Detection and quantification of valve stiction by the method of unknown input estimation

Valve stiction is one of the most common causes of oscillations in industrial process control loops. Such oscillations can degrade the overall performance of the loop and eventually the final product quality. The detection and quantification of valve stiction in industrial process control loops is thus important. From previous studies in the literature, a sticky valve has been shown to have a distinct signature of the stiction phenomena in its valve positioner data. However, the position of the modulating control valves is seldom available. We consider the problem of estimating the valve position as an unknown input estimation problem. In this work, we propose a novel application of the unknown input estimator in order to estimate the valve position given the process model and the data of the process variable and controller output. Using the estimated valve position, we can detect and also quantify the amount of stiction. We demonstrate the efficacy of the method through simulation examples where a sticky valve is deliberately introduced in the closed loop using a two-parameter stiction model available in the literature. Application of the proposed methodology to a laboratory scale flow control loop is presented. An industrial case study is also presented in which the algorithm accurately detects and quantifies stiction in the level control loop of a power plant.     

Consistency of noise covariance estimation in joint input–output closed-loop subspace identification with application in LQG benchmarking

The LQG trade-off curve has been used as a benchmark for control loop performance assessment. The subspace approach to estimating the LQG benchmark has been proposed in the literature which requires certain intermediate matrices in subspace identification as well as the covariance matrix of the noise. It is shown in this paper that many existing closed-loop identification methods do not give a consistent estimate of the noise covariance matrix. As a result, we propose an alternative subspace formulation for the joint input–output closed-loop identification for which the consistency of the required subspace matrices and noise covariance is guaranteed. Simulation studies and experimental results are provided to demonstrate the utility of the proposed method.     

Closed loop identification and control loop reconfiguration: an industrial case study

The results of a joint university–industry collaborative project for control loop reconfiguration using closed loop experimental data from a fuel gas pressure control system are described in this paper. The fuel gas pressure was being regulated using a butane stream. For economic reasons, it was necessary to switch control to the ethane stream. Previous attempts at effecting this changeover had proved unsuccessful. In this study, a powerful system identification technique namely Canonical Variate Analysis (CVA) was employed to obtain the empirical plant models. A PI controller was then designed using the direct synthesis method. Acceptable closed loop behavior was obtained with little online tuning.     

Computational haemodynamics: geometry and non-newtonian modelling using spectral/hp element methods

The increased availability of large scale computational facilities is enabling the use of computational modelling for the treatment of complex problems of industrial interest. Computational haemodynamics is an area where improved computational power and algorithmic development have permitted the application in biomechanics of techniques originally devised for direct numerical simulations in others areas of scientific interest. In this paper we present a highly accurate algorithm for the numerical solution of the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations which employs a spectral/hp element spatial discretisation and a high-order time splitting. Two important developments discussed in this paper are the coupling of these techniques with unstructured mesh generation, used in many everyday engineering applications, and the introduction of a non-Newtonian viscosity model to account for the shear thinning properties of blood. The proposed method will be applied to the analysis of shear stress distributions in flows of interest in haemodynamics. Received: 5 May 1999 / Accepted: 21 september 1999     

Diagnosis and treatment of aortic valve stenosis

The present review has attempted to summarize the classic symptoms and signs of aortic valve stenosis, especially in an adult. It is emphasized that all the classic signs rarely are present and their absence may mislead an unwary clinician. The diagnostic help provided by noninvasive tests, including echocardiography and phonocardiography, has been emphasized. A need for cardiac catheterization and angiography in most patients prior to corrective surgery is stressed. The natural history of the disease without operative intervention is dim and a significant risk of sudden death exists. The current surgical approach with immediate and long-term results is summarized. Finally, attention has been drawn to the special clinical circumstances when the aortic valve stenosis provides a strinkingly different clinical picture. We cannot find a better way to end this review than by quoting a warning note given by Thomas Lewis in 1920: "It is the faint cry of an anguished and fast failing muscle, which, when it comes, all should strain to hear, for it is not long repeated. A few months, a few years at most, and the end comes."     

Improving Water Supply Outlook in Korea with Ensemble Streamflow Prediction

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to propose an alternative forecasting approach for improving the current water supply outlook in Korea. Using a rainfall-runoff model, the existing technique for the water supply outlook in Korea produces monthly low, average, and high runoff forecasts. The proposed technique is called Ensemble Streamflow Prediction (ESP), and is currently implemented by the National Weather Service in the U.S.A. ESP appears particularly valid in Korea where the historical rainfall record is much more comprehensive than the historical streamflow record. This study applies ESP to runoff forecasting for a river basin in Korea to examine its applicability. An ensemble of one-month ahead runoff forecasts at the Gongju gauging station in the Keum River basin, Korea, was generated for each month. The resulting ESP forecasts were compared with the corresponding observed runoff data as well as the existing forecasts. Although this study is limited to one case study, the following conclusions can be made: (1) the ESP technique dominates the existing forecasting techniques in terms of both systematic and random errors; and (2) ESP is more accurate when high flows occur.     

Part-based spatio-temporal model for multi-person re-identification

In this paper we propose an adaptive part-based spatio-temporal model that characterizes person’s appearance using color and facial features. Face image selection based on low level cues is used to select usable face images to build a face model. Color features that capture the distribution of colors as well as the representative colors are used to build the color model. The model is built over a sequence of frames of an individual and hence captures the characteristic appearance as well as its variations over time. We also address the problem of multiple person re-identification in the absence of calibration data or prior knowledge about the camera layout. Multiple person re-identification is a open set matching problem with a dynamically evolving and open gallery set and an open probe set. Re-identification is posed as a rectangular assignment problem and is solved to find a bijection that minimizes the overall assignment cost. Open and closed set re-identification is tested on 30 videos collected with nine non-overlapping cameras spanning outdoor and indoor areas, with 40 subjects under observation. A false acceptance reduction scheme based on the developed model is also proposed.     

玉米须化学成分研究

将干燥玉米须水煮提取,提取液依次用乙酸乙酯和正丁醇萃取,制得乙酸乙酯和正丁醇提取物,用硅胶柱层析进行分别分离两种提取物得到4个化合物,依据理化性质及波普数据分析,分别鉴定它们的结构为：香草醛（1）、硬脂酸（2）、尿囊素（3）和邻苯二甲酸二异辛酯（4）。其中,化合物1和3为首次从该植物中分离得到。     

铸造C12A耐热钢的焊接及组织与性能的研究

本文对铸造C12A高强耐热钢进行了组织与性能、可焊性、焊缝组织变化厦性能特点等方面进行了研究分析。试验结果表明：淬火组织为板务马氏体＋部分针状马氏体＋少量残余奥氏体，其硬度比较高，塑性和韧性不是很好；淬火＋回火组织为保留马氏体形态的回火索氏体，其硬度不是很高，塑性和韧性比较好，具有盘好的综合性能；退火组织为铁素体，其硬度低，塑性和韧性高；焊接后的全相组织中，没有焊接裂纹等焊接缺陷存在，具有良好可焊性。对于淬火＋回火后的铸造C12A耐热钢，经过焊接，基体组织和性能没有明显发生变化，过渡区的金相组织为板条马氏体＋奥氏体组织，其硬度有所降低；熔化区的金相组织为针状马氏体＋奥氏体＋板条马氏体，硬度很高；焊后经过回火处理的基体佥相组织与性能没有变化。过度区的金相组织为保留板条马氏体形态的回火索氏体组织，较基体组织要粗大，其硬度要比基体有所下降；熔化区的金相组织转变为保留板每马氏体的回火索氏体，但组织较为基体组织要细小，其性能表现为硬度要比基体的有所升高。铸造C12A焊接后再经回火处理，可使焊接后的组织差别消除；性能变化趋于平缓，有利于材料的使用。     

Electron Acoustic Solitons

Electron acoustic solitons in collisionless and weakly relativistic plasmas are studied. The Krylov–Bogoliubov–Mitropolsky perturbative technique is employed to obtain the nonlinear Schrodinger wave equation. We have numerically investigated modulational instability for different values of the streaming velocity. Graphs have been plotted to see the change in amplitude and inverse width by varying different plasma parameters.