Tools for Engineering Personnel

Wouldn't you like to have a set of tools that tell you exactly problem is? Wouldn't it be great if you could use these tools without having to go into the field and take something apart?

Find the Real Problem, Then Fix It

How often is your time wasted fixing the wrong problem? With ExperTune's set of diagnostic tools, you can easily tell the difference between a valve problem, a tuning problem, or an instrument problem. And you'll have the data to prove it.

PlantTriage^® uses real-time data to support Condition-Based Maintenance. It automatically identifies when the equipment performance has started to degrade.

PlantTriage Control Loop Monitor looks after your thousands of control loops, 24 hours a day. Based on criteria that you have set, the PlantTriage Control Loop Monitor scans the entire process, finds the important information, filters it based on your needs, and notifies you directly.

PlantTriage has all the tools you need to diagnose and solve problems with valves, sensors, and controller tuning. PID Loop Optimizer is an integrated component of PlantTriage.

Find Intermittent Problems with Alerts

With PlantTriage, you can define an alert that will be triggered whenever a certain condition occurs. PlantTriage will notify you whenever the condition occurs. For example, if you have a sensor that occasionally has high noise, you can have a message sent to your pager when this happens.

Biggest Payback Loops—Problem Solver

With the Biggest Payback Loops, PlantTriage looks at your entire plant, and prioritizes all of the control loop problems. The top 10 loops are shown in a web browser interface. Loop ranking includes economic significance, so if 2 loops with different economic importance have the same health, the one worth more bubbles to the top. They can also be scheduled to be emailed daily, weekly, or monthly, so you get the information you need, when you need it.

Like everything else in PlantTriage, the Biggest Payback Loops is being updated all the time. When equipment starts to fail, you can be notified right away.

Loop Diagnosis—Problem Solver

PlantTriage automatically diagnoses every control loop in your plant, and provides a text diagnosis. Example diagnostics include:

• Flat-lining
• Sensor Failed or Huge Span
• Excessive Noise
• Excess Valve Travel
• Oscillation—Tuning
• Unable to hold set point
• Ineffective Derivative

You will save time and effort by knowing exactly where to look, and exactly what to look for.

Valve Damage—Tuning, Problem Solver

Many signs of valve failure are apparent far in advance. PlantTriage lets you implement valve predictive Maintenance. The software automatically uncovers valves that are likely to experience problems due to excessive over-use. PlantTriage also recognizes the beginning signs of valve problems, long before a failure occurs. PlantTriage is scanning all the loops, all the time looking for problems.

Preventing a problem is worth much more than fixing a problem. Move toward prevention with PlantTriage.

The valves listed in this report are likely to be suffering damage due to incorrect controller tuning.

Corrective action:

• Tune the loop with included tuning tools.
• Reduce or eliminate derivative action.
• Apply a filter to the Process Variable (use tuning tools to find the best filter).
• Identify & remove other sources of variation.

When a valve travels more than 3000%/day, this is usually an indication of poor tuning.

PlantTriage calculates exactly how much your control valves are moving in a day. Valves that move excessively due to poor tuning are more likely to require repairs. PlantTriage helps you avoid downtime by reducing valve wear. Applying PlantTriage tools will typically result in a 2 to 6 times reduction in valve travel.

Valves-Oversized—Problem Solver

Over-sized valves create a number of problems: It is difficult to maintain tight control, and any valve problems are amplified. This problem solver lists valves that are likely to be oversized.

Corrective Actions to consider:

• Replace with a smaller valve
• Reduce upstream pump impeller size

Quickly find a complete list of all the oversized valves in your plant with this problem-solver.

Valves-Undersized—Problem Solver

The valves listed in this report are likely under-sized. Under-sized valves tend to run full open, and generally do not add a lot of value to the plant. If the process gain is less than 0.3, this is another sign the valve is too small. Corrective actions to consider:

• Replace valve with larger valve
• Replace trim with larger size
• Remove valve from service
• Reduce pump speed or impeller size

PV Filter Analysis—Problem Solver

This report shows points where the filter is large enough to possibly degrade control. Too large a filter will cause controller performance problems—the controller ends up controlling largely the filter instead of the process. Use the filtering tools to find the largest filter to use without degrading performance.

Video: How Filtering Can Help (or Hurt) Your Process

Sensors-Problems—Problem Solver

Sensors and instruments give early warning signs of failure. PlantTriage is continually monitoring sensors for these early warning signs. Control Loops that PlantTriage lists in this report are likely to have one of these issues:

• damaged sensor
• lost signal
• transmitter electronics failure
• sensor in a poor placement
• faulty wiring

PlantTriage notifies you of these issues before they become problems.

Develop Your Expertise

The way to improve your career is develop yourself. ExperTune's training programs provide a mix of theory and practice to help you to solve problems quickly. Join one of our training sessions or schedule one for your site. Click here for more on training.

Get a Demonstration of PlantTriage

There is so much to see in PlantTriage. Get a private guided tour. Demo can be accomplished over the web, and takes about 1 hour.

Request a demonstration on-line or Contact ExperTune at +1 (262) 369 7711.