Assessment of batch processes

The PlantTriage software from ExperTune has been successfully used on many continuous processes to diagnose process control problems. This paper describes the modifications necessary to allow the successful diagnosis of control problems in batch processes. The assessment periods of batch processes must be synchronised to periods within a batch when the control loops are operating. This is not necessarily the same as the periods when the batch itself is running as assessments during batch cleaning, filling and emptying are likely to meaningless. Also if the same process equipment is used to make different products, it should be possible to collate results in such a way that comparisons can be sorted by different products. Finally there is a short discussion of how the assessment results can be used in fault diagnosis.