Advanced Process Control: A Brief Overview
You may have heard the term "advanced process control" before, but what is it, exactly? In short, advanced process control (APC) is a technology that uses mathematical models to manipulate process variables to achieve desired results. In other words, it's a way of using computers to optimize industrial processes. For several decades it has been in use but has only recently begun to be widely adopted due to computing power and data storage advances. It is used in diverse industries, including chemical manufacturing, food and beverage processing, power generation, and oil refining.
How APC Works? If you wish to understand how APC works, it's helpful to know how a typical industrial process works. Most operations are controlled by regulatory loops that keep essential variables within a