Nov
14
At Emerson Exchange, 2011, I had the pleasure of working with Daniel Coyne, Manager, Automation, BP America Inc., to host a workshop on Recovery from a Process Saturation Condition. The workshop addresses the improved recovery from a process saturation condition that is provided by the PIDPlus option of the PID function block in the DeltaV …
Nov
07
At Emerson Exchange, 2011, I had the pleasure of working with Tom Pesek, Marketing Manager, Emerson Process Management to host a workshop on Interfacing the DeltaV control system to motorized actuators. The workshop addresses the use of motorize actuators for valves and dampers. These types of actuators may be preferred for some process control applications. …
Oct
31
In early September, Mark Nixon and I were notified by ISA that we were recipients of the “Raymond D. Molloy Award” presented by the ISA Publications Department. Our book, Control Loop Foundation—Batch and Continuous Processes, sold the most units of any new book published by ISA in 2010. We received this award in the Mardi …
Oct
24
As I noted in a previous blog, Emerson’s education department has established a class (9025) based on the book Control Loop Foundation – Batch and Continuous Processes that I co-authored with Mark Nixon. This is a 4 ½ day class in which most of the key ideas contained in the book is covered in class lectures. …
Sep
16
Batch and continuous temperature loops can have vastly different responses. Fortunately, temperature loops have a characteristic early in the response that enables a fast identification of the process dynamics. The resulting models can be used for process control improvement, tuning, and rapid deployment of models for plantwide simulations. Temperature is the most important common measurement …
Aug
18
There are numerous examples where equipment design by not taking into consideration dynamics caused poor control. A good equipment design should reflect an understanding of how dynamics affect control loops and the efficiency and capacity of the production unit. Most advanced control opportunities arise from equipment deficiencies that become particularly evident as plants are pushed …
May
30
To achieve best overall plant operation, it is often necessary to coordinate the operation of equipment in multiple process areas. In Chapter 16 of Control Loop Foundation – Batch and Continuous Processes, several process examples are shown to demonstrate how multi-loop techniques may be effectively used for such coordination. One of these examples is ammonia …
May
23
The fourth workshop in chapter 16 of Control Loop Foundation – Batch and Continuous Processes allows the reader to explore the different features of distillation control. Continuous distillation is used in many industries to separate mixtures of liquids based on differences in their volatility. Within a distillation column, the vapor rising from the bottom of …
May
16
As mentioned in my previous blogs on the book Control Loop Foundation – Batch and Continuous Processes, the application examples included in Chapter 16 illustrate the various ways single loop and multi-loop control techniques may be used automate plant control. The fourth workshop exercise in this chapter allows the reader to explore the different features …
May
09
As mentioned in my previous blogs on the book Control Loop Foundation – Batch and Continuous Processes, the application examples included in Chapter 16 illustrate the various ways single loop and multi-loop control techniques may be used automate plant control. The third workshop exercise in this chapter allows the reader to explore the different features …
