Now, the computer does all of that work for you.” “The method was dependent upon your printer resolution, among other things. “Back when I first learned tuning, we would introduce a step, graph the results, and figure out the slope of the line to determine the time constant,” notes Perry Nordh, Honeywell’s product manager for advanced control, optimization and monitoring.
From the presented data, users can then select how aggressive they want the response time to be. Using the computer networks that are commonplace today, the tool collects the necessary data and performs the calculations. The tool automates many of the tasks in this process that control engineers used to do by hand. After the test, it computes and offers a range of recommended tuning parameters. While the control loop remains in control in automatic mode, OperTune introduces a test signal on top of the controller’s output signal. The tool relies on a minimally invasive control theory. In the Navajo Refinery’s case, the tool was OperTune, a closed-loop PID auto-tuning technology from Honeywell Process Solutions.
Like a growing number of users, this refinery discovered that today’s computing power and intelligent software have enabled automation vendors to develop tools that can streamline the tuning of PID loops.
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Because as many as 30 percent of the control loops in some units were operating in manual mode, management was concerned about safety, the environment and productivity.įor this reason, tuning technology was part of the mix when management decided to change the plant’s operating strategy to make automatic mode the norm for regulatory control. Not only had the refinery grown over the years, but the experienced staff that had kept the units in tune was also beginning to retire. Its hands-on, “mandraulic” culture was no longer cutting it. The tuning of proportional-integral-derivative (PID) control loops was an important change at HollyFrontier’s Navajo Refinery in Artesia, N.M.
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