Evaluation and Configuration of a Control Loop Asset Monitoring Tool

Abstract: In this thesis, an automatic control performance monitoring tool is analyzed and evaluated. The tool is called Control Loop Asset Monitor (CLAM) and is a part of the Asset Optimization extension to the ABB platform System 800xA. CLAM calculates and combines a number of performance indices into diagnoses. The functionality, choice of configuration parameters and the quality of the result from CLAM have been analyzed using data from the pulp mill Södra Cell Mörrum. In order to get reliable diagnoses from CLAM, it is important that it is correctly configured. It was found that some of the default parameters should be modified and the recommendations in the user guidelines should be updated. Using the current default parameters, there are some combinations of indices that never can exceed defined alarm severity thresholds. The conclusions in this thesis have been documented in an online help that also includes simple user instructions for how the results from CLAM should be interpreted. The results have been analyzed together with the staff at Södra Cell Mörrum in order to validate that they are correct and relevant from a user perspective. It was found that the results are correct, but there are some things that can be improved in order to make CLAM more user friendly.