Multiscale Kernel Entropy Component Analysis With Application to Complex Industrial Process Monitoring

Modern industrial processes are characterized by numerous measurement points and wide operating ranges, resulting in extremely complex correlations among variables. Therefore, an effective monitoring system should balance diverse process characteristics such as nonlinearity, non-Gaussianity, and multiscale simultaneously. Moreover, it should have the ability to detect and diagnose faults in the incipient stage, thus avoiding accident escalation. With these goals in mind, this paper proposes an integrated monitoring solution based on multiscale kernel entropy component analysis (MSKECA). Specifically, process variables are first decomposed into approximations and details at different scales in real-time using the moving window-based wavelet, and contributions from each scale are collected in separate matrices. Then, KECA-based local-scale models are built to sift out important detail scales for reconstruction along with the approximate scale. Lastly, a KECA-based global-scale model is developed to monitor the reconstructed data. To improve the fault detection performance, a novel monitoring index based on the angle metric called angle variance index (AVI) is designed. In addition, to achieve effective diagnosis, MSKECA-based contribution plots are constructed, which depict the contributions of variables to faults at each scale, thus comprehensively revealing the root causes. Finally, the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed solution are validated by comparisons with other advanced counterparts in two industrial scenarios. Note to Practitioners—This paper proposes an integrated monitoring solution for complex industrial processes, i.e., MSKECA-based fault detection and diagnosis. The solution takes into account the diversity of process characteristics, the effectiveness of incipient fault detection, and the richness of diagnostic information. Specifically, 1) MSKECA can simultaneously handle the nonlinear, non-Gaussian, and multiscale characteristics that are prevalent in real process data. It enables on-line detection of significant events occurring at different scales and extraction of fault-sensitive features for monitoring; 2) based on the angular structure of KECA, the AVI statistic is designed, which exhibits low autocorrelation and is sensitive to faults. Leveraging the statistic, MSKECA allows reliable and prompt responses to faults; 3) MSKECA-based contribution plots not only convey diverse diagnostic information including fault variable, type, and grade but also are not susceptible to the smearing effect, which is helpful for practitioners to achieve fault repair. The solution has proven useful for a real hot rolling process. It can also be extended to other industrial processes.