The
Control Loop Optimization
(CLO) training course
provided by
Lambda Controls
is a four day course held on-site at a Paper/Pulp mill.
The CLO course is designed primarily for
pulp and paper mill instrumentation technicians,
but it is also a good introductory course for process and
instrumentation engineers.
The primary aim of the course is to provide course participants with a
basic understanding of control loop optimization by:
using bump tests to evaluate control loop health issues
such as control valve dynamic performance and nonlinear behaviour;
identifying dynamic process models from bump tests and
using the dynamic model information to tune the controller.
The Lambda Tuning method is presented as the preferred controller tuning method.
A secondary aim of the course is to heighten the awareness of process variability
and to appreciate the role of control loop optimization in reducing process
variability.
The course is a combination of class room based lectures and field based bump
test and controller tuning exercises conducted on control loops in the mill.
A Personal Computer based data acquisition system will be used to collect
high quality process data in the field.
This data will be discussed in class and
used to evaluate field instrumentation, to identify process models and
to calculate controller tuning.
The field work and class discussion of field work makes up about 50
percent of the course.
The main topics presented in the course are:
performing manual bump tests and interpreting the results
control valve dynamic performance evaluation
self-regulating processes (e.g. flow loop)
non self-regulating processes (e.g. level loop)
linear dynamic process models and nonlinear behaviour
first order with deadtime process model for a self-regulating process
integrator with deadtime process model for a non self-regulating process
effect of control loop filtering on bump test results
PID controller description
review of controller tuning methods
Lambda Tuning method for a self-regulating process
benefits of the Lambda Tuning method over other tuning methods
selecting the Lambda value for a control loop
control loop robustness and reliability
Lambda Tuning method for a non self-regulating process
tank level control loops
performance limitations of a PID controller
control loop cutoff period of a Lambda tuned self regulating loop
guidelines for employing control loop filtering
tuning cascade control loops
tuning interacting control loops
developing a tuning strategy for several interacting control loops
evaluating process variability
introduction to time series analysis tools
introduction to process and control system performance evaluation
