Patent ID: 6347254
Filing Date: 2002-02-12
Classification: G05B

Abstract:
A controller for use with a process facility that includes a plurality of associated processes, comprising:circuitry that maintains a range of possible values of at least one measurable characteristic associated with at least one process of said plurality of associated processes; and a processor that (i) selects at least one value of said range of possible values from said circuitry in response to one of an input to said at least one process and an output of said at least one process and (ii) generates control data as a function of said selected at least one value of said range of possible values and said one of said input to said at least one process and said output of said at least one process, said controller capable of using said control data to manage said at least one process; wherein said circuitry maintains a model of at least a portion of said plurality of associated processes and wherein said model comprises a discrete state space model of the form:xk+1=Axk+Buk andyk=Cxk+Duk â€ƒwhere xk and uk and yk represent states of a modeled process and where k is a time period and k+1 is a next time period and where A, B, C, and D respectively represent measurable characteristics of said modeled process at any given time period and wherein said model gives a prediction form for any point p in the future wherein said prediction is of the form: y^&af;(k+p)&it;|k=[C&it;â€ƒ&it;D]&af;[AB0I]p&it;Zkâ€ƒwhere I is an identity matrix and 0 is a null matrix and where Zk represents a state space vector of the form: Zk=[xkuk].