Detection and diagnosis of oscillations in control loops

We present an automatic procedure for diagnosis of oscillations in control loops in a paper mill. This procedure is one of the features of a "control loop performance monitoring" (CLPM) system under development, and works online without disturbing normal plant operation. When an oscillating control loop is detected, the diagnosis tools allow the determination of the cause of the oscillating behavior. It could be high friction in the control valve, a poorly tuned controller or the presence of an external perturbation.