Page 42 - Practical Control Engineering a Guide for Engineers, Managers, and Practitioners

CHAPTER 2

Introduction to

Developing Control

Algorithms

efore embarking on the quantitative design of a control algo-
rithm it is important to step back and consider some of the softer
B issues. What kind of approaches might a control engineer take?
What kind of up-front work should be done? Is there a difference when
dealing with an existing process as compared to bundling a process
with the control algorithm and selling the package?

2-1 Approaches to Developing Control Algorithms
Each control/process analysis project is unique but every strategy
that I have been involved with has components from the following
three approaches.

2·1·1 Style, Massive Intelligence, Luck,
and Heroism (SMILH)
In a stylish manner, the engineer speculates on how the process
works, cooks up a control approach, and somehow (heroically) makes
it work, at least on the short-term. Massive intelligence not only helps
but it usually is essential. A massively intelligent person, using the
SMILH approach, can, sans substance, exude style and confidence
sufficient to overcome any reservations of a project manager. Because
this engineer has avoided a couple of methods to be mentioned fur-
ther, the project will likely experience setbacks and a wide variety of
troubles. The successful SMILHer will use these problems as oppor-
tunities to show how heroically hard he can work to overcome them.
I have always been amazed at the number of managers who can
pat the heroic SMILHer on the back for his above-and-beyond-duty
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hard work and never ask the fundamental question: Why does this
engineer have to resort to such heroics ?" Over the years I have
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