Power plants–especially coal-fired boilers–pose a set of process control problems unparalleled in other industries. Rapid load ramps, continuous unit demand changes, variable fuel quality and process ...

Learning the basics can ease loop tuning frustration and ensure stability. During plant operations, it seems that tuning control loops is an ongoing task, which can be a continual frustration to ...

Every plant in the process industry most likely has several control loops that do not perform well. Although there are many factors that may negatively affect control loop performance, a few of these ...

Only through proper troubleshooting and then solving the underlying problems can control loop performance be improved. Process design certainly plays a role in control loop performance, but experience ...

PID loops are a central component of modulating boiler control systems with applications ranging from basic steam header pressure control to cascading 3-element drum level control. A modern ...

In 2012, Automation World published an article looking at the decision factors faced when choosing electric or pneumatic actuators. More than a decade later, manufacturing engineers and OEMs still ...

In an RL-based control system, the turbine (or wind farm) controller is realized as an agent that observes the state of the ...

The process controller’s job is to maintain the process variable at setpoint, regardless of whether the setpoint is constant or has just been changed. The controller contains the “control algorithm,” ...