ExperTune Receives Patent for Loop Health Metrics
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March 23, 2006
The U.S. Patent Office has issued a patent for Control Loop Performance to
ExperTune, Inc. ExperTune has invented methods and programs to calculate
overall Control Loop Performance based on process, control, and economic
measures. This patented technology is a core component of ExperTune's
PlantTriage® Performance Supervision System. U.S. Patent #6,993,396 was
awarded to John Gerry, President and founder of ExperTune, Inc.
PlantTriage® gathers data from the control system, performs a series of
numerical assessments, then combines them with economic data to provide a
dimensionless measure of control loop performance, or "Control Loop
Health". Using this single number, process plant personnel can prioritize
process improvement efforts and maintenance activities.
Control Loop Health can be customized at each plant site to emphasize those
measures of performance that relate to the business strategy. For example,
one site may emphasize a reduction in oscillation and variability, while
another may focus on alarm rates, maintaining loops in normal mode, and
speed of control response to upsets. These measures become customized Key
Performance Indicators, or KPIs.
John Gerry, President of ExperTune says "With PlantTriage®, it is our goal
to streamline the performance improvement process. The patented Control
Loop Performance metrics give our clients great insight into the
performance of the process. Using these KPI's to maintain focus, our
clients have been able to reduce energy costs, improve production rates,
and stabilize process operations."
Within PlantTriage®, Control Loop Health is tracked, trended, and
historized at the loop, unit, plant, and site levels. Web-based
visualization tools display the information in a colorful, graphical, and
intuitive manner. Drill-down capabilities are used to drive analysis to
root cause. Integrated control loop optimization and tuning tools ensure
that problems can be solved quickly.
Control Loop Performance metrics and KPIs are receiving a great deal of
attention in the process industry. Without performance supervision in
place, the vast warehouse of data that is available from a modern
distributed control system can be overwhelming. Focused, customized KPIs,
such as the Control Loop Health metric, help to make sense out of this
data, and drive out specific actions to improve process performance. The
patented methods to determine Control Loop Performance provide a way to
streamline the data, and provide focus to improvement efforts.
According to Mr. Gerry, "With so many different pressures facing the
process industries, a customized metric for Control Loop Performance is
crucial to achieving process performance results. Our clients have been
very successful in applying this technology to their specific business
environment, whether it is oil refining, pulp and paper production, mining,
fine chemicals, pharmaceuticals, or other process industries."
About ExperTune:
For 19 years, ExperTune has created award-winning optimization software
that runs in thousands of plants world-wide. PlantTriage® Performance
Supervision Software oversees the optimization of an entire plant.
PlantTriage® optimizes the entire process, including instrumentation,
controllers, and valves. ExperTune's full suite of optimization tools is
designed to increase the efficiency of processes. The company's analysis
tools include simulation, modeling, robustness, linearization, valve wear
analysis, pH linearizer, time series analysis, multivariable, statistical,
frequency response, and PID tuning tools. ExperTune is a member of the OPC
Foundation. For more information, set your browser to www.expertune.com.
Media contact: George Buckbee, Tel: +1 262 369-7711
george.buckbee@expertune.com
