Understanding Process Dynamics and Control

Book excerpt: Presenting a fresh look at process control, this new text demonstrates state-space approach shown in parallel with the traditional approach to explain the strategies used in industry today. Modern time-domain and traditional transform-domain methods are integrated throughout and explain the advantages and limitations of each approach; the fundamental theoretical concepts and methods of process control are applied to practical problems. To ensure understanding of the mathematical calculations involved, MATLAB® is included for numeric calculations and MAPLE for symbolic calculations, with the math behind every method carefully explained so that students develop a clear understanding of how and why the software tools work. Written for a one-semester course with optional advanced-level material, features include solved examples, cases that include a number of chemical reactor examples, chapter summaries, key terms, and concepts, as well as over 240 end-of-chapter problems, focused computational exercises and solutions for instructors.