Advanced Process Control

Training Presentation

Lee Smith
March 29, 2006
Advanced Process Control (APC) Defined
Applications, Advantages & Limitations
Basic Process Control Discussed
Feedback Control
Feedforward Control
Advanced Process Control Discussed
Real World Examples
Process Control Exercise (PID Control)
Summary
Readings List
Contents
State-of-the-art in Modern Control Engineering
Appropriate for Process Systems and Applications
APC: systematic approach to choosing relevant
techniques and their integration into a management
and control system to enhance operation and
profitability
Advanced Process Control
Advanced Process Control
Key process
variables
Management
Objectives




APC is a step beyond Process Control
Built on foundation of basic process control loops
Process Models predict output from key process variables online and real-time
Optimize Process Outputs relative to quality and profitability goals
APC can be applied to any system or process where
outputs can be optimized on-line and in real-time
Model of process or system exist or can be developed
Typical applications:
Petrochemical plants and processes
Semiconductor wafer manufacturing processes
Also applicable to a wide variety of other systems including
aerospace, robotics, radar tracking, vehicle guidance systems,
etc.
How Can APC Be Used?
Production quality can be controlled and optimized to
management constraints
APC can accomplish the following:
improve product yield, quality and consistency
reduce process variabilityplants to be operated at designed capacity
operating at true and optimal process constraintscontrolled variables
pushed against a limit
reduce energy consumption
exceed design capacity while reducing product giveaway
increase responsiveness to desired changes (eliminate deadtime)
improve process safety and reduce environmental emissions
Profitability of implementing APC:
benefits ranging from 2% to 6% of operating costs reported
Petrochemical plants reporting up to 3% product yield improvements
10-15% improved ROI at some semiconductor plants
Advantages and Benefits
Implementation of an APC system is time consuming, costly and
complex
May require improved control hardware than currently exists
High level of technical competency required
Usually installed and maintained by vendors & consultants
Must have a very good understanding of process prior to
implementation
High training requirements
Difficult to use and operate after implementation
Requires large capacity operations to justify effort and expense
New APC applications more difficult, time consuming and costly
Off-the-shelf APC products must be customized
Limitations
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Benefits Capture
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Benefits APC
What is Basic Process Control?
Process control loop: control component monitors desired
output results and changes input variables to obtain the result.
Example: thermostat controller
House is too cold
Furnace
Thermostat Controller
recognized the house is too cold
sends signal to the furnace to turn on and heat the house

furnace turns on
heats the house
Is the house too cold?
yes
Basic Control
House is too cold
Furnace
Thermostat Controller
recognized the house is too cold
sends signal to the furnace to turn on
and heat the house

furnace turns on
heats the house
natural
gas
house temperature
measured
is temperature
below setpoint?
setpoint = 72F
Controlled variable: temperature (desired output)
Input variable: temperature (measured by thermometer in theromostat)
Setpoint: user-defined desired setting

(temperature)
Manipulated variable: natural gas valve to furnace (subject to control)

Output of the system y(t) is fed back to the reference
value r(t) through measurement of a sensor
Controller C takes the difference between the reference
and the output and determines the error e
Controller C changes the inputs u to Process under
control P by the amount of error e
Feedback Control Theory
Error is found by subtracting the measured quantity from the setpoint.
Proportional - To handle the present, the error is multiplied by a negative
constant P and added to the controlled quantity.
Note that when the error is zero, a proportional controller's output is zero.
Integral - To handle the past, the error is integrated (added up) over a time
period, multiplied by a negative constant I and added to the controlled
quantity. I finds the process output's average error from the setpoint.
A simple proportional system oscillates around the setpoint, because there's
nothing to remove the error. By adding a negative proportion of the average error
from the process input, the average difference between the process output and the
setpoint is always reduced and the process output will settle at the setpoint.
Derivative - To handle the future, the first derivative (slope) of the error is
calculated, multiplied by negative constant D, and added to the controlled
quantity. The larger this derivative term, the more rapidly the controller
responds to changes in the process output.
The D term dampens a controller's response to short term changes.
PID Control
Quickly respond to changes in setpoint
Stability of control
Dampen oscillation
Problems:
Deadtimelag in system response to changes
in setpoint
Deadtime can cause significant instability into
the system controlled
Goals of PID Control
PI Control Example

I = 1.4 gives the best response: quickly brings
controller to setpoint without oscillation
PI Control Example

I = 0.6 gives the best response
I = 1.1 borders on instability
PID Control Example

I = 0.6 gives the best response
I = 1.2 & 1.4 unstable
Feedback control is not predictive
Requires management or operators to
change set points to optimize system
Changes can bring instability into system
Optimization of many input and output
variables almost impossible
Most processes are non-linear and change
according to the state of the process
Control loops are local
Limitations of Feedback Control
Feedforward Control
Window is open
Furnace
Feedforward
Recognize window is open and
house will get cold in the future:

Someone reacts and changes
controller setpoint to turn on the
furnace preemptively.

furnace turns on
heats the house
natural
gas
house temperature
is currently OK
turn on furnace
Decrease
setpoint to turn
furnace on
Pre-emptive move
to prevent house from
getting cold
Feedforward control avoids slowness of feedback
control
Disturbances are measured and accounted for before
they have time to affect the system
In the house example, a feedforward system measured the
fact that the window is opened
As a result, automatically turn on the heater before the
house can get too cold
Difficulty with feedforward control: effects of
disturbances must be perfectly predicted
There must not be any surprise effects of disturbances
Feedforward Control
Combinations of feedback and feedforward control are used
Benefits of feedback control: controlling unknown disturbances and not
having to know exactly how a system will respond
Benefits of feedforward control: responding to disturbances before they
can affect the system

Combined Feedforward/Feedback
Most complex processes have many variables that have
to be regulated
To control multiple variables, multiple control loops
must be used
Example is a reactor with at least three control loops:
temperature, pressure and level (flow rate)
Multiple control loops often interact causing process
instability
Multivariable controllers account for loop interaction
Models can be developed to provide feedforward control
strategies applied to all control loops simultaneously

Multivariable Control
Process models have some uncertainty
Sensitive multivariate controller will also be sensitive to uncertainties
and can cause instability
Filter attenuates unknowns in the feedback loop
Difference between process and model outputs
Moderates excessive control
This strategy is powerful and framework of model-based
control


Internal Model-Based Control
Inputs to advanced control systems require accurate, clean and
consistent process data
garbage in garbage out
Many key product qualities cannot be measured on-line but
require laboratory analyses
Inferential estimation techniques use available process measures,
combined with delayed lab results, to infer product qualities on-line
Available sensors may have to be filtered to attenuate noise
Time-lags may be introduced
Algorithms using SPC concepts have proven very useful to validate and
condition process measurement
With many variables to manipulate, control strategy and design is
critical to limit control loop interaction



Important Data Issues
Simple distillation column with APC
Column objective is to remove pentanes

and lighter
components

from bottom naphtha product
APC input:
Column top tray temperature
Top and bottom product component laboratory analyses
Column pressures
Unit optimization objectives
APC controlled process variables
Temperature of column overhead by manipulating fuel
gas control valve
Overhead reflux flow rate
Bottom reboiler outlet temperature by manipulating
steam (heat) input control valve
Note that product flow rates not controlled
Overhead product controlled by overhead drum level
Bottoms product controlled by level in the tower bottom
APC anticipates changes in stabilized naphtha product
due to input variables and adjusts relevant process
variables to compensate
Distillation Tower Example
Distillation Tower APC Results
APC Application in Wafer Fab
Source: Carl Fiorletta, Capabilities and Lessons from 10 Years of APC Success, Solid State Technology,
February 2004, pg 67-70.
APC Applied to a High-Mix, High-Volume Wafer Fab
Before APC After APC
12% Capacity
Improvement
2% Probe Yield
Improvement
Wafers/month [1] 45,000 50,400 50,400
Die/water 5000 5000 5000
Die revenue ($/die )[2] 0.07 0.07 0.07
Process Yield (%) 95 95 95
Multiprobe Yield (%) [3] 90 90 92
Revenue/wafer ($) 299 299 306
Revenue/month ($) 13,466,250 15,082,200 15,417,360
Increase in Revenues/month ($) -- 1,615,950 335,160
Total increase in revenue due to implementation of APC: $1,951,110/month or $23,413,320/year
Notes:
1. Capacity improvement due to reduced equipment downtime and reduced time running test
wafers. Reduction in test wafer expenses is typically 2-4%.
2. Based on good die in wafer form; potential value of die once packaged and tested is typically 5x.
3. Yield improvement due to improved parametric process control, Cpk.
To give a better understanding concerning problems
encountered in typical control schemes
Use embedded excel spreadsheet on next slide to investigate
response to a change in set point
Double click on graph to open
Graph shows controller output after a maximum of 50 iterations
Simulates the response of PI (proportional + integral) controller
Performance of control parameter given by sum of errors in
controller output versus setpoint after 50 iterations
Deadtime is the process delay in observing an output response
to the controller input
SP is the setpoint change
Exercise in PID Control
Questions:
1. Set Deadtime = 0
a. With P = 0.4, what is the optimal I to obtain the optimal controller response (minimum Sum of Errors)?
b. With P = 1.0, what is the optimal I to obtain the optimal controller response?
2. Set Deadtime = 1
a. With P = 0.4, what is the optimal I to obtain the optimal controller response?
b. With P = 1.0, what is the optimal I to obtain the optimal controller response?
c. What are the optimum values for P and I to obtain the optimal controller response?
d. Is the controller always stable (are there values of P and I that make the controller response unstable)?
3. Set Deadtime = 3
a. With P = 0.4, what is the optimal I to obtain the optimal controller response?
b. With P = 1.0, what is the optimal I to obtain the optimal controller response?
c. What are the optimum values for P and I to obtain the optimal controller response?
d. Is the controller always stable (are there values of P and I that make the controller response unstable)?
4. How does increasing the deadtime affect the capability of the controller?
5. What control schemes are available to optimize controller capability?
Exercise in PID Control
Proportional 0.4 SUM OF EFFORS = 610
Integral 0.9
Deadtime 2
SP 100
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33 35 37 39 41 43 45 47 49
CONTROLLER ITERATION
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Local PID controllers only concerned with optimizing
response of one setpoint in one variable
APC manipulates local controller setpoints according to
future predictions of embedded process model
Hierarchal and multiobjective controller philosophy
Optimizes local controller interactions and parameters
Optimized to multiple economic objectives
Benefits of APC: ability to reduce process variation
and optimize multiple variables simultaneously
Maximize the process capacity to unit constraints
Reduce quality giveaway as products closer to specifications
Ability to offload optimization responsibility from operator




Summary
Recommended References
Camacho E F & Bordons C, Model Predictive Control,
Springer, 1999.
Dutton K, Thompson S & Barraclough B, The Art of
Control Engineering, Addison Wesley, 1997.
Marlin T, Process Control: Designing Processes and
Control Systems for Dynamic Performance, McGraw Hill,
1995.
Ogunnaike B A & Ray W H, Process Dynamics,
Modelling and Control, Oxford University Press, 1994.




Useful Websites
http://www.onesmartclick.com/engineering/chemical-process-
control.html
http://www.aspentech.com/
http://www.apc-network.com/apc/default.aspx
http://www.hyperion.com.cy/EN/services/process/apc.html
http://ieee-ias.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_process_control