Energy efficient flow and level control in a hydro power plant using fuzzy logic

Abstract

The main objective and an innovative design of this work is to improve the energy efficiency by controlling the variables flow and level in a hydroelectric power plant using Programmable Logic Control (PLC)-Human Machine Interface (HMI) and fuzzy logic approach. This project will focus on design and development of flow and level controller for small scale hydro generating units by implementing gate control based on PLC-HMI and Fuzzy Logic Control (FLC). So far there is no other better performing control scheme, with uncomplicated approach, in order to match and satisfy the dynamic changes in load demand. In this project, FLC will be applied to flow and level control for small scale hydro generating units is proposed. A lab scale experimental setup is made-up as prototype model for flow and level control and simulation outputs were achieved, using PLC-HMI based fuzzy controller scheme. The hardware set up is designed with 5 stages in the tank 1 and 2 stages in the tank 2. Based on the outputs of the level sensors from tanks 1 and 2, the ladder logic will perform. B&R Industrial Automation PLC inbuilt with 24 digital inputs and provides 16 potential free outputs is used to perform control action. Finally, the performance of the proposed scheme is evaluated by simulation results by comparing with conventional controllers output using the data collected from the hydroelectric power plant. The merits of the proposed Fuzzy scheme over the conventional method are spotlighted. © 2014 Science Publications.