Samueli School of Engineering

Process control is crucial in the operations of chemical engineering plants and manufacturing processes across a broad range of industries. This report details the testing and optimization of P, PI, PID controllers for a temperature control system. The first objective is to determine the best controller type for controlling the system temperature. The second objective is to alter tuning parameters manually for PID controllers in the temperature control system to achieve optimality. The performance criteria include the settling time, peak-to-trough ratio, and steady state offset. It is discovered that PID controller is the best due to its fast response,

offset elimination, and minimized settling time and oscillations, combining the aspects of Proportional (P), Integral (I), and Derivative (D) control. Additionally, manual tuning attempts were made to fine-tune the PID controller. However, the lack of data points lead to inconclusive results. Future works should conduct additional trials or employ alternative tuning methods.