Process control system and power plant process control system

DETAILED DESCRIPTION An object of the present invention is to provide a process control system in which it is possible to attempt to automatically optimize the process by using a simple knowledge base without using a whole-system model of the process.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a power plant process control system attaining the above described object.
The process control system of the present invention comprises following necessary components 1 to 3: 1 an operation target setting section for setting the operation target of the process to be controlled; 2 a control section for receiving a signal supplied from the operation target setting section and outputting a controlled variable to operate the above described process; and 3 a optimization section for optimizing the controlled variable of the above described control section in accordance with operation characteristics corresponding to the above described operation target of the process which is operated on the basis of a signal supplied from the control section The above described optimization section comprises following necessary components to 4 to 7: 4 an evaluation unit for quantitatively evaluating operation characteristics corresponding to the above described operation target of that process operated on the basis of the signal supplied from the above described control section; 5 modification rule (knowledge base) predetermining operation means in qualitative relation between the operation characteristics and the operation target of that process; 6 a modification unit for extracting operation means, which qualitatively squares or conforms with the evaluation value derived by the evaluation unit, out of the modification rule and determining the modification rate of the control section; and 7 a storage unit for storing the relation between the modification rate obtained by the modification unit and the above described operation target.
It is desirable that the above described control section should comprise a basic operation schedule production unit for producing an operation schedule for the process to be controlled to achieve the operation target given by the target setting section, and a regulating unit for receiving a signal from a storage unit storing the relation between the modification rate of the operation schedule and the operation target based upon the past operation characteristics and for modifying the basic operation schedule