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iKubed Labs — PID Loop Controller

10 simulators, free exploration — click a card to launch that process. Instructional tools built and hosted by David Molley for his own students, at no charge. No account, no enrollment.

Level Control (4)

ORIGINAL
Level Control — Classic Tank Loop
The original simulator. Inlet fill valve, fixed pump, discharge as the load disturbance. Reverse-acting. The baseline every other process is built as a sibling of.
 VALVE
Level Control — Inlet Valve
Same tank process as the original, rebuilt as a standalone valve-placement variant, with a mismatch warning if the controller action doesn't match the valve's wiring.
 VALVE
Level Control — Discharge Valve
Valve moved to the tank's outlet instead of the inlet — flips the process gain sign, so it's Direct-acting, the mirror image of the inlet-valve version.
 VARIABLE SPEED
Level Control — Variable-Speed Pump
No valve at all — a VFD-driven pump sets inflow directly. Same PID math, but a different final-control-element category (loss of output on a fault, not a spring-return valve position).

Temperature Control (4)

VALVE
Temperature Control — Steam Heater
Genuinely lag-dominant, self-regulating process (not integrating like the tank) — the first process where derivative control measurably beats PI-only. Steam valve, Reverse-acting.
 VALVE
Temperature Control — Chilled-Water Cooler
Same lag-dominant thermal process as the heater, chilled-water valve — but Direct-acting, the opposite sign from the heater.
 VARIABLE SPEED
Temperature Control — Variable-Speed Fan
Forced-air cooling via a VFD-driven fan, no valve. Same cooling direction as the chilled-water cooler, different final-control-element category.
 DAMPER
Temperature Control — Louver / Damper
Outside-air economizer-style cooling via a modulating louver bank — a third final-control-element family (air damper, not liquid valve or motor speed).

Flow Control (2)

VALVE
Flow Control — Positional Valve
Fast, self-regulating, and deliberately noisy — flow loops settle in seconds, not minutes, and this shows why flow loops are almost always tuned PI-only.
 VARIABLE SPEED
Flow Control — Variable-Speed Pump
Same fast/noisy flow character as the valve version, but a VFD-driven pump sets flow directly — no valve at all.