CyboSoft Awarded a New U.S. Patent for Its Flare Smoke Auto-Detection Technology
CyboSoft, the developer of Model-Free Adaptive (MFA) control technology and products, announced that it has recently been awarded a U.S. patent that enhances its patent portfolio in advanced control and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. The awarded US Patent 11,462,089, “Smoke Auto-Detection and Control for Industrial Flares," has significant technical and economical benefits.

CyboSoft CEO Dr. George Cheng said, “We have the technology, products, and experience in flare control and want to help the industry effectively control this complex and difficult process.”

This award follows the CyboEnergy 2014 U.S. patent 8,786,133, entitled "Smart and Scalable Power Inverters," covering the unique inverter design with multiple input channels, each of which has its own control and MPPT, solving partial shading problems, maximizing power production, reducing costs and making rooftop solar safer to install and operate.

Keeping pH in Its Place
Industrial process water treatment and recycling have become important social and economic issues, especially with freshwater becoming a scarce resource. In a large iron and steel complex, significant amounts of wastewater are produced and need to be treated. If not done properly and efficiently, wastewater treatment can be costly and time consuming. Poor pH control remains the key problem because it causes excessive dosing of chemicals, resulting in high water treatment costs and low efficiency.

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Model-Free Adaptive Control: Impact on the Automation Industry
MFA technology has been fulfilling its promise as a ‘next-generation mainstream controller.’ Since its introduction to the automation industry in the late 1990s, the technology has been implemented by a number of end-users and embedded in OEM equipment by a host of process control, equipment control, and building automation vendors.

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New MFA Control Toolbox - Helping Automation Engineers Solve Various Tough Control Problems
"This product can help bridge the gap between the academic and industrial world because it’s the only off-line control simulation software for which a number of field-proven, real-time control products of the same family are available," says CyboSoft CEO Dr. George Cheng. "They include many MFA control products offered by CyboSoft and various MFA-embedded or integrated products and systems offered by vendors in the process control, machine control and building control markets."

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CyboSoft releases Control Toolbox for MATLAB
Control design engineers typically use PID controllers or model-based control design tools to design control systems.

To help automation engineers solve various tough control problems, CyboSoft released a major revision to its model-free adaptive MFA Control Toolbox for MatLab software. Model-free adaptive control, as its name suggests, is an adaptive and robust control method that does not require process models. Based on the core MFA technology, CyboSoft developed a set of general-purpose MFA controllers, each of which solves a tough control problem.

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Model-free adaptive control technology enables ethylene quench water pH control
PetroChina has improved ethylene production efficency and plant safety

In this article, we will present what it takes to effectively control these most challenging pH loops and describe how model-free adaptive (MFA) control is enabling PetroChina to improve its ethylene production efficiency and plant safety. We will also discuss how and where MFA was applied controlled technology in broad application areas to solve various tough control problems within PetroChina to improve process and gain a more competitive advantage.

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pH control nerves of steel
A steel caster is the most critical operating unit in a modern steel plant. . The caster transforms the liquid steel into solid slabs, ready for the rolling mill to produce the final product, steel sheets.

Let's look at what it takes to control effectively the caster cooling water temperature and pickle-line rinse water pH value. This feature will also discuss model-free adaptive (MFA) control technology, which is helping Nucor Steel to improve product quality and plant efficiency.

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Faster is Better: High-speed Model-Free Adaptive Control
Editor: Adaptive control is helping create faster, more accurate control for many applications. In this article, control industry leader Dr. George Cheng describes the concepts behind Model-Free Adaptive (MFA) control and shows its benefits compared to Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) and model-based control. He also highlights the elements of a real-world application in piezomotor control.

Since the beginning of time there has been a desire to move life along at a faster pace. In our world today, speed is often the most decisive factor between winning and losing. This faster is better rule impacts our industry in a huge way. In high-end motion control, customers demand subnanometer accuracy and submicrosecond control update rates.

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4/01/2006
Automation World

Improved Loop Control for Complex Systems
CyboSoft has developed a model-free adaptive (MFA) controller, based on the intelligent nature of neural networks, which has replaced and is replacing PID controllers and tuners. …. One company that is replacing its PID controllers with CyboSoft’s MFA controller is Siemens Building Technologies, Inc.
(http://www.siemens.com/buildingtechnologies)

12/01/2005
Chemical
Processing

Soft Sensors Win Hard Jobs
Clearly, soft sensors are destined for a wider role in conventional closed-loop control. In addition, the inferential calculators are making a mark in emerging control approaches.

"Since MFA needs only the setpoint and the process variable as the input information to compute its control output, it does not require some of the special information that a model-based approach may require, " says Dr. George Cheng, the company's chief technology officer. "MFA may need just one soft sensor for the process variable", he explains "while model-based approaches may need extra soft sensors to get the special information."

10/01/2004
Hydrocarbon
Processing

Model-Free Adaptive technology Improves Distillation Column Chain Control
MFA has enabled PetroChina to increase production safety and efficiency. Distillation columns are the most widely used operating units in the chemical industry. Energy consumed by distillation columns contributes to more than 50% of plant operating costs.

Model-Free Adaptive Control in Water Treatment
Many environmental protection agencies require water utilities to conduct regular tests for turbidity. Turbidity particles harbour harmful contaminants such as viruses and bacteria. Controlling water turbidity is difficult because of the long dead time in the process. A new control technology, MFA, has been useful in solving this problem.

MFA Control Improves Productivity
Akzo Nobel's Pasadena, Texas plant produces fluidized cracking catalyst (FCC). The FCC produced at the plant is shipped to major oil refineries worldwide for use in their catalytic cracking processes. Catalytic cracking is an integral part of modern refineries and is of great importance to refinery operations.

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Model Free Adaptive Control - The Technology, Methodology, and Applications.
Since its introduction in 1997, Model-Free Adaptive (MFA) Control products have been widely deployed in major process industries and achieved significant benefits for the users.

MFA controllers have a small foot-print, use very little CPU time and can be readily embedded into various control equipment. They are available on platforms offered by multiple vendors including building controllers, single-loop controllers, programmable logic controllers (PLCs), hybrid controllers, process automation controllers (PAC), control software, distributed control systems (DCS), and even control valves.

MFA will replace PID controllers on a very large scale and may also be used for controlling those loops that are now in manual control. This revolutionary technology allows users to achieve a significant advantage to better compete in this global economy.

Chinese Steel Plant Clears Air with Software
Here is what it takes to automatically measure and control the mixed gas-heating value. Here is how model-free adaptive (MFA) control technology enables users to improve production efficiency and yield.

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2/16/2001
Control

Article "Model-Free Coking Furnace Control" published in Hydrocarbon Processing Magazine
In Guang-zhou Petrochemical Complex, the MFA control system for 2 coking furnaces have been running since June 1998. Operators have been relieved of tedious and ineffective manual control duties. The now smoothly running system has resulted in higher efficiency and yield.

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Article on MFA Control of Tomato Hot Breaks published in Food Engineering Magazine
In Del Monte's Woodland, California, plant, CyboCon was installed in just a few hours to control 9 tomato hot break lines. Since installation, the operators have used CyboCon 100 percent of the time. Even with major tomato load changes, the product temperature now varies no more than plus 2 to minus 5 °F.

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Article "Model-Free Adaptive Control of an Evaporator" Published in Control Magazine
In Tri-Valley Growers' Madera, California plant, CyboCon was installed to control a 3-effect evaporator for its density and level with a 2-input-2-output MFA controller. The system stability margin has been significantly increased and variation in product density has decreased by more than 50%.

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