Tuning of Industrial Control Systems

Suitable for beginners, this book takes a practical but systematic approach to tuning. The aim is to provide insight into tuning procedures rather than a series of formulas to be memorized. The author gives helpful rules of thumb to speed the learning process during field training. The text begins with a discussion of common techniques for measuring the dynamic response of a process and choosing appropriate performance criteria. Later chapters cover selection and tuning of feedback control modes, including computer- and microprocessor-based controllers, and advanced modes. The second edition includes numerous examples of tuning, including the effect of hysteresis in flow control loops, averaging and tight level control, cascade control of a jacketed chemical reactor, feedforward control of a heater, and loop interaction and ration control in a blender. Also included is an introduction to a model reference control and a chemical reactor control example to illustrate it.

ARMANDO B. CORRIPIO, Ph.D. is a professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Louisiana State University. Dr. Corripio teaches undergraduate courses on automatic process control, unit operations, and plant design. He also teaches graduate courses on advanced process control and computer control techniques, and a special topics course on batch process design, scheduling, and control. Dr. Corripio's main research interests are in the application of computers for designing, controlling, and operating chemical processes. These interests fall into the broad areas of automatic process control theory, computer integrated manufacturing (CIM) and computer-aided process design (CAPD). In automatic process control theory, Dr. Corripio works in the development and tuning of computer control algorithms, process identification, auto-tuning, and adaptive control, and on the application of these techniques to multivariable process control problems.