Automatic PID Tuning for Wastewater Pump Station : Run Pumps Efficiently With the Press of a Button

Sammanfattning

Wastewater pump stations are critical to sewage systems, enabling fluid transport by pressurizing and lifting wastewater. Modern stations often use variable speed pumps, allowing for energy-efficient operation through speed control. To optimize energy efficiency, pump speed controllers should be individually tuned at each station, but this is rarely performed in practice. This thesis explores the application of an existing noise-robust and optimization-based autotuner to aid the tuning process of a PID controller for these systems. A novel adaptation of the autotuner is proposed to enhance the energy efficiency of a pump station. Constraints on the poles of the system and constraints on the system’s sensitivity to disturbances are added to reduce pump speed overshoot and oscillation from load disturbances, which often increase pump energy consumption. The autotuner was evaluated in both simulation and on a real station. Control parameters generated by the autotuner gave the desired system dynamics in both cases and the tuned system showed increased energy efficiency in the simulated experiments. Further testing is needed to determine whether the tuner can increase the energy efficiency of real stations.