Development of Plant-wide Control Loop Configuration Design Tool

For plant-wide control, multiple single loop controllers are usually utilized. Although tuning of a control loop is focused in control theory, the loop configuration problem is more essential to achieve safe operation. Several theories such as RGA had been proposed for loop design. However, they have never been applied to real design problems for large scale plants. We developed a CAD tool. Equipment modules contain Cause-Effect matrices. They are designed to be integrated for any combination of equipment. It is easy to build the plant model using CE matrices, because no quantitative information is necessary. The tool can evaluate not only consistency of whole loop configuration but also partial inconsistency. The tool recommends some loop configurations according to priority. The priority can be tuned in the views of interaction and response speed.