PSO Based Optimization of a PID Controller for a Linear Tank Level Control Process

Automatic control has played a vital role in the evolution of engineering and science. It is also important in such industrial operations as controlling temperature, pressure, humidity, flow and level in the process. This paper focus on the development and implementation of an intelligent optimization to obtain a optimum PID controller settings for level control process in cylindrical tank. System identification of the process is done by step test method and found to be First Order Plus Dead Time (FOPDT) model. At first, a Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) controller based on internal model controller (IMC) settings is designed and the results are compared with PSO based PID controller settings. The robustness of the controllers is validated by imposing both servo and regulatory disturbances. The performance comparison of the designed controller settings are analyzed by time domain specification. Better controller performance can be envisaged by the proposed methods using PSO based PID controller settings than IMC tuned PID controller.