Advanced model based control for continuous process industries

Advanced process control is an economical method for industry to optimize product quality and achieve lower production costs. The requirement to reduce the cost to implement advanced control in real world applications is an important factor in the realization of these benefits. Dynamic modeling technology (DMT) is a new approach that reduces the effort required to implement advanced control strategies. This method enables the process controller to automatically determine the structure of the process model as well as continuously adapt the model as operating conditions change. This paper describes the application of the Universal Adaptive Controller (UAC/sup TM/) based on DMT. The advantages of this design include the ability to control processes with long and changing time delays and the ease of incorporating adaptive feedforward compensation into the control strategy. The results of UAC field applications in waste treatment and petrochemical industries are presented.