Time delay integrating systems: a challenge for process control industries. A practical solution

Abstract Temperature control of processes that involve the heating and cooling of a closed batch reactor can be a real problem for conventional proportional-integral-derivative (PID) based loop controllers. This paper describes the application of a new industrial advanced process controller. This controller is designed to handle integrating type processes with long dead times and long time constants. The results demonstrate that reactors that could previously only be operated manually can be easily automated using an adaptive model predictive control technology. The barrier to automation of the reactor batch controls can be now removed resulting in tremendous improvements in batch consistency, batch cycle times, and productivity.