Multivariable step testing for MPC projects reduces crude unit testing time

摘要

Plant testing has traditionally been a time-consuming phase of most model predictive control (MPC) applications. A traditional plant test would require that one manipulated variable (MV) be moved at a time, and each step move should be held for an average of half the process settling time. Depending on the number of MVs and the process characteristics for a particular MPC application, plant testing could take up to several weeks to complete. Especially for processes with a large number of MVs and/or long settling times, plant testing could be prohibitively long and, thus, very expensive.