Why PiControl Solutions
Better control,
without upsetting your plant
We identify the models from the data your plant is already producing —
loops in auto, production on spec, no step tests. Thirty years of process
control, in software we write ourselves and use in the control room.
Years in process control
Offices & alliances
MVs identified at once
Plant step tests required
Who we are
An OEM company, not a reseller
PiControl Solutions is an international company specializing in process control and automation technology for the chemical, manufacturing and separation industries. We are an Original Equipment Manufacturer: the algorithms in our software are our own, and they run in industrial control rooms and in university teaching labs alike.
Three things sit alongside each other and feed one another. We write the software. We go into operating plants and use it. And we teach the same material to the engineers and operators who have to live with the result after we leave. A method that survives all three is worth shipping; one that only works on paper does not get that far.
Mission
Vision
Method
Get the maximum out of the process.
Help our clients improve their primary and advanced process control systems and achieve the most their processes are capable of.
Technology, consulting and training
Most control problems are a mixture of all three. A plant rarely needs only a tool, only an engineer, or only a course.
Process control technology
Software we develop ourselves for PID tuning and optimization, system identification, PLC/DCS-based APC, MPC model maintenance, control quality monitoring, real-time simulation, and OPC communication and data collection.
Process control services
Primary and APC design and optimization, PID tuning, PLC/DCS-based APC implementation and MPC model identification and maintenance — up to a complete plant control retrofit project, conceived and designed end to end.
Process control training
Practical courses built from what plants actually ask for, aimed squarely at the gap that still exists between what a university teaches about process control and what a control room demands of it.
Multi-objective PID control loop tuning and optimization
PLC/DCS-based advanced process control design and optimization
Real-time PID/APC/MPC control quality monitoring and diagnostics
OPC management, communication and collection systems
Multivariable closed- and open-loop system identification
Model predictive control identification, maintenance and improvement
Real-time process and control simulation
Complete plant control modernization and automation retrofits
Superior technology
The step test is the thing we removed
Conventional identification asks a plant to be disturbed on purpose: loops to manual, deliberate steps, production off spec while the data is collected. It is the single reason most control improvement projects stall before they start. Our algorithms identify from the closed-loop data the plant is already producing, with the loops left in auto or cascade.
Why us
Why plants keep calling back
01 / conventional approach
Plant step tests, with loops dropped to manual
Long test campaigns and off-spec production while data is collected
Data preconditioning, normalization and stationarity demanded first
Work carried out in the Laplace, discrete or Z domain
01 / picontrol approach
Completely closed-loop or open-loop data, no step tests
Identification amidst noise, unmeasured disturbances and drift
No preconditioning, whitening or stationary data required
Far less data needed for a reliable dynamic model
Entirely in the time domain, start to finish
Any flow, temperature, level, pressure, motor, compressor or turbine loop can be simulated and tuned in it. And an MPC application already running in the plant — AspenTech DMC, Honeywell RMPCT, Yokogawa SMOC or PACE, Emerson PredictPro, Foxboro Connoisseur or any other vendor’s — can have its multivariable models improved in place rather than rebuilt from nothing.
System identification
INTEGRATED WITH THE TUNING SOFTWARE
The identification engine is not a separate study that produces a report. It sits inside the tuning tool, so a model and the tuning that follows from it are one workflow.
- Cascade PID loops identified in cascade or auto mode with no step tests — including multiple-chain cascades with model-based and feedforward control
- Simultaneous identification of several transfer functions from various input variables
- Up to ten manipulated variables and any number of controlled variables
- MIMO models from completely closed-loop data
PID tuning
WITH A MODERN LOOP SIMULATOR BUILT IN
The same package is a PID loop simulator, which is why it earns its place in a control room for training as readily as for tuning.
- Covers the PID equation forms of every major DCS and PLC vendor worldwide
- Tuning against realistic conditions: step, ramp and complex setpoint changes, pulse, step, ramp, sine and noise disturbances, OP rate of change, valve stiction
- Several tuning methods, including PiControl IAE and RO alongside IMC, Ziegler-Nichols, Cohen-Coon and Lambda
- A development bench for APC strategies: cascade, feedforward, split range, ratio, fan-out, inferential, deadtime compensation, IMC
Why us
Why plants keep calling back
01
Industry expertise
Engineers who have worked the sectors they advise on, and who know where a textbook method quietly breaks against a real column or a real compressor.
02
Technology of our own
We are not reselling somebody else’s engine. The algorithms are ours, which is why they can do things — closed-loop MIMO identification without step tests — that the alternatives cannot.
03
Customized, not one size fits all
The solution is shaped around the plant’s own constraints, control system and operating practice rather than around a standard scope of work.
04
Reliability and performance
Control that holds up under the disturbances a real plant actually sees, so operations run consistently and with minimal downtime.
05
Support that does not stop at install
24/7 customer support after commissioning. The point at which the software is installed is the point at which the questions usually begin.
06
Cost-effective
Removing the step test removes the most expensive part of a control project — the lost production while the plant is being disturbed on purpose.
07
Seamless integration
Work fits around the plant’s schedule and its existing DCS or PLC, with the transition planned to keep downtime out of it.
08
Client-centric by necessity
Control improvement is measured in the plant’s numbers, not ours. Your result is the only evidence the work was any good.
09
A proven track record
Projects delivered across diverse industries, from chemicals and refining to manufacturing and separation processes.
global reach
Offices and alliances in 11 countries
PiControl Solutions LLC
faq
About PiControl Solutions: Common Questions
The next step.
What does PiControl Solutions actually do?
Three connected things: we develop process control software as an OEM, we consult inside operating plants on control design and optimization, and we train engineers and operators on the same material. The software is written by the people who use it on real plants.
Does model identification require a plant step test?
Will it work with our DCS or PLC?
We already have an MPC. Do we have to replace it?
How much data does identification need?
Can the software be used for teaching as well as for plants?
Get in touch
Tell us which loop is giving you trouble
The quickest start is a real problem. Send us the loop, the process, or the
MPC application that is not performing, and we will tell you what can be
done with the data you already have.
Explore
Where to go next
Products
The software: tuning, identification, APC, monitoring and OPC
Services
Consulting, plant retrofits and control modernization
Training
Courses on primary and advanced process control