Designing & Tuning Feedback and Advanced Regulatory Control Strategies (EC05)
Length: 3 days CEU Credits: 2.1
Description:
The required field of knowledge of a process control engineer has expanded significantly in recent years. What once was limited to measurement technology, signal transmission and feedback control has now expanded to include alarm management, safety instrumented systems, integration of automation and business systems, plus a host of other technologies. Good process control techniques are still as important as ever. This course will provide the foundation which will allow a process control engineering to make appropriate use of all technologies available.
For those who select or design process control strategies, this course also provides a thorough background in feedback control, plus a working knowledge of the application of advanced regulatory control strategies such as ratio, cascade, feed forward, override and decoupling. The course emphasizes the benefits of advanced regulatory control for improving the economics of process operations.
Recommended Prerequisites:
Familiarity with fundamental process measurement techniques, such as flow, temperature, pressure and level.
Familiarity with (not necessarily in-depth knowledge) with signal transmission technologies used in the process industries, such as 4-20 mA analog, digital, and wireless.
Familiarity with some type of process operator (control room) work station, such as a panel board or preferably a HMI display/command station
Mathematical competency equivalent to high school algebra. (Note: A brief review of mathematical concepts used in class will be provided at the beginning of the course.)
You will be able to:
Determine process characteristics that are relevant to the design and/or troubleshooting of a control loop
Define the functions and terminology for each mode of a feedback (PID) controller
Apply a variety of feedback controller tuning techniques, including Intelligent Trial and Error tuning, and know the strengths and weaknesses of each
Explain the feedback penalty concept, the motivation for applying advanced regulatory control
Analyze process units for the potential application, feasibility and economic benefits of using one or more of the advanced regulatory control strategies.
Select an appropriate control strategy for a given application
Provide the engineering design for control strategies using a BPCS, Foundation Fieldbus or other platforms available at your plant
You will cover:
Process control symbols and diagrams | Control loop block diagrams | Determining process gain | Set a controller for direct or reverse action
Process Control Loop Characteristics: Steady State Characteristics | Dynamic Characteristics | Characteristics of Flow | Temperature Pressure | Level Loops
Feedback Control: Behavior and terminology of proportional, integral and derivative modes
Modifications, Options and Features found in Commercial System Feedback Controllers, including recent developments such as Two-Degree of Freedom Controllers
Controller Tuning: Open and closed loop methods; Intelligent Trial-and-Error, Lambda and Predictive level tuning; Commercially available tuning aids; Recognizing the difference between a control tuning problem and other control loop issues
Advanced Control Strategies: Basic concepts; design; implementation; tuning; benefits; and application examples using feedforward, override and decoupling techniques
Overview of concepts, application and benefits of process model-based control techniques, including model predictive control
Considerations for Plant-wide Control Strategies
Classroom/Laboratory Exercises:
Use a control loop simulation program for hands-on practice of several feedback controller tuning techniques
Observe the effect of each topic, such as the behavior of cascade and feedforward control, by use of a simulation program demonstration
