My Role

Control Loop Tools for
Maintenance Personnel

When you work in Maintenance, you don't want to waste your time fixing the wrong problem. With control loops, there are so many things that can go wrong:

• Valve Problems
• Actuator problems
• Tuning Problems
• Instrument Problems
• Programming Problems
• Configuration Problems

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

PID Loop Optimizer 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^®

Prioritize

With the Biggest Payback Loops, PlantTriage^® will look at your entire plant, and prioritize all of the control loop problems. Loop problems are then ranked according to the economic significance. The top 10 loops are reported to you in a web browser interface. Or they can be emailed to you daily. With PlantTriage^®, you will always know the top priorities.

Simple Diagnostics

PlantTriage^® will automatically diagnose every control loop in your plant, and provide a simple text diagnosis. Examples of these diagnostic messages include:

• Communication Failure
• Excessive Noise
• Excess Valve Travel
• Oscillation—Tuning

Valve Wear

PlantTriage^® provides you with the tools to calculate 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. We help you avoid downtime by reducing valve wear. Applying our tools will typically result in a 2 to 6 times reduction in valve travel.

More Valve Problems

ExperTune's experience has been that over 30% of valves in operations have performance issues. This includes problems with stiction, hysteresis, valve sizing, and slow response. PlantTriage^® helps to identify when valves are having problems. The included PID Tuner/Analyzer package can help you to troubleshoot and identify exactly what is wrong while the process is running.

Troubleshooting

When you want to dig deeper into a problem, PlantTriage^® offers the most comprehensive and in-depth set of diagnostic tools available. A copy of ExperTune's PID Tuner/Analyzer^® is included with PlantTriage^®.

Tuning—Get it Right the First Time

Everybody started out using the trial-and-error method of controller tuning. Then there were mathematical methods that took twice as long to accomplish. Now, with the power of modern computing tools, you can tune loops faster than ever before. ExperTune's PID Tuner/Analyzer^® does all the heavy lifting, and you get results—Fast.

For more on this topic, see this on-line presentation: The Fast Way to Tune Slow Loops

The Best Tuning Software Available

ExperTune has won the Control Magazine Reader's Choice Award 9 years in a row! We have won this award simply because ExperTune's PID Tuner/Analyzer^® is the best there is.

Test Controller Tuning Before you Download

When you tune a control loop, you want to be sure of the settings before you download them to the controller. PID Tuner/Analyzer includes simulation of both Setpoint changes and Load/disturbance changes. You can compare the "before" and "after" tuning before you try it on the live system.

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.

Look Beyond Today's Problem

A lot of your time is spent fighting today's fires. How many other "sparks" are out there, waiting to become tomorrow's fire? The tools in PlantTriage^® can help you to find these "sparks" before they become a bigger problem.

Improve Planning—Reduce Time in the Field

When you have a better idea of the condition of the equipment before you go in the field, you have a better chance to plan to do the right job. PlantTriage^® can help to identify valves, sensors, and controllers that need attention. It can even help you to measure just how bad a given situation is. That way, you can make informed decisions to prioritize your work.

We Know Control Loops

ExperTune is widely recognized as a leader in the field of process control. Our founder, John Gerry, has been awarded the Douglas H. Annin Award by ISA. Greg Shinskey, also on our staff, is a world-renowned expert, and on of the mostly broadly published authors in the field of Process Control. If you are having a problem, chances are we've seen something like it before. Need advice? Give us a call!

Fully Integrated Modeling, Analysis, and Tuning

Your time is valuable. You shouldn't have to waste time piecing together information from 5 different sources. PlantTriage^® automatically gathers data, identifies process models, completes assessments, and notifies you of the results. It does all of this during normal process operation, without any interventions or process bumping required from you. The results can be delivered to you as an email, or displayed in your user-customized web browser interface.

For detailed loop analysis, the data is automatically passed, in context, to ExperTune's PID Tuner/Analyzer.

Maintaining Security

With its secure web-browser access, PlantTriage^® keeps end users and their heavy data demands off of the control network. Optional Shadow Server technology can be applied for an even greater measure of security.

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.