Greg McMillan

Author's details

Date registered: April 19, 2011

Biography

Gregory K. McMillan,CAP, is a retired Senior Fellow from Solutia/Monsanto where he worked in engineering technology on process control improvement. Greg was also an affiliate professor for Washington University in Saint Louis. Greg is an ISA Fellow and received the ISA "Kermit Fischer Environmental" Award for pH control in 1991, the Control Magazine "Engineer of the Year" Award for the Process Industry in 1994, was inducted into the Control "Process Automation Hall of Fame" in 2001, was honored by InTech Magazine in 2003 as one of the most influential innovators in automation, and received the ISA "Life Achievement Award" in 2010. Greg is the author of numerous books on process control, his most recent being Essentials of Modern Measurements and Final Elements for the Process Industry. Greg has been the monthly "Control Talk" columnist for Control magazine since 2002. Presently, Greg contracts as a consultant in DeltaV R&D via CDI Process & Industrial.

Latest posts

  1. Different but the Same — February 22, 2012
  2. Compressor Surge and Stall Detection and Prevention — January 26, 2012
  3. How to Succeed – Part 10 — January 19, 2012
  4. How to Succeed – Part 9 — January 12, 2012
  5. How to Succeed – Part 8 — January 5, 2012

Most commented posts

  1. Unification of PID Controller Tuning Rules — 1 comment
  2. Techniques to Improve pH Measurement Performance — 1 comment

Author's posts listings

Feb
22

Different but the Same

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My blogs have a new home on the Control magazine website www.controlglobal.com. I have had a wonderful run here for the last 5 years with 230 posts. I came up with the name of this website to show the importance and interrelationship of modeling and control. Jim Cahill and Deb Franke designed the website and got …

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Jan
26

Compressor Surge and Stall Detection and Prevention

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A compressor going into stall is like jumping off a cliff with a bungee cord. If the bungee cord has no losses to dampen the oscillation, we have something akin to surge. A 0.5% drop in efficiency can occur for each surge cycle. Several surge cycles can occur due to delays and lags in high …

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Jan
19

How to Succeed – Part 10

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We conclude with a summary on how you can avoid bursts of oscillations, get to setpoint faster, choose the right execution time and filter, coordinate the speed of loops, optimize operations without while protecting equipment, provide a consistent flow response for model predictive control, eliminate limit cycles, and improve analyzer and wireless control loops (all …

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Jan
12

How to Succeed – Part 9

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To support the check list in part 8 to get the most out of your PID, we offer some of the considerations in the use of PID features. The number of PID options and parameters can seem overwhelming at first. Hopefully the knowledge gained here will foster an appreciation of the flexibility and capability leading to a …

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Jan
05

How to Succeed – Part 8

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The missing piece for success is the center piece of the loop, the PID controller. There is an incredible offering of PID features and options. To help utilize the full potential of the PID, here is a check list as a guide. While the full aspects of the PID capability are book worthy, the following …

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Dec
22

How to Succeed – Part 7

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Given a good measurement and final control element selection, location, and installation, we move on to designing the control scheme and achieving the best loop performance. The control system should minimize process interactions and optimize process quality, efficiency, and production rate. The control loops should minimize disturbances and effectively achieve new operating points. Here is …

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Dec
15

How to Succeed – Part 6

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The increased emphasis on minimizing leakage, energy use, and low cost bid has lead to increased process variability. The valve with the lowest leakage, pressure drop, and price tag often has deadband, rangeability, resolution, and sensitivity deficiencies leading to poor control creating continual oscillations even when there are no process upsets. The sustained equal amplitude …

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Dec
08

How to Succeed – Part 5

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We continue this series with some helpful hints for control system design and implementation. This week and next week we look at control valve selection. There are a lot of misconceptions from sales pitches that lack an understanding of the need for a valve to have minimum backlash and maximum resolution and sensitivity. Most of this stems …

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Dec
01

How to Succeed – Part 4

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We continue this series with some helpful hints for control system design and implementation. This week we look at  measurement location and selection. Since a control system deals with change, the prevalent theme is how to improve the detection and correction for change. In the coming weeks we will take a look at control valves …

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Nov
24

How to Succeed – Part 3

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Over the next year I will be writing a book 101 Ways to a Successful Automation Career. Before getting into specific ways for improving control system design and performance for different types of applications, I stepped back and looked at the more human aspect. I came up with concepts that have personally guided my career. These …

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