Controller performance monitoring and diagnosis: experiences and challenges

摘要

The goal of achieving reliable and profitable automated control applications in the chemical process indsutries requires controller performance monitoring and diagnosis technology. Research in process control has mainly focused on design techniques while giving little attention to trouleshooting and maintenance of installed systems. Due to the many assumptions and compromises made during design, and the many changes that occur in our plants, controllers seldom work as designed. Performance monitoring and diagnosis technology is a way of guiding engineers in real time as to the need for corrections and the type of correctons needed. In this paper, the industrial goals and requirements for technology in this area are defiend. A review of some of the significant research in this area is presented. along with a list of suggestions for future work. Examples with industrial data are also presented to illustrate our experience using existing theory from past research, and the technical challenges that still remain. The paper demonstrates that there exist tremendous research opportunities related to controller performance monitoring and diagnosis, and that advancements could have a major impact in the highly automated chemical process industries.