ADAPTIVE FUZZY MODEL BASED PREDICTIVE CONTROL OF AN EXOTHERMIC BATCH CHEMICAL REACTOR*

An adaptive fuzzy model based predictive control (AFMBPC) approach is presented to track the desired temperature trajectories in an exothermic batch chemical reactor. The AFMBPC incorporates an adaptive fuzzy modeling framework into a model based predictive control scheme to derive analytical controller output. This approach has the flexibility to cope with different fuzzy model structures whose choice also lead to improve the controller performance. In this approach, adaptation of fuzzy models using dynamic process information is carried out to build a predictive controller, thus eliminating the determination of a predefined fixed fuzzy model based on various sets of known input-output relations. The performance of the AFMBPC is evaluated by comparing to a fixed fuzzy model based predictive controller (FFMBPC) and a conventional PID controller. The results show the better suitability of AFMBPC for the control of highly nonlinear and time varying batch chemical reactors.