Laboratory for Automation and Measurement

Srečko Herceg, master of mech. eng., successfully defended his doctoral thesis Development of soft sensors for advanced control of isomerization process . Models were developed for the continual estimation key product quality indicators in a refinery isomerization process using machine learning methods. Evaluation of the developed models and their implementation in the process control system showed their reliability in estimating of the component contents. The soft sensors will serve primarily as a replacement during the process analyzers’ failure and service periods, as well as it will be a part of advanced control of isomerization process. PDF

On September 29 th we visited Rockwool Adriatic factory specialised in production of stone wool, fire, heat and sound insulation for use in buildings and industry. After introductory presentations we followed with a tour of the production line. A large number of different products and many control loops employed in factory requires good process understanding and coordination. Our visit initiated a collaboration between the Faculty and Rockwool Adriatic and we accordingly look forward to future cooperation and projects. PDF

A cooperation agreement was signed with the KNOW-Center from Graz, Austria. The collaboration began with a Erasmus remote internship of two of our students on big data project. We look forward for further cooperation in scientific and professional projects in data-driven business and artificial intelligence application.

In cooperation with experts from Teva TAPI R&D in Zagreb, we have designed and implemented a process control system and software solution that enables continuous monitoring and control of flow chemistry reactors in real time. The system consists of hardware equipment, devices and a software application for process monitoring and control using a graphical interface with which optimal working conditions are maintained.

The Grant Agreement for the project Cryst APC – Crystallization Advanced Process Control is signed. The project is launched on December 15, 2020, and will run for 36 months. The purpose of this research is to develop a system that allows continuous monitoring and optimal control of the crystallization process. The developed system will have a wide range of applications - from scientific research to the transfer of technology to semi-industrial and industrial scale. During the project implementation, state-of-the-art equipment will be installed in our laboratory. We expect this project will remarkably increase the potential of our research and cooperation with the process industry.

During the Covid-19 crisis lock-down (March to May), we installed a brand new laboratory exercise for flow measurement. The exercise is equipped with variable area, differential pressure and orifice meter, vortex, magnetic, ultrasound transit-time and Coriolis flow transmitters. It also possible to measure and analyse the pressure drop along the piping, as well as the control valve operation. The set-up is connected to our laboratory control system. In addition, a SCADA system for acquisition, control and subsequent analysis of measurement data has been developed and put in the function. PDF

During the Meeting at the Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Technology in February in Zagreb, we presented three papers. Poster presentations deal with the development of a Calibration Model for Continuous Particle Size Distribution Monitoring , Support Vector Machine-based Soft Sensors for the Isomerization Process and Identification and Prediction of the Fouling Formation in Heat Exchangers .

In December we completed and installed system for testing the foaming of diesel fuels at the INA Central Testing Laboratory in Zagreb. Instruments and apparatus meet the requirements of NF M07-075 standard for testing method. The system is equipped with two photoelectric cells, a pressure gauge, three solenoid valves for control, a vacuum pump, glass beakers and a engraved cylinder. The electrical cabinet contains a controller and all necessary I/O communication. Software application is installed to automatically run the experiment and generate testing reports according to the standard. PDF

Heat transfer processes are often encountered in the industry and it is necessary to pay attention to the process design and performance. Designed in our laboratory, we install set-up for thermal process dynamics analysis. Dynamic process models are developed based on experimental data to teach the fundamentals of process control and controller tuning. With the set-up a number of experiments can be performed to determine the static and dynamic characteristics of the process and control loop behaviour. Based on the performed experiments, student now can calculate parameters and optimize the controller performance. PDF

In September we presented our research at the 12th European Congress of Chemical Engineers in Florence. We participated with a poster presentation titled Fouling Detection in Industrial Heat Exchanger Using Neural Network Models as part of the mini symposia: Energy and Chemical Engineering . The heat exchanger performance is assessed by comparing results of heat transfer coefficient of clean and fouled systems. The performance criteria of developed models together with residual monitoring indicate that the neural networks effectively detect fouling formation. Poster presentation (pdf)