Development of the supervision/control software for a multipurpose three-tank system

This paper addresses the development of the supervision/control software for a multipurpose three-tank system to teach control engineering fundamentals. The laboratory equipment consists in a three series tanks with industrial instrumentation. The design requirements were determined by the users that perform academic activities in the area of process control. The requirements for the software include: data acquisition; clear visualization of the components involve in the process; communication with the different actuators; alarm generation; recorder; data logger; selection of different control strategies and technological systems (PLC, industrial controller or PC); and a friendly human machine interface. The equipment is being used to teach undergrad courses, grad courses, industrial training, and research projects.