive effect on the learning process. Kolb (1984) took
this effect on in his learning cycle. Later, Hughes et al.
(1992) modified this cycle. According to the learning cycle
laboratory work can serve as a main pillar of self study.
Especially hands-on laboratories are useful to build up
basic confidence in contact with the technology as Ma and
Nickerson (2006) pointed out.
Krausser et al. (2012) depicted the educational concept of
the Chair of Process Control Engineering. As the lectures
are modified to include new topics the laboratories have
to be adjusted as well. One new topic of the lectures is
the behaviour of cascaded controllers. This behaviour is
not trivial to imagine. Hence, the hands-on laboratory is
a predestined way to teach this topic. The laboratory will
be extended with a new plant for teaching this topic.
The new plant combines a fuel cell and an autothermal
reformer. The plant is load driven and needs several
cascaded controllers for the reformer and the fuel cell itself.
These controllers are the students central workpiece. They
will tune the controllers to get to know the behaviour of
cascaded controllers. Furthermore, as the plant uses a new
technology, it is a means to motivate the students and
to waken their interest (compare Abdulwahed and Nagy
(2008).)
This paper shows how we tend to teach the characteristics
and the handling of cascaded controllers in a hands-on
laboratory. The paper starts with a short recapitulation
of our education concept. Afterwards, the process of the
new laboratory plant and implications concerning the
controllers are described. The next section depicts how
Fig. 1. Correlation of the education concept with the
learning process as postulated by Hughes et al. (1992).
Picture taken from Krausser et al. (2012)
we will use the new plant in the hands-on laboratory. The
paper ends with some concluding statements.
2. EDUCATION CONCEPT
The education concept at the Chair of Process Control
Engineering, RWTH Aachen University is based on the
learning cycle of Hughes et al. (1992) as Krausser et al.
(2012) pointed out. The concept includes the lectures
and laboratory work as Fig. 1 shows. The first step in
teaching a topic is an introduction. It is given in a classic
lecture. Afterwards, the students deepen their knowledge
in a phase of self-study. Then they use their knowledge
in laboratory experiments. The practical work helps the
students to reflect on the learned points and strengthens
their knowledge and confidence. As the set-up of the
lecture evolves the laboratory courses have to be modified
to fit.

978-3-902823-43-4/2013 IFAC 203 10.3182/20130828-3-UK-2039.00008

10th IFAC ACE
August 28-30, 2013. Sheffield, UK

The overall education concept was described by Krausser

et al. (2012). From here on only the parts of this concept,
which concern the topic of this paper, are mentioned. From
the lecture part of the education concept two lectures are
relevant. These are:
Process measurement and
Process control engineering
The former lecture introduces basic measurement con-
cepts as well as methods to treat measurement data.
The latter lecture introduces process control systems. Foci
are standard programming languages (including sequential
function charts and function block diagrams) and basic
concepts of closed-loop and open-loop control.
After the introducing lectures a phase of self-study fol-
lows. In this phase the students expand and deepen their
knowledge. The third and last phase is the laboratory
work. In this phase the students work with the laboratory
plant M3P.AC 1 (compare Krausser et al. (2012)) to solve
defined tasks. These tasks concern loop control amongst
other topics.
As the lecture is adapted continuously, cascaded con-
trollers are added as a new topic. This topic is taught
in a theoretical way. Operating diagrams can show the
interconnections between controllers and different loops.
However, the correlations are not easy to imagine. To
make these correlations imaginable and to give a hands-
on experience laboratory work seems promising. Hence, a
new set of laboratory experiments was developed and an
additional laboratory plant is being build up. A fuel cell
plant was chosen for this laboratory for two reasons:
(1) It offers multiple interconnected controllers.
(2) It uses new technologies that catch the students
interests.

3. THE FUEL CELL PLANT

3.1 Process description

Fuel Cells became a well-known way for the production of

electricity in the last years. Most commercially available
fuel cells use hydrogen (H2 ) as fuel. Since transport and
storage of hydrogen are still problematic, reformers are
used for on-site hydrogen production from hydrocarbons
(e.g. natural gas, fossil fuel).
In our plant methane (CH4 ) is used to generate a synthetic
gas with a high amount of hydrogen. Fig. 2 shows the
processmodel of the fuel call plant. In the beginning of
the process the methane is mixed with water and air
in the gas preparation step. After that a reformer is
used to generate a synthetic gas (syngas). This syngas
consists mostly of hydrogen and carbon monoxide (CO).
Since carbon monoxide is poisonous to the used fuel
cell, a cleaning process is necessary. During this cleaning
process, a so called shift-reaction is used to produce more
hydrogen out of water and carbon monoxide. The cleaned
syngas is now used as combustible for a high temperature
polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (HT-PEM). Our
plant produces up to 1 kW electrical power and up to
3 kW heat from methane using this process. So this plant
1 www.m3p.ac
Fig. 2. Processmodel
is a perfect example for a future heating system that can
also be used for decentralized electricity production.
3.2 Aspects of control theory
The most important part producing the syngas is the
reformation unit. The resulting syngas must be from high
quality that means it has to consist of as much as possible
hydrogen and as less as possible carbon monoxide. Control
strategies for this process are still a field of research (e.g.
Weickgenannt and Sawodny (2012)) and are interesting
for students, too. In our plant an autothermal reformer is
used. This reformer type combines two reforming methods:
partial oxidation (POX, Equ. 1 and 2) and steam reform-
ing (SR, Equ. 3). In fact the POX is a normal combustion
with less air than necessary.

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10th IFAC ACE
August 28-30, 2013. Sheffield, UK

n m
Cn Hm + O2 nCO + H2 hR < 0 (1)
2 2
m m
Cn Hm + (n + )O2 nCO2 + H2 OhR < 0 (2)
4 2
POX is a strong exothermic reaction. We use less air than
necessary for a complete combustion, so no carbon dioxide
or water will be produced. To reach this goal we have
to control the volume flows of methane and air carefully.
We use the heat from POX to start the SR. SR is an
endothermic reaction of methane and steam.
m
Cn Hm + nH2 O * ) nCO + (n + )H2 hR > 0 (3)
2
For this reaction we have to control the steam to carbon
ratio (SCR). This means we have to control three volume
flows which depend on each other to get the autothermal
reactor working, but we have not to care about external
heat input or cooling. This allows the use of an relatively
simple and small reactor as reformer. As already men-
tioned, producing a syngas with a high amount of hydro-
gen and less carbon monoxide is the aim of the reforming
process. Most complex control approaches consider that
the composition of the syngas is being measured (e.g.
Weickgenannt and Sawodny (2012)). In most real plants
is this not the case, due to the high costs of the needed
measuring equipment. In real plants the gas composition is
controlled by the temperature of the syngas at the reformer
outlet. All mentioned controls are realized with simple PID
controllers. The overall set-up allows the students to
work with newest technology
study the effects of different PID controllers influenc-
ing each other
take a closer look at more complex control ap-
proaches.
3.3 Structure of the new plant
The fuel cell plant consists of six subsystems. These are
A gas preparation system to supply the reformer with
the correct mixture of gases;
The reformer to produce the syngas;
Two shift reactors to clean the syngas from carbon
monoxide;
The fuel cell to produce electricity and
An exhaust system for the waste gas.
From these the gas preparation system is the main point
to control the operation point of the plant. The variables
which need to be controlled are the reformer outlet temper-
ature and the amount of electricity the plant generates. As
the plant is load-driven, this amount of electricity follows
a dynamic trajectory. The students will have to lay out
each controller to cope with different load situations. The
measurement points and actuator inputs of relevance for
the experiments are described in the next paragraphs. A
set of patches from the plants piping and instrumentation
diagram is used to describe single subsystems and show
their interconnections.
Concerning the laboratory experiments the shift reactors
and the exhaust system do not matter. The subsystems of
concern are the gas preparation system (displayed in Fig.
3), the autothermal reformer (displayed in Fig. 4), and
the fuel cell itself (displayed in Fig. 5). The subsystems
are connected in the order they were mentioned.
Fig. 3. Piping and instrumentation diagram of the gas
preparation system. Circles and arrows show the
values to be set by the students controllers. Picture
by courtesy of Constantin Wagner.
Fig. 3 depicts the structure of the gas preparation system.
Circles and arrows the main points of influence on the
process. These are the flows of methane and compressed
air. The combination of the flows determines the operation
point of the reformer and therefore the composition of the
syngas. This composition and the total amount of syngas
define the amount of electricity the system produces at a
time.
The autothermal reformer produces the syngas. The syn-
gas is the combustible for the fuel cell. The composition
of the syngas is determined by the thermodynamic equi-
librium between the different reactions (POX and SR,
compare Equ. 1, 2 and 3) in the reformer. As the dif-
ferent reactions are either endothermic or exothermic the
composition of the syngas is correlated to the reformer
outlet temperature. Therefore, this temperature (circled
measurement point in Fig. 4) is used to control the ratio
between methane and compressed air. The reformer is
equipped with many temperature sensors. These can be
used to measure the temperature distribution inside the
reformer. The temperature distribution can be used to
develop empirical models for this type of reformer. This
is a possible topic for future laboratories.
The amount of electricity the fuel cell reformer system
produces at a time depends on the total flow of syngas as
well as on its composition, namely its hydrogen content.
The dark arrow in Fig. 5 shows where the electricity is
taken from the system. The load at this point is not
predictable but known at the current time. Hence, this
load can be used as a guide to control the total amount of
syngas to be produced.
When the total flow of gas entering the reformer changes
the composition of the syngas also changes. The latter
change bases on the thermal properties of the reformer.
More gas means a higher temperature. This shifts the ther-
modynamic equilibrium. Therefore, the the composition of
the syngas and the reformer outlet temperature change.
This means that the control stage mentioned before needs
to adjust the ratio between methane and air in order to

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August 28-30, 2013. Sheffield, UK
Fig. 4. Piping and instrumentation diagram of the reformer
unit. Light arrows show the way of the gas through
the system. The circle marks the controlled process
variable. Picture by courtesy of Constantin Wagner.
Fig. 5. Piping and instrumentation diagram of the fuel cell.
The light arrow shows the way of the gas through the
system. The dark arrow hints at the electricity taken
from the system. Picture by courtesy of Constantin
Wagner.
regain the correct composition of the syngas. This is an
interconnection between the different control loops.
The fuel cell plant is build in a closed, moveable rig. The
rig has a transparent front so that the students can see
the internal structure of the plant. An open construction is
not possible for safety reasons. A ventilation system inside
the closed rig pumps the air inside the rig out through the
exhaust system. This is done to dilute the waste gas which
206
contains carbon monoxide. As the rig is closed and the air
inside is pumped out there is no danger of emitting carbon
monoxide into the laboratory.
The control software of the plant uses a function block sys-
tem basing on ACPLT-Technologies. The function block
system works in a soft-SPS on consumer or industrial
computers. Currently this system can be used on ARM
and X86 architectures. For the fuel cell plant an X86 based
industrial PC is used as a controller. Other instances of
the same control software run on consumer PCs in the
laboratory. The function block system can communicate
with other software components such as Matlab-Simulink.
This is necessary to let the students work in parallel on
different tasks.
4. EXPERIMENTS WITH THE NEW PLANT
The behaviour of interconnected control loops is not easily
imaginable. This behaviour can well be shown in a hands-
on laboratory. In this chapter we introduce the new
experiments with the fuel cell plant and show how these
experiments are fitted into the laboratory as a whole.
Concerning the fuel cell plant the two control loops men-
tioned before (reformer outlet temperature and electrical
load) are the ones with the highest grade of intercon-
nection. There are more control loops within the plant
with less interconnection. But even these affect each other
when not tuned properly. There are for example some
heat exchangers between the reactors to adjust the inlet
temperatures to proper values. When the controllers for
these heat exchangers are not tuned to fit the behaviour
of the other loops the temperatures may reach values
dangerous for the equipment.
The students do all experiments in groups of three. There
are at least three groups in the laboratory at the same
time. The basic idea of the new experiments is that each
group works on a different control loop of the fuel cell
plant. Then the controllers are put together and tested as
a whole.
Before the students do the new experiments they run
through the usual experiments of the course. These ex-
periments introduce open-loop and closed-loop controllers.
Some exercises concern the tuning of PID-controllers.
Therefore, the students now the basic techniques to tune
such controllers. With this knowledge the students start
out on one of the control loops in the new plant.
The first step of the new experiments is an introduction
to fuel cell reformer systems. For this the fuel cell plant is
used as an explanatory example. Then each group starts
with tuning one of the PID controllers. The other con-
trollers are tuned with predefined values for a satisfactory
behaviour. The groups work against a simulation of the
plant. Therefore they can experiment and tune their con-
trollers freely and without danger.
The simulation consists of simple IO-Models representing
the interesting parts of the plant. Most models regard two
or three sensors and one actuator. Due to the chemical re-
actions within the plant the used mathematical description
consist of second order, nonlinear differential equations.
The simulation of the plant is written in Matlab-Simulink.
10th IFAC ACE
August 28-30, 2013. Sheffield, UK
It is coupled against an instance of the plants control
software. Each group of students works with own instances
of control software and simulation. Hence the groups can
work independently.
When all groups think their controllers are tuned satis-
factory the tuning parameters for all controllers are put
together on another instance of the control software. Still,
this instance works against a simulation. In this simulated
run of the overall plant the influences of the interconnected
control loops can be seen. Here the control of the plant as a
whole most likely will not work properly. This is one point
to remember for the students. Interconnected controllers
must be tuned in the system as a whole.
When this point is found the students alter their tuning
parameters for the system as a whole. In this step the
groups cooperate. When the parameters work well for
the simulation they are tested against the real plant. For
these final tests a predefined load trajectory is used. This
trajectory is not known to the students in advance. So they
cannot optimize their controllers just for this trajectory.
This finishes up the practical part of the laboratory.
After the practical part one more explanatory part follows.
In this part new possibilities to control fuel cell reformer
systems will be shown. These possibilities include model
predictive controllers for single systems as well as for the
whole system and data driven models (neuronal networks)
for estimation of the syngas composition. These topics will
be deepened for use in future laboratories. At the moment
the new experiments are brought into the laboratory
course.
5. CONCLUSION
As the behaviour of interconnected controllers is not
easily imaginable a hands-on laboratory seems promising
to teach this topic. With the new experiments in the
laboratory of the Chair of Process Control Engineering
we intent to introduce the students into this topic in a
practical way.
207
The students work in small groups on different controllers
of a fuel cell reformer system. These controllers are in-
terconnected due to the plant structure. Each group of
students tunes one controller. When the controllers behave
satisfactory they are put together to control the overall
system. At this point the control strategy will most likely
fail. Therefore the students see the point of influences be-
tween the controllers. After that the students do a tuning
step for the overall system in cooperation. The practical
course finishes up with a test of the overall control strategy
and an explanatory part concerning new control strategies
for fuel cell reformer systems.
The students at first work against a simulation of the
plant. Hence, there is no risk of damage to themselves
or the equipment. When the overall control strategy has
proven feasible the last test is performed against the real
plant. The plant is build in a closed rig. The air inside this
rig is continuously pumped out. Hence there is no danger
of gas emissions into the laboratory. This is important for
a safe laboratory course.
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