Process Trainer/Stirred Reactor for Benedictine College School of Engineering
For my Senior Design project at Benedictine College, I, along with teammates Aaron Ptak and Luke Brungardt, designed and built a stirred reactor/process trainer for the Benedictine College School of Engineering. A prominent patron of the college and longtime member of the board of trustees described the project as "a landmark project" for the School of Engineering.
The machine is used as a process trainer for Engineering students studying control systems. It enables them to program control systems and collect data on their performance on a real system using LabView software on a PC. It lets them control fluid levels, flow rates, and temperatures using valves, pumps, thermocouples, heat exchangers, flow sensors, level sensors, and heaters and oberve the effects of added flow disturbances.
Additionally, it is used as a stirred reactor by Chemical Engineering students to run industrial processes. It is controllable using an intuitive touchscreen interface located on the device itself. The user selects which which sensors, valves, and pumps to include in the control system, as well as PID control values on a diagram of the system. The values of each component are then displayed on a diagram of the system when the process is running. Components can also be controlled manually using touchscreen sliders. The system can be configured for bulk or continuous reactions. A heater and a connection to a cold water tap allow heat to be added to or removed from the reaction chamber at a controlled rate, and for the reactant temperature entering the reaction chamber to be controlled as well.
The system is touch safe and is operated using a programmable logic control and human machine interface device. It is built around a rolling cart for a compact footprint and to facilitate movement between labs.
"A superior senior design project that best exemplifies the mission of the department through design and development. The project utilized an innovative solution to a difficult problem in a cost-effective manner. The team demonstrated an agile responsiveness to changes in customer requirements and commitment to the highest ethical and engineering standards."- Benedictine College School of Engineering Faculty
Functionality Video
CAD Renderings
