One approach to adaptive control of a tubular chemical reactor

Abstract

The paper deals with continuous-time adaptive control of a tubular chemical reactor with the countercurrent cooling as a nonlinear single input - single output process. The mean reactant temperature and the output reactant temperature are chosen as the controlled outputs, and, the coolant flow rate as the control input. The nonlinear model of the reactor is approximated by an external linear model with a structure chosen on the basis of controlled outputs step responses. Its parameters are estimated via corresponding delta model. The control system structure with two feedback controllers is considered. The resulting controllers are derived using polynomial approach. The method is tested on a mathematical model of the tubular chemical reactor.