Intellect 3.0 Virtual Sensor Auto Recalibration Supported

Intellect 2.0 provided "Tracking Predictors" that self-calibrate to on-line instruments or test results achieving "Class A" (>95% accurate, zero/low maintenance) prediction estimates. A more flexible version is now available in Intellect 3.0. In Intellect 3.0 we made it more flexible by separating the prediction and calibration processes. This enables access to both the raw and calibrated predictions and customization of the re-calibration process.

Adjustments can span across many virtual sensors from one performance measurement process. This is important... Let's say the outputs from multiple unit operations are combined and *then* performance is measured on that aggregate. We can then back-allocate the error from the combined performance to the individual unit operations using an algorithm. For a more tangible example, let's say you are estimating the output of oil from a number of wells and the wells' outputs are summed to a platform level where there is a meter. We can then compute the error at the platform level and back-calibrate the individual wells' production estimates.

This change is now available in the Intellect 3.0 server and also the drag-drop Solution Designer application. This capability will be automatically deployed to customers subscribed to Remote Management Services (RMS).

Intellect 3.0 Deployment

As we begin roll-out with visualization, causal analysis and virtual sensing capabilities, another Intellect 3.0 system is now being deployed in manufacturing, focusing on process understanding and product performance enhancement.

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Off-Shore Oil Platform Virtual Sensors Deployed

Using the Intellect 3.0 Server and tools, 24 virtual sensors; oil, water and gas for each of 8 wells, have been deployed on an oil production platform about 250 miles off-shore in the Gulf of Mexico. These virtual sensors provide engineers and asset managers a real-time view into how much oil, water and gas are being produced, rather than waiting for summarized steady-state well tests that are occasionally performed. The virtual sensors are audited using those well tests and also their sum is compared to platform-level production meters. These virtual meters enable the asset managers to reduce well testing so the platform can focus on its job: production.

As a secondary benefit, engineers and asset managers can see when abnormal conditions and production disturbances occur and can take the necessary actions before situations develop into problems. Also, the virtual sensor models are being analyzed to provide insights into production enhancement opportunities through lift-gas injection optimization.

Easiest Industrial Application: Virtual Sensors

Background
Manufacturing, in all its simplicity, is making products by subjecting materials to certain operating conditions. A cookie is made by baking a particular mix of ingredients. The quality of a cookie is based on how much of what materials are processed under what conditions. Manufacturing companies make products and test them from time-to-time in laboratories to determine if the key product characteristics are within customer specifications.

Running Blind While Avoiding Expensive Tests
Since product quality is being evaluated only occasionally, they really don't know how good a product is between tests. They can only assume it is similar to the last test performed, that is if materials and conditions have not changed much... an assumption that is not particularly valid unless the materials and process are perfectly consistent (not likely). The manufacturer, due to expense, and sometimes because the testing is destructive, would prefer to test less often, but that would mean running "blind" longer, more of the time. They have to balance risk with cost.

Real-Time Virtual Sensors
Since data on materials and operating conditions are available from process and materials control systems, and since we have a history of lab test results, we can build and validate a mathematical model that relates materials and conditions to product characteristics. This is a virtual sensor. It is "virtual" because no physical quality sensor exists, but instead we have an estimate of product performance. Process and materials data are quite often available in "real-time" (or we can make them so), we can use that model to estimate quality in real-time, all the time not just from time to time like a lab test.

Benefits
No more running blind. We can now see, understand and act in real-time to quality. With real-time virtual sensors, operators and engineers can immediately observe the effects of making process or materials changes. If they "tweek" (adjust) the oven temperature, as the oven heats or cools, estimated cookie characteristics are seen dynamically. On the other hand, if the real-time estimated cookie characteristics are seen to be drifting off target, the operator can make adjustments to the process or materials to bring them back. An added bonus: if the virtual sensor is deemed suitably accurate, validated by further lab tests, we can reduce those lab tests to merely audit the virtual sensor's performance.

So, with a bit of software, we can enable you to see performance in real-time, make adjustments to keep your product on-target, in-spec and reduce lab testing too.

Bravo!

Later, we can talk about using the virtual sensor models to "close the loop" on quality automatically.

What is IntelliDynamics?

IntelliDynamics is our commercial brand of advanced artificial intelligence performance enhancement software from BioComp Systems, Inc. The IntelliDynamics brand software helps thousands of customers, both individual people and companies, improve their performance in finance, industrial manufacturing, marketing and other markets.

"Intellect" is our flagship line of software. Presently at version 3.0, Intellect accesses, cleans and analyzes data to extract information and knowledge which it uses to predict what will happen in the future, understand the key performance drivers, and determine optimized actions to improve them.

Intellect 1.0 was created nearly a decade ago to solve complex problems for an aerospace / smart-weapons manufacturer in Los Angeles. We knew we were on to something when we came up with Intellect, used it to optimize nearly 60 product performance metrics simultaneously resulting in the customer's product pass rate increasing from 4o% (dismal) to 100% (perfect!).

Our IntelliDynamics software is now used by many other companies and individuals, directly or indirectly, throughout the world to do more with less, to improve product and service performance, to increase production, to sell more, to save costs and achieve outstanding return on investment.

IntelliDynamics is a registered trademark of BioComp Systems, Inc.

Welcome!

Welcome to our blog! We’ll be talking about IntelliDynamics applications for improving product and process performance from a management perspective. If you are interested in technical aspects, please see our IntelliDev blog which gets down into the inner-gearworks of the software.

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