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The Power of the FOPDT Model
If you’re a parent, then chances are you’ve encountered this dilemma: It’s the day after your son or daughter’s birthday and you’re now faced with the job of assembling gifts provided by friends and family. You can either ‘wing it’ with the hope of constructing each toy quickly or you can hunker down and follow the manufacturer’s step-by-step instructions. While ignoring the instructions and following your intuition seems like the faster option, most experienced parents know that those instructions represent a speedier solution which ultimately results in a happier child.
Read MoreWhen Cascade Control Isn’t the Right Solution
Sometimes looking for the right answer can be difficult especially within the realm of process control. While it can be easy to identify solutions that satisfy some requirements it can often be a challenge to find options that meet multiple success criteria. Something usually has to give. Indeed, sometimes it’s easier to consider the reasons not to do something. Applying a philosophy of ‘no’ can be particularly helpful when considering Cascade Control.
Read MoreThe Pros and Cons of Cascade Control
As shared previously Cascade Control is an advanced application of Single Loop Control. Through the use of a secondary and faster PID control loop, practitioners can improve a given process’ ability to correct for known disturbances. Although it is considered an advanced strategy, Cascade Control is commonly used across the process industries.
Read MoreOverview of Cascade Control
While Cascade Control is generally considered an advanced control strategy, it is only marginally more complex to implement than Single Loop Control. More often than not it is applied to improve the performance of a slow process such as temperature that demonstrates sluggish behavior. Essentially Cascade Control improves a “slow” control loop’s ability to respond to disturbances by capitalizing on the dynamics of a faster one – something quicker like a flow or a pressure loop. The faster loop provides an early warning variable that facilitates disturbance rejection, helping to maintain steady performance of the slower primary loop.
Read MoreWhat Options Exist for Tuning Emerson DeltaV Controllers?
Emerson’s DeltaV distributed control system (DCS) dominates much of North America’s process manufacturing market and beyond. For good reason engineers routinely rank it among the top supervisory control platforms globally. And while DeltaV has proven its capabilities as a comprehensive DCS platform other technologies have extended its overall application value in industrial arenas ranging from basic materials and chemicals to power and paper. It’s no surprise that some of those technologies come from innovative third parties.
Read MoreHow Do Plant-Wide Diagnostics Pinpoint a PID Controller Performance Issues
It may not be hard to imagine: It’s holiday season. You’re headed to the local shopping plaza. You’ve got one, two, maybe more children in tow. There are thousands of cars competing for a fixed number of parking spots. Items on your list are in limited supply – of course. The permutations of things that could go wrong seem unlimited as each of these factors interact with each other. Anxiety builds. The crowds. The lines. The waiting. If you only had the ability to track the movement of other consumers on a mall-wide basis and avoid problems that put your shopping mission at risk!
Read MoreHow Does the PI SDK Benefit Process Optimization Applications Like CLPM?
Have you ever called a customer support line and found yourself talking to the ‘middle man’? That’s the staffer who knows just enough to sound legitimate but not enough to fully answer your questions. That’s the individual who will “get back to you” as he confers with other company resources only to parrot back a partial answer. While the middle man does his best there’s always some amount of information, some detail that’s lost. With its market leading data historian OSIsoft has worked diligently to assure that there’s no middle man when it comes to accessing a manufacturer’s process data.
Read MoreWhat’s the Big Deal with TuneVue?
You may have read references to TuneVue on this blog or seen it listed on our corporate website. If you’re still curious about what it is, then there’s a simple answer: TuneVue is a powerful optimization utility within our PlantESP plant monitoring software. It evaluates a production facility’s existing process data in order to both identify specific control loops that require tuning and recommend the parameters needed to achieve optimal performance. TuneVue may sound like some advanced version of auto-tune, but it’s so much more.
Read MoreThe Top 3 Things to Look for in Process Control Training
As process control and automation continue to evolve practitioners need to invest in the latest field-tested techniques and best-practices so that they can keep pace with innovation. Whether you are a novice just getting your feet wet or a process control expert with years of experience, training is an essential component in keeping skills sharp. Fortunately training budgets continue to rise and the range of workshop options continue to expand.
Read MoreWhat is Industry 4.0?
Those in the manufacturing industry have seen a rash of new terminology introduced over the last several years. Among those terms: The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and Industry 4.0.
While these terms may stimulate thoughts of progress and innovation, their true definition remains uncertain as they continue to evolve.