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Honeywell received the award for technology in its IntelliMap software solution, an integral piece of the Process Knowledge Solution™ suite for the paper industry. IntelliMap improves paper quality and minimizes lost production due to paper breaks. The technology is currently operating on more than 350 paper machines. These solutions save customers roughly $24 million annually, and reduce the mills’ wood consumption by a quarter of a million trees per year.

IntelliMap solves a persistent problem in paper production. The unpredictable shifts and shrinking of the paper web traveling through the paper machine make it extremely difficult to pin down the cross-web measurements and related controls on the exact location within a paper web.

As the total number of measurement points across the web may reach 2,000, along with as many as 300 actuators to perform control, it is a complex task to identify the process model – the interdependency between the paper web, measurements, and various actuators. IntelliMap approaches the large-scale process modeling and identification problem as a sequence of less complex cross-directional and time-dynamics problems.

Following the identification, successful control requires that over 35 tuning parameters of the structured cross-direction controller be set up correctly. Conventional multivariable algorithms for the tuning are computationally infeasible here. The conceptual innovation is in considering cross-direction control as a two-dimensional system with spatial (cross-direction) and dynamical (time) coordinates.

“We’re honored to have been recognized for our achievements by the Society,” said Stewart, Senior Control Engineer for Honeywell Industry Solutions, “This award resulted in part from the outstanding cooperation between Honeywell and the University of British Columbia, which established a mutually beneficial relationship that helped further Honeywell’s commitment to institutes of higher learning.”

The tuning functionality in IntelliMap uses research in Stewart's PhD thesis for the University of British Columbia, co-supervised by Gorinevsky, researcher at Honeywell Labs and University Professor Guy Dumont - himself a past recipient of the Control Systems Technology Award. The collaborative research between Honeywell and the University was recognized in November with the 2002 Synergy Award for Innovation from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

In addition to the paper industry, Honeywell is currently applying the honored technology for control of large distributed systems to advanced developments in space systems and jet engines areas.

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers is a professional association of more than 377,000 individual members in 150 countries and a leading authority in a broad range of technical areas. The Institute’s Control Systems Society presents the Control Systems Technology Award annually.

Media contact:
Erik Rasmussen
602-313-4054
erik.rasmussen 'at' honeywell.com