PC-ControLAB 2 changes, additions and feature modifications since the User's Manual was printed.

(January 19, 1998) The drop-down menu item, "Save Model As", under the Menu Bar item "Process" has been combined with the drop-down menu item, "Save Model". This menu item displays a dialog box with the current path and process model file name. Click OK to save the model under the current name, or enter a new dirctory and/or model file name to "save as". NOTE, however, that all the distribution modelfiles are read-only, therefore if you modify a distribution model, you MUST give it a different name in order to save it. (January 19, 1998) The drop-down menu item, "Save Strategy and Tuning As", under the Menu Bar item "Control" has been combined with the drop-down menu item, "Save Save Strategy and Tuning". This menu item displays a dialog box with the current path and control strategy file name. Click OK to save the strategy under the current name, or enter a new dirctory and/or control strategy file name to "save as". NOTE, however, that all the distribution control strategylfiles are read-only, therefore if you modify a distribution control strategy, you MUST give it a different name in order to save it. (January 19, 1998) The Load Properties dialog box, accessible by selecting "Load " on the Menu Bar, has added attributes which permit setting the minimum and maximum values for variation of the random walk load. Previously this was hard coded at 5% and 95%. It has been observed that with these limits, the random walk could drive the load to such extreme limits (usually to the low limit) that the controller output would go to a limit (usually 0%), in effect losing control of the process. (In process plant language, we "ran out of valve.") By permitting the limits to be set, you can cause the load variable excursion to remain within a range that permits the process variable to remain controllable. (July 6, 1998) The system for simulating a valve has been redesigned (again!) in order to provide a more realistic simulation of the affects of dead band and the dynam ic effect of a positioner and a valve actuator, both with and without a positioner. For t his redesign, five function blocks have been modified, and one new function block has been add ed. The modified function blocks are: Data 1st Order Lag 2nd Order Lag Integrator Valve The new function block is: Valve Actuator. The former valve block, which modeled both the stem positioning effect of the ac tuator with or without a positioner and the valve hydraulic characteristics, has now been se parated into two function blocks: Valve Actuator, which models the stem positioning, dead band and positio ner

Valve, which models the valve hydraulic characteristics themselves. (Th e output of the Valve Actuator block is valve stem position, which is an input to the Valve block.) To model the effect of actuator dynamics (first order if no positioner is used, second order underdamped if a positioner is used), a complete configuration includes supporti ng function blocks, 1st order lag, 2nd order lab and a Switch block. See the Builder "HELP" screen for Valve and Valve Actuator function blocks for typical configurations. Also, see FLOWLP2 process model for an application of this redesign. Because of this redesign of the Valve function block, existing process models wh ich include a Valve function block will require some modification. The Data, 1st order lag, 2nd order lag and Integrator blocks have been modified so that their output will track an input value (input #2), whenever a track command is present (Input #3 is <> 0.0). This feature is ignored if input #3 is not configured; therefore these function blocks are compatible with existing process models. (November 30, 1998) Address, telephone and FAX numbers for Wade Associates, Inc. changed. Release number changed from 2.0 to 2.01.