Method for determining and tuning process characteristic parameters using a simulation system

A method of determining an energy transfer coefficient of process equipment, comprising:

• simulating, by one or more processors, operation of the process equipment within a process to produce a predicted value of a process variable using a process model that models the operation of the process equipment based on a set of process inputs to the process model and based on an energy transfer coefficient of the process equipment, wherein simulating the operation of the process equipment to produce a predicted value of a process variable includes using the process model to produce a predicted value of an uncontrolled process variable within the process as the predicted value of the process variable and wherein obtaining an actual value of the process variable from the process includes obtaining a measured value of the uncontrolled process variable from the process;
• obtaining, by the one or more processors, an actual value of the process variable from the process;
• determining, by the one or more processors, a difference between the actual value of the process variable and the predicted value of the process variable produced by the process model unit;
• adjusting, by the one or more processors, a value of the energy transfer coefficient of the process model based on the difference to drive the difference towards zero;
• determining, by the one or more processors, the value of the energy transfer coefficient of the process equipment as the energy transfer coefficient of the process model when the difference is below a threshold indicating the difference between the actual value of the process variable and the predicted value of the process variables is near zero;
• determining, by the one or more processors, a control action to adjust the process by controlling the process equipment based upon the value of the energy transfer coefficient;
• and
• causing, by the one or more processors, the control action to be implemented by the process equipment to adjust the process.