Tuning Issues Archives - Control Station

Using Percent Time in Normal to Uncover Tuning Issues

By dennisnash | January 27, 2016

Even Simple Metrics Such as Percent Time in Normal Reveal Issues that Negatively Affect Performance and Signal the Need for Controller Tuning

It’s easy to get tripped up if a shoelace is untied. Just ask any child. While that’s a lesson most learn early in their lives each of us can occasionally slip up and find ourselves at risk.

Using Average Absolute Error to Uncover Tuning Issues

By dennisnash | January 20, 2016

Average Absolute Error (AAE) Provides an Intuitive Alternative to Variance and Simplifies the Assessment of Changes in PID Controller Performance.

Quite simply, things at a manufacturing facility can change for the better or they can change for the worse. [ . . . ]

Using Mode Changes to Uncover Tuning Issues

By dennisnash | December 1, 2015

Poor Controller Tuning.
Operator interventions and Mode Changes are often viewed negatively. When a PID loop is switched out of automatic there can be a sense that the controller wasn’t allowed to perform its job. With each change, goals related to production throughput and efficiency suffer a psychological hit. Since so much is invested in automating plant-wide production, interventions can feel like a step backwards. Viewed in a different light, however, those interventions provide potentially valuable insights that help production to move forward.

Using the Oscillation Metric to Uncover Tuning Issues

By dennisnash | November 23, 2015

There’s a wealth of information available in most every data historian. The data can be used to evaluate the performance of a plant’s regulatory control systems in general and to uncover PID controllers that require tuning in particular. Capitalizing on that resource can help manufacturers keep their processes within designated constraints and avoid out-of-spec production.