Patent ID: 8032341

Claim:
A method for generating a model of a process in a process plant, comprising: collecting a plurality of groups of data sets for the process in the process plant, the data sets generated from process variables of the process, the process variables including a first process variable and a second process variable; generating, using a computing device, a plurality of regression models of the process using the groups of data sets, wherein each regression model is generated using a corresponding group of data sets from the plurality of groups, wherein each regression model models at least the first process variable as a function of at least the second process variable over a respective range of the second process variable, and wherein each regression model comprises a plurality of corresponding parameters generated using the corresponding group of data sets; generating, using the computing device, a composite model of the process to include the plurality of regression models simultaneously; generating, using the computing device, a new model of the process using parameters of at least two of the regression models; determining whether the composite model includes more than a maximum number of regression models; and if the composite model includes more than the maximum number of regression models, revising, using the computing device, the composite model of the process to replace the at least two of the regression models with the new model.