A bioreactor system remote laboratory for teaching process control. Issue 17 (2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Higginson, Antony; Brooks, Kevin
• Is Part Of: IFAC-PapersOnLine. Volume 55:Issue 17(2022)
• Page Start: 350
• Page End: 355
• Publication Date: 2022
• Subjects: Microcontrollers -- remote laboratories -- PLC -- SCADA -- Data; Automatic control -- Periodicals; 629.805
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ifacol.2022.09.304
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2405-8963

Abstract

Abstract: One of the challenges of teaching process control to chemical engineering students is that it can be challenging to replicate the experience of a plant control system in a laboratory environment. Especially in developing countries, the cost of industrial-grade sensors, process equipment and control system software is prohibitive. This paper describes a bioreactor system that combines existing SCADA and PLC systems with Arduino microcontrollers, inexpensive sensors, and cloud services to provide a system that provides opportunities to explore both basic control concepts such as feedback control, data collection and advanced control concepts such as cascade control. Additionally, data gathered both by the microcontroller and PLC is gathered and sent to the cloud platform Thingspeak, which is integrated into the learning management system (LMS) so that students can visualise and analyse data in real-time without the need for creating a custom graphical user interface.