Analogous Electrical Model of Water Processing Plant as a Tool to Study "The Real Problem" of Process Control.

This paper presents an analogous electrical model for water processing plant. The three major components of the plant; the connecting pipes, the water tanks and the filter have been modeled here by resistors, capacitors and inductors of an electrical circuit as a model of the plant. The mechanical properties of these components are thus represented by equivalent electrical properties as resistance, capacitance and inductance, respectively. In these representations the resistance is expressed as a function of both the cross sectional area (A) and the length (L) of the pipes; and the capacitance is expressed as a function of the Area of the tanks (capacity of tank), while the inductance (constriction to debris) is expressed as a function of number of wound string on the filter cartridge. From the results of the simulation, it was observed that by varying the electrical parameters (resistors, capacitors, inductor), it is possible to study the way the manipulation of equivalent parameters of the analogous mechanical components (the connecting pipes, the water tanks and the water filter) of the water plant could influence the rate of water flow in the production process. This work does demonstrate the possibility of knowing from the beginning the various sizes of pipes, tanks and filter to be used and how these will affect the flow of water in the plant before going into the physical construction of the plant. This method could be used in a more complex system.