Robust control system design for a fixed-bed catalytic reactor

Thesis/Dissertation · Thu Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1987

OSTI ID:6454874

Mandler, J A

A methodology for the design of robust control schemes is outlined, which employs the Structured Singular Value as an analysis tool and Internal Model Control as the synthesis framework. This methodology is applied to the design of control systems for a fixed-bed, laboratory, catalytic methanation reactor. The design procedure allows a clear insight on the fundamental limits to closed-loop performance and provides controllers with explicit stability and performance guarantees for the case of plant-model mismatch. The overall controller design effort is initiated with a careful mathematical modeling of the system. Both the single-input single-output and the multivariable case are addressed. Three different control configurations are investigated in the context of the single-pass operation of the reactor. In each case study presented, the controller design procedure is divided into four steps: first, the definition of the control objectives, which not only leads to the selection of the appropriate control configuration but also determines the most adequate design techniques to employ; second, a nominal design step, in which the system-inherent limitations to the closed-loop performance are highlighted, third, a characterization of the uncertainty and the use of this information in the design of robust controllers; and, fourth, the evaluation of the designs through nonlinear simulations. The thesis describes the first application of structured singular value-based analysis techniques to a chemical reactor system and is in essence the first comprehensive study of the application of robust control to fixed-bed reactors.

• Research Organization: California Inst. of Tech., Pasadena (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6454874
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
010408* -- Coal
Lignite
& Peat-- C1 Processes-- (1987-)
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CARBON MONOXIDE
CARBON OXIDES
CHALCOGENIDES
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CHEMICAL REACTORS
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
CONTROL SYSTEMS
DESIGN
DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS
EQUATIONS
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
METHANATION
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PACKED BED
SIMULATION