More Control Design Examples

  • Development of Control System for 70-Ton Gripper Arms ISC developed the control system for a very large pair of Gripper Arms for the jack-up vessel MPI Discovery, used to install the foundation piles for offshore wind turbines. Early simulations were used to assess the hydraulic and control designs prior to the main software development. Since this was for a working boat minimising commissioning time was critical, ISC developed a software-based emulator to allow the software to be fully tested before the mechanical build was available. The emulator has also helped validate minor software revisions now that the system is in-service. This project was awarded the Application of the Year prize by National Instruments at their Graphical System Design Achievement Awards. (Download project presentation)
  • Ship Roll Stabilisation Optimisation and Control - Gain scheduled controllers were optimised using models of vessel and wave dynamics. The solution was then tested on a nonlinear model of the vessel, and ISCs solution out-performed more advanced methods developed by academic groups.
  • Heave Compensation on Survey Vessel - Models of ship motion and heave compensation control were developed. The new control algorithm was implemented on the ship's PLC and commissioned at sea. (Download project presentation)
70-Ton Gripper Arm

70-Ton Gripper Arm

  • Paper Mill pH Control - Instability in density and pH of a clay slurry was originating from use of on-off control for acid dosing. A model was built to simulate how proportional control would behave. The changes were subsequently implemented. (Download project presentation)
  • Flat Glass Production - Various control loops were developed in simulation before being applied to the production plant. The controls looked at edge tracking, width control and profile/shape control.
  • Combat Aircraft CD-ROM control - Improved head positioning control needed to counteract disturbances due to high accelerations. A Quantitative Feedback Theory (QFT) approach was proposed.