September 23, 2009 – CyboSoft (Rancho Cordova, California) today announced that it has recently received two new grants from the U.S.
Department of Energy (DOE):
(1) DOE SBIR Phase I Grant, “Intelligent Industrial Furnace Control Using Model-Free Adaptive Control Technology,” managed by DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, and
(2) DOE SBIR Phase II Grant, “Intelligent Actuation Control Using Model-Free Adaptive Control Technology,” managed by DOE National
Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL).
Dr. George Cheng, CyboSoft Chief Technical Officer and the principal investigator (PI) of these 2 projects said, “We are honored to receive
these awards. Not only do they provide financial assistance, but they offer tremendous encouragement as well. As an inventor and the
technical leader of the project team, I cannot overstate the importance of such encouragement in keeping the team focused and spirits high as we continue to develop new technologies to solve
energy related problems.”
research funds in critical American priorities to build a strong national economy. In 2009, DOE evaluated 1669 Phase I grant applications and provided 354 awards. A DOE SBIR Phase I grant
provides up to $100,000 for a 9 month project to do an R&D feasibility study. Phase I awardees may apply for the Phase II grant to continue
the technology development and product commercialization. DOE awarded 168 SBIR-STTR Phase II grants in 2009, which typically provide up to $750,000 for a project period of two years.
In the United States, industrial plants consume more energy than any other sector including the building and transportation sector. Manufacturers of commodity materials and products such as metals, glass, chemicals, and paper consume more than 70% of all energy
consumed in the industrial sector. Thus, energy savings in these plants can have a big impact on our nation’s energy security, economic
health, and carbon mitigation. Industrial furnaces are the largest energy consuming operating units in industrial plants. They heat raw materials such as crude for oil refining, and materials such as steel and glass for product forming. However, most are not well controlled. Over-heating and poor combustion control is common, causing energy wastes, low efficiency, and product defects. CyboSoft will develop an intelligent control solution for controlling industrial furnaces that can significantly improve energy efficiency and cost-effectively reduce carbon emissions in the near term.
An automatic control system includes three key components: sensor, controller, and actuator. As an example, a human trying to catch a moving object requires the eyes (sensor), brain (controller), and hands (actuator) to work in coordination. Eyes sense the distance and
speed of the moving object and send the signal to the brain. Hands reach out to catch the object based on the commands from the brain.
Any non-functioning or weak component will cause the control system to fail or be less effective. Prior efforts to develop novel sensing and
control technologies have been successful, but little work has been devoted to the coordinated control and actuation. Studies show as many
as 2/3 of all control loop oscillations are caused by problems in actuation devices such as control valves or dampers. Therefore, more
effective and robust valve and damper position control is highly desirable. CyboSoft has successfully finished the Phase I project and
problems and large variations in valve gain, time constant, and delay time. The MFA actuation control solution addresses an urgent need for
clean coal technology and can help the power and process industries to improve efficiency, quality, safety, and emission reduction.
About CyboSoft
CyboSoft, General Cybernation Group, Inc., is the leader in control technology serving the worldwide process control, building control,
and equipment control markets. CyboSoft’s patented Model-Free Adaptive (MFA) control technology for automatically controlling physical
processes is a major breakthrough. No other comparable technology possesses all the attributes of MFA. CyboSoft received the 2007 Frost & Sullivan “North America Technology Leadership Award” in the field of
Industrial Automation.
CyboSoft’s mission is to embed the appropriate MFA controllers in instruments, equipment, tools, software platforms, and automation
systems of brand-name suppliers in targeted industries, application areas, and market segments. MFA controllers are replacing PID
controllers on a very large scale and are also used for controlling those loops that are now in manual control. This revolutionary technology allows users to achieve significant economic benefits and technological advantages to better compete in this global economy.
