STATUS - Strategic industrial information Systems
| Reference number | |
| Coordinator | Chalmers Tekniska Högskola AB - Inst. för Elektroteknik (E2) |
| Funding from Vinnova | SEK 600 000 |
| Project duration | September 2020 - May 2021 |
| Status | Completed |
| Venture | Strategic innovation programme for process industrial IT and automation – PiiA |
| Call | PiiA: Digitalization of industrial value chains, spring 2020 |
Purpose and goal
An analysis tool has been developed and implemented at a pulp mill for monitoring of 62 different control loops. Data is collected continuously once per second and analyzed. The results are presented to operators and technical staff via an interface developed in the project. Analyses have captured controllers that are not used in automatic operation, insufficient tuning and problems in actuators. Actions suggested by the analysis tool show less variations in pulp quality and an expected power saving of 25 GWh/year
Expected results and effects
An analysis tool has been implemented at a pulp mill for continuous monitoring of controller performance, early indication of faults and prioritization of maintenance. In the first analyzes, the tool showed potential for improvement in 84% of the investigated control loops. Of these, a number were from control loops that should not be in operation in the current operating mode. Those can be excluded in the tool. After measures proposed by the tool, smoother pulp quality and an expected power saving of 25 GWh / year are achieved
Planned approach and implementation
The work has been conducted in close collaboration between Chalmers and the pulp mill. The analysis is based on 6 different methods that are combined to detect a spectrum of possible errors. The results from the tool have been checked by technical staff at the mill who have also implemented the measures. The interface has been developed together with operators at the mill to provide a useful interface and error texts with clear information about possible errors and measures.