Control system with response time estimation

1. A control system for a plant, the control system comprising:

a controller having a processing circuit configured to:

detect a disturbance in the control system;

classify the disturbance as a setpoint change or a load disturbance;

in response to detecting the disturbance, evaluate a signal affected by the disturbance to estimate a response time of a plant, wherein the response time is a parameter that characterizes a response of the plant to the disturbance and, if the disturbance is classified as a setpoint change, the controller is configured to estimate the response time by:

identifying a portion of the signal affected by the disturbance;

tracking an area bounded by the identified portion of the signal; and

dividing the area bounded by the identified portion of the signal by a magnitude of the setpoint change to determine the estimated response time;

adjust an operating parameter used by the control system based on the estimated response time; and

use the adjusted operating parameter to generate and provide an input to the plant.

2. The control system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to identify the portion of the signal affected by the disturbance by:

determining a start time at which the setpoint change occurs;

determining an end time at which a magnitude of the signal crosses a magnitude threshold; and

identifying a portion of the signal beginning at the start time and ending at the end time as the portion of the signal affected by the disturbance.

3. The control system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to track the area bounded by the identified portion of the signal by:

determining a magnitude of the signal at a plurality of discrete time steps along the identified portion of the signal;

determining an integrated signal value for each time step by multiplying the magnitude of the signal at each time step by a duration of an interval between the time steps; and

summing the integrated signal values associated with each of the time steps along the identified portion of the signal.

4. The control system of claim 1 , wherein if the disturbance is classified as a load disturbance, the controller is configured to evaluate the signal affected by the disturbance by:

identifying a portion of the signal affected by the disturbance;

tracking a magnitude of the signal during the identified portion to determine a time at which the magnitude of the signal reaches an extremum in response to the load disturbance;

subtracting a time at which the magnitude of the signal begins to change in response to the load disturbance from the time at which the magnitude of the signal reaches the extremum to determine the estimated response time.

5. The control system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to evaluate the signal to estimate the response time by evaluating a portion of the signal that occurs during a deviation from steady-state operation of the control system.

6. The control system of claim 1 , wherein:

the operating parameter used by the control system is a sampling interval; and

the controller is configured to adjust the operating parameter by selecting a sampling interval which is a fraction of the estimated response time.

7. The control system of claim 1 , wherein the response time comprises at least one of a dominant time constant, a bandwidth, and an open loop response time of the plant.

8. The control system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to adjust the operating parameter used by the control system by:

determining a new value of the operating parameter based on the estimated response time;

comparing the new value of the operating parameter to a previous value of the operating parameter used by the control system; and

updating the operating parameter to the new value if the new value is greater than twice the previous value or less than half the previous value.

9. A method for adaptively and automatically adjusting an operating parameter in a control system, the method comprising:

detecting a disturbance in the control system, wherein detecting the disturbance in the control system comprises classifying the disturbances as a setpoint change or a load disturbance;

in response to detecting the disturbance, evaluating a signal affected by the disturbance to estimate a response time of a plant, wherein the response time is a parameter that characterizes a response of the plant to the disturbance and, if the disturbance is classified as a setpoint change, evaluating the signal affected by the disturbance comprises:

identifying a portion of the signal affected by the disturbance;

tracking an area bounded by the identified portion of the signal; and

dividing the area bounded by the identified portion of the signal by a magnitude of the setpoint change to determine the estimated response time;

adjusting an operating parameter used by the control system based on the estimated response time; and

using the adjusted operating parameter to generate and provide an input to the plant.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein identifying the portion of the signal affected by the disturbance comprises:

determining a start time at which the setpoint change occurs;

determining an end time at which a magnitude of the signal crosses a magnitude threshold; and

identifying a portion of the signal beginning at the start time and ending at the end time as the portion of the signal affected by the disturbance.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein tracking the area bounded by the identified portion of the signal comprises:

determining a magnitude of the signal at a plurality of discrete time steps along the identified portion of the signal;

determining an integrated signal value for each time step by multiplying the magnitude of the signal at each time step by a duration of an interval between the time steps; and

summing the integrated signal values associated with each of the time steps along the identified portion of the signal.

12. The method of claim 9 , wherein if the disturbance is classified as a load disturbance, evaluating the signal affected by the disturbance comprises:

identifying a portion of the signal affected by the disturbance;

tracking a magnitude of the signal during the identified portion to determine a time at which the magnitude of the signal reaches an extremum in response to the load disturbance;

subtracting a time at which the magnitude of the signal begins to change in response to the load disturbance from the time at which the magnitude of the signal reaches the extremum to determine the estimated response time.

13. The method of claim 9 , wherein evaluating the signal to estimate the response time comprises evaluating a portion of the signal that occurs during a deviation from steady-state operation of the control system.

14. The method of claim 9 , wherein:

the operating parameter used by the control system is a sampling interval; and

adjusting the operating parameter comprises selecting a sampling interval which is a fraction of the estimated response time.

15. The method of claim 9 , wherein the response time comprises at least one of a dominant time constant, a bandwidth, and an open loop response time of the plant.

16. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media having instructions for adaptively and automatically adjusting an operating parameter in a control system stored therein, the instructions being executable by one or more processors to cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

detecting a disturbance in the control system, wherein detecting the disturbance in the control system comprises classifying the disturbances as a setpoint change or a load disturbance;

in response to detecting the disturbance, evaluating a signal affected by the disturbance to estimate a response time of a plant, wherein the response time is a parameter that characterizes a response of the plant to the disturbance and, if the disturbance is classified as a setpoint change, evaluating the signal affected by the disturbance comprises:

identifying a portion of the signal affected by the disturbance;

tracking an area bounded by the identified portion of the signal; and

dividing the area bounded by the identified portion of the signal by a magnitude of the setpoint change to determine the estimated response time;

adjusting an operating parameter used by the control system based on the estimated response time; and

using the adjusted operating parameter to generate and provide an input to the plant.