Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Experimental comparison of conventional and nonlinear model-based control of a mixing tank

Journal Article · · Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research; (United States)
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/ie00023a032· OSTI ID:5516346
 [1]
  1. Process Control Lab., Abo (Finland). Dept. of Chemical Engineering

In this case study concerning control of a laboratory-scale mixing tank, conventional multiloop single-input single-output (SISO) control is compared with model-based'' control where the nonlinearity and multivariable characteristics of the process are explicitly taken into account. It is shown, especially if the operating range of the process is large, that the two outputs (level and temperature) cannot be adequately controlled by multiloop SISO control even if gain scheduling is used. By nonlinear multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) control, on the other hand, very good control performance is obtained. The basic approach to nonlinear control used in this study is first to transform the process into a globally linear and decoupled system, and then to design controllers for this system. Because of the properties of the resulting MIMO system, the controller design is very easy. Two nonlinear control system designs based on a steady-state and a dynamic model, respectively, are considered. In the dynamic case, both setpoint tracking and disturbance rejection can be addressed separately.

OSTI ID:
5516346
Journal Information:
Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research; (United States), Journal Name: Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research; (United States) Vol. 32:11; ISSN IECRED; ISSN 0888-5885
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English