Controls and Control Theory Commons^™

Intelligent Decision Support System, Khurshid Salim Ugli Turayev

Chemical Technology, Control and Management

The article studies issues related to the development of intelligent systems located in an environment capable of perceiving this environment and acting autonomously to achieve assigned tasks. To create an intelligent process control system, it is necessary to monitor the mode to ensure high quality of finished products with minimal energy consumption at a given productivity of the entire complex. It is important to have a flow of input data to provide the system with operational information to support decision making.

The proposed intelligent control system makes it possible to analyze the results of production activities to make organizational and …

Nonlinear Adaptive Control Of Drilling Processes, Maksim Faronov

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This work deals with the modeling and control of automated drilling operations. Advances in drilling automation are of substantial importance because improvements in drilling control algorithms will result in more efficient drilling, which is beneficial from both economic and environmental points of view. While the primary application of the results is extraction of natural resources, potentially there exists a wide range of applications, including offshore exploration, archaeological research, and automated extraterrestrial mining, where implementation of new methods and control algorithms for drilling processes can bring substantial benefits.

The main contribution of the thesis is development of new methods and algorithms …

Process/Equipment Design Implications For Control System Cybersecurity, Helen Durand

Chemical Engineering and Materials Science Faculty Research Publications

An emerging challenge for process safety is process control system cybersecurity. An attacker could gain control of the process actuators through the control system or communication policies within control loops and potentially drive the process state to unsafe conditions. Cybersecurity has traditionally been handled as an information technology (IT) problem in the process industries. In the literature for cybersecurity specifically of control systems, there has been work aimed at developing control designs that seek to fight cyberattacks by either giving the system appropriate response mechanisms once attacks are detected or seeking to make the attacks difficult to perform. In this …

On Accounting For Equipment-Control Interactions In Economic Model Predictive Control Via Process State Constraints, Helen Durand

Chemical Engineering and Materials Science Faculty Research Publications

Traditionally, chemical processes have been operated at steady-state; however, recent work on economic model predictive control (EMPC) has indicated that some processes may be operated in a more economically-optimal fashion under a time-varying operating policy. It is unclear how time-varying operating policies may impact process equipment, which must be investigated for safety and profit reasons. It has traditionally been considered that constraints on process states can be added to EMPC design to prevent the controller from computing control actions which create problematic operating conditions for process equipment. However, no rigorous investigation has yet been performed to analyze whether, when a …

A Nonlinear Systems Framework For Cyberattack Prevention For Chemical Process Control Systems, Helen Durand

Chemical Engineering and Materials Science Faculty Research Publications

Recent cyberattacks against industrial control systems highlight the criticality of preventing future attacks from disrupting plants economically or, more critically, from impacting plant safety. This work develops a nonlinear systems framework for understanding cyberattack-resilience of process and control designs and indicates through an analysis of three control designs how control laws can be inspected for this property. A chemical process example illustrates that control approaches intended for cyberattack prevention which seem intuitive are not cyberattack-resilient unless they meet the requirements of a nonlinear systems description of this property.

Economic Model Predictive Control Design Via Nonlinear Model Identification, Laura Giuliani, Helen Durand

Chemical Engineering and Materials Science Faculty Research Publications

Increasing pushes toward next-generation/smart manufacturing motivate the development of economic model predictive control (EMPC) designs which can be practically deployed. For EMPC, the constraints, objective function, and accuracy of the state predictions would benefit from process models that describe the process physics. However, obtaining first- principles models of chemical process systems can be time-consuming or challenging such that it is preferable to develop physics-based process models automatically from process operating data. In this work, we take initial steps in this direction by suggesting that because experiments that are used to characterize first-principles models often target specific types of data, an …

State Measurement Spoofing Prevention Through Model Predictive Control Design, Helen Durand

Chemical Engineering and Materials Science Faculty Research Publications

Security of chemical process control systems against cyberattacks is critical due to the potential for injuries and loss of life when chemical process systems fail. A potential means by which process control systems may be attacked is through the manipulation of the measurements received by the controller. One approach for addressing this is to design controllers that make manipulating the measurements received by the controller in any meaningful fashion very difficult, making the controllers a less attractive target for a cyberattack of this type. In this work, we develop a model predictive control (MPC) implementation strategy that incorporates Lyapunov-based stability …

Process Control Laboratory Skid Refurbishment, Danny Crowder

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This project evaluates a salvaged process control skid for potential refurbishment and educational re-use. In-lab work evaluated the existing skid. Several process control elements have been recommended for replacement, including the process tank (due to corrosion), the pressure transmitter (operability/corrosion), the flow meters (mechanical) and the control system (age). The control valves, temperature elements and transmitters, pump, holding tanks, and the electrical heat exchanger should be salvaged. An I/P converter and pressure relief valve should be added to the pneumatic feed. Enclosing of all electrical components should be prioritized. An electrical schematic for a new control system should be implemented. …

Configuration, Programming, Implementation, And Evaluation Of Distributed Control System For A Process Simulator, Ximing Liu

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Abstract

A common industrial distributed control system (DCS), DeltaV, is configured and programmed to control and monitor the Nuclear Process Control Test Facility (NPCTF). A cabinet which holds the hardware of the DelatV DCS system, including programmable logic controller (PLC), power supplies, input/output (I/O) cards, terminals, and relays are configured and wired to field devices of NPCTF. A workstation and HMI screen are configured and setup.

To implement the main functions of NPCTF in the DelatV system, the programming architecture is designed in the DelatV system. The main control and monitoring functions of NPCTF are programmed using industrial languages of …

Some Aspects Of Process Control In Semiconductor Manufacturing, Keelin Relihan, Shane Geraghty, Aidan O'Dwyer

Conference papers

This paper outlines some aspects of process control in semiconductor manufacturing. Starting with an outline of the semiconductor manufacturing process, the contribution will discuss temperature control of the chemical vapour deposition stage and the control of the wafer etching process, based on the industrial experience of the first two authors. Subsequently, the authors draw the attention of the semiconductor manufacturing community to the potential of properly tuned PID controllers for the achievement of simple and high performance control solutions.

A Case Study In Modeling And Process Control: The Control Of A Pilot Scale Heating And Ventilation System, Robin Mooney, Aidan O'Dwyer

Conference papers

This paper details the control of a pilot scale laboratory heating and ventilation system. The system is represented in 2x2 multi-input, multi-output (MIMO) form. A process reaction curve identification technique was used to model (in first order lag plus delay - FOLPD - form) the flow process and temperature process portions of the system, over a range of operating conditions. Tests revealed that both processes were continuously non-linear. A gain scheduler with static decoupling was designed, using look-up tables, to continuously interpolate for the most suitable proportional-integral (PI) or proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller settings and decoupler gains. The contribution of this …

Smith Predictor Structure Stability Analysis Using Mikhailov Stability Criterion, Pauline Sourdille, Aidan O'Dwyer, Eugene Coyle

Conference papers

As is well known, stability is an important requirement for control systems. Due to the nature of time-delay processes, common methods to evaluate stability may be difficult to use. In 1938, Mikhailov proved a frequency response criterion, which is sufficient and necessary for the stability of processes described by known n-th order constant coefficient linear differential equations. This paper presents the Mikhailov method and the application of this method to a Smith predictor structure controlled by a PI controller.

Implementation Of New Modified Smith Predictor Designs, Pauline Sourdille, Aidan O'Dwyer

Conference papers

This paper outlines two modified Smith predictors developed previously by the authors and then presents the implementation results of these structures for the control of a pilot scale heating and ventilation system, the PT 326 process trainer from Feedback Instruments Ltd. These results are compared to the results obtained with a Smith predictor structure.

New Modified Smith Predictor Designs, Pauline Sourdille, Aidan O'Dwyer

Conference papers

By combining several existing modified Smith predictor structures, presented in a literature review, a generalised form of the Smith predictor is proposed. From this structure, excellent servo and regulator responses can be obtained by specifying three controller dynamic elements. Two new modified Smith predictor structures are presented with their associated tuning rules. The results of the simulations indicate that the two new designs give better overall responses than the original Smith predictor.