process control

Process modeling,
feedback controllers
Feedback controllers assume that their control efforts will have some effect on the
process variable. Advanced process control (APC) and advanced regulatory control (ARC)
can help a controller choose its control efforts more effectively by modeling the process.
The value of ARC and APC can be explained and understood without a deep dive into
the underlying math. See provided examples.
Key
concepts
 Advanced process control and advanced regulatory control offer benefits
with complexity of more
advanced control methods.
 Examples show how
ARC can help improve
control.
 Deadtime compensation, adaptive tuning, and
decoupling offer control
benefits.

Advanced
process control
(APC) has three
basic elements,
deadtime
compensation,
adaptive
tuning, and

decoupling.

36

dvanced regulatory control (ARC)

can resolve many industrial control
problems, but theres a common
misconception held by nearly all
current practicing control engineers
regarding the features and capabilities of ARC.
In the 1970s, with digital control systems and
process control computers, those involved in
ARC evolution developed two powerful ARC
techniques: Feedforward control and decoupling
control. Feedback control, regardless of how
sophisticated, was itself insufficient for keeping
important control variables close to setpoint when
disturbances occurred. Feedforward control was
developed initially to adjust independent manipulated variables (MVs) to keep important dependent
control variables (CVs) close to setpoint when the
feed rate to a unit operation changed.
This was done with models! Open-loop
response data was gathered to observe the
response of the CVs to changes in the feed rate.
This response was typically fit with a deadtime
and lag model. The next step was to invert
this model and develop the feedforward pattern
needed to adjust the MV used to control the CV,
to keep the CV close to setpoint during the feed
rate change.
On a distillation column where the overhead
temperature is controlled with reflux flow, the
challenge is to apply deadtime and lead/lag compensation to the feed rate, passing the incremental trajectory changes (with proper gain) to the
reflux flow so that reflux is adjusted, cancelling
the the disturbance. If feedforward compensation
is perfect, no feedback correction is required!
Model-predictive control (MPC) provides more
or less identical model-predictive control action
for feedforward variables (FFVs). ARC feedforward control action can actually be made superior to MPC feedforward control action. The proper
gain, or the amount the MV must be adjusted to

AUGUST 2015 CONTROL ENGINEERING www.controleng.com

keep the CV on setpoint, is not a constant ratio. For

example, the reflux/feed ratio required to keep the
top temperature on setpoint may differ today from
what it was yesterday, due to feed composition
changes, etc. ARC can incorporate dynamic, adaptive feedforward gain compensation to account for
process changes. MPC cannot.
The other ARC model-based control feature,
decoupling control, was similarly developed, initially for distillation columns. On many fractionators where high-purity products are produced,
the heat and material balances are highly coupled,
such that moves made on one end of the column
also affect the other end. Simultaneous decoupling could be applied to both ends of the column to minimize heat and material balance upsets.
If reflux needs to increase to maximize overhead
product purity, then a similar decoupling move on
reboiler heat will avoid disturbing bottom product
purity. A model (similar to that described earlier)
determines decoupling moves.
ARC techniques developed more than 40 years
ago use a model to predict what will happen and
react to avoid the event, which refutes the notion
that ARC is not MPC. It is predictive as implemented and has been for 40 years. ARC can be
made multivariable, so feedforward and decoupling control action can be implemented simultaneously for several FFVs and DCVs acting on
several MVs to control several CVs. Compared to
MPC, ARC is usually lower cost, more durable,
more easily understood by operators, and requires
less maintenance. It should be considered first for
solving most common industrial control problems.
Advance control in three ways

Advanced process control (APC) concepts can

be implemented a little bit at a time but still make
big steps toward improving processes. APC has
three basic elements: Deadtime compensation,
adaptive tuning, and decoupling.

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1. Deadtime compensation is not well understood. Just
inserting a deadtime function block into the input to the loop
is inadequate; doing so neglects the effect of process disturbances to the output of the proportional-integral-derivative
(PID) controller. A Smith predictor allows the control loop to
adjust the model bias according to the magnitude of the disturbance. A modified Smith predictor also allows the controller to
adjust the gain as well as the bias depending on the disturbance.
A heat exchanger that has a disturbance in its feed temperature
requires a bias change to hold the outlet temperature, while a
heat exchanger that has a disturbance in its feed rate requires an
adjustment to the gain to maintain outlet temperature.
2. Adaptive tuning, sometimes called gain scheduling, is a
classic controlled variable for pH, though any loop that exhibits changes in the process response that are essentially linear for
that portion of the operating range is a candidate. Implementation isnt difficult, but the user needs to know the number of control regionss and where changes occur in the loop response. The
user will need to use a tuning software package to determine the
responses in each linear region and some method to determine
transition area width between regions.
3. Some control loops interact and can even fight each
other, therefore building a decoupling network is another useful function block tool. A good example of this is a lime kiln
where the temperature needs controlling at both ends of the
kiln. The cold end is controlled by the induced draft fan speed,
while the hot end is controlled by the fuel flow. By holding
fuel flow constant and increasing fan speed, the hot-end temperature drops, and the cold-end temperature increases. By
holding fan speed constant and increasing fuel flow, both ends
temperatures increase, but the hot end increases much more
than the cold end.
If both controllers are in automatic, they will fight each other.
To break this coupling, the outputs of the control loops are taken
through deadtime and lead/lag function blocks in a series and
summed with the output of the other control loop. Tuning the
network requires knowing the two time constants of each of the
loops involved, the deadtime, and response time.
Taking these relatively simple APC instances to logical
extremes requires use of special algorithms like model predict or
fuzzy logic, but starting with deadtime compensation, adaptive
tuning, and decoupling can improve operations. ce
- Jim Ford is senior consultant, and Bruce Brandt, PE, is DeltaV
technology leader at Maverick Technologies, a system integrator
for process industries; edited by Mark T. Hoske, content manager,
Control Engineering, mhoske@cfemedia.com.

Go Online
See the online version of this article and links to each of the
Real World Engineering blog posts upon which this article is based in
www.controleng.com/archives in August 2015.
Also see: www.controleng.com/blogs.

Consider this...
What advanced process control techniques could improve your operational effectiveness?

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