Temperature control of bench-scaled batch reactor equipped with a monofluid heating/cooling system

An advanced control concept, Predictive Functional Control (PFC), is applied for temperature control of a bench-scaled batch reactor equipped with monofluid heating/cooling system. First principles process models are developed. Based on achieved models, significant process variables, which are difficult or impossible to measure online, are estimated from easily measured variables, and cascade PFC control strategy has been projected and implemented in Matlab R14. The dynamics of individual subunits is explicitly taken into consideration by internal model in the control algorithms, and model uncertainty, various process disturbances are compensated by modification of internal model. The experimental results present an excellent capability of tracking the set point, and the success of PFC technique as a process control paradigm is illustratively demonstrated.