Process Control Systems: Application, Design, and Tuning, 4th

edn, by F.G. Shinskey, McGraw-Hill Inc., New York, USA (1996).

440 pages. ISBN 0-07-057101-5.

This book is divided into four sections, namely Understanding Feedback Control;
Selecting the Feedback Controller; Multiple-Loop Systems; and Applications. It
provides excellent practical advice, and I especially liked Section 4 which provides
some good examples of actual applications and situations for implementation of
process control theory and instrumentation. The book concentrates on feedback
control and is an excellent industriaVprofessiona1 book which provides practical
advice and understanding for those applying basic process control theory. It would
also be useful reading for undergraduates between the 3rd and 4th years of a course
were they have considered some basic control theory and are beginning to explore
more advanced concepts. This book would provide a useful reminder of how process
control needs to be applied in an industrial setting. Unfortunately, it will probably
not be used as an undergraduate reference source as it may be seen to lack the
required in-depth mathematical analysis!
Especially useful is Chapter 3: The Five Common Control Loops, as the
presentation makes it possible to see and appreciate the basics of control systems, i.e.
to separate the wood from the trees. The emphasis in the book is on tuning PID
controllers, and this has now been extended to distributed processes. Chapters 4 and
5 include internal model and model predictive control, and more comprehensive
tuning methods for high-performance controllers. More detail can be found in a
companion volume, Feedback Controllers in the Process Industries (I 994), by the
same author. Chapter 11: Mass Transfer Operations contains detailed coverage of
distillation control and provides the largest single topic coverage in the book, which is
sensible considering its position in the CPI and the coverage that has already been
devoted to this topic elsewhere. Chapter 12 includes batch reactor operation and
control.
I would have expected more up-to-date and extensive referencing, most of the
references are quite old (at least in terms of process control advances). I am surprised
not to find more reference to the practical papers on applications of process control
which regularly appear in journals such as Hydrocarbon Processing, Chemical
Engineering (New York), and Chemical Engineering Progress, and are usually written
by practicing engineers with a practical emphasis. These references are hardly
mentioned. There is a Problem Solving Sofiware supplement available from the
author at The Foxboro Company (not supplied for review) which should provide
opportunity for self-study and further understanding of the subject. Each chapter
includes numerical examples and problems, and the solutions in Appendix B. It is a
pity that such a useful and practical book is not more widely used or referred to in
academic institutions.
Martyn S. Ray
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