Project Introduction Problem Statement

1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Project Introduction

Level and flow control system is a technique used to control the level and flow of circulation system for variety of purpose. It can be used to control either fluid or even air for pneumatic or hydraulic system. There are few types of process that use the level and flow control system, such as water treatment centre, water dam, tank level control, and liquid flow control and circulation system. In this project, the Lamella Filtration system of Bukit Sebukor Water Treatment Plant is studied. The objective of this project was to upgrade the mechanical water level control system of the Lamella Filtration system to an automatic system. The automation of the Lamella Filtration system can help reducing the burden of the technicians on shift and prevent human error on manual operation. Previous study on fluid level control using SIMULINK was carried out by previous student. [15] In his study, the design and modeling tank control for fluid circulation system using SIMULINK had been designed. Unfortunately, the system is not suitable to be applied at the current Lamella Filtration system. Level and control system for Lamella Filtration system will be discussed in this report. By conducting a case study that implement this system, problem that been faced by the system were carefully taken into consideration. New proposed system will be develop and evaluate to find the best solution for the problem faced. 2

1.2 Problem Statement

Nowadays, most of the fluid level and flow system are still applying the mechanical control to control the circulation system. [15] Floating limit switch, diaphragm valve and solenoid which connected by simple wiring are the examples of main control device that normally used in mechanical control. The current Lamella Filtration system of Bukit Sebukor Water Treatment Plant uses a mechanical control system. Technicians are required on shift to monitor the control system twenty four hours a day. The main criterion that needs to be controlled in level and flow of a fluid circulation is the rate of the main supply and the distribution system. Complete system with suitable control need to be considered to achieve this. The mechanical control system’s device is subjected to tear and wear itself. For the example, floating limit switch has a cycle rate which will turn to be malfunction after the cycle rate. At the same time it is also subjected to tear and wear caused by the movement of the switch. Over flow is another problem that regularly been faced by this system, which caused by insufficient control of the inlet. The reason for system overflow can be failure of the device to calculate the level of the main tank before signaling the inlet device. Other problems such as supply drainage cause by the device failure, which in return can affect the production process. Although a tank control for fluid circulation system using SIMULINK has been developed before, but it is not practical enough to be use in the industrial sector because the limitation of single tank design. Beside that, the previous system is not suitable to be applying in this study’s system. 3

1.3 Objective