Keeping process control in tune

Tuning package gives process control engineers direct input into the process identification phase and provides easy comparison of test results.

The U-Tune PID tuning package from Contek Systems was designed by hands-on process control engineers using their exposure to process tuning and optimisation.

Controller tuning is something every instrument engineer or technician claims to be able to do.

However, when it comes to the facts, very few have the insight and experience to improve the process performance and squeeze more oil out of the ground.

Often it's not the controlling tuning that's at fault, but faulty valves and instrumentation, poor implementation of the control scheme and misinterpretation of the process data.

That's the human part of tuning: being able to see past the obvious problems and to identify the real issues.

The other part is having the right tools.

The U-Tune PID tuning package was produced after years of problem solving and de-bottlenecking control systems for the North Sea oil and gas industry.

Although the vast majority of processes can be characterised by simple delay-lag dynamics, many tuning packages fail to cater for the excessive noise and disturbances typifying the process response.

U-Tune succeeds by giving the engineer direct input into the process identification phase and by providing easy comparison of test results.

U-Tune accepts text data, maybe downloaded from a trend display or logging device, or takes waveform files directly from Dataq data acquisition equipment.

Tuning parameters are calculated in all the normal forms (gain, proportional band, repeats per minute, seconds per repeat and so on) and for the standard controller algorithms (series, parallel and ideal).

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