Advanced control of a pilot distillation column within an UNAC environment, interfaced with an ABB MOD 300 DCS

This paper discusses the concept of on-line PC-based regulatory control. Issues of reliability, feasible implementation and performance are discussed in detail. It is shown, that by utilizing both a PC-based and a Distributed Control System (DCS) the overall performance of the complete control system is increased dramatically, while at the same time maintaining robustness and feasibility. A case-study pilot plant experiment is presented to illustrate the above notion. The advanced control strategy implemented within the UNAC environment is that of a Supervisory Multiple Model Control scheme.