Control of nuclear reactor power with thermal-hydraulic effects via fuzzy PIγDμ controllers

A nonlinear nuclear reactor model is linearized at different initial powers for the purpose of controlling the reactor in load following mode. A new fractional order (FO) fuzzy proportional integral derivative (PID) controller is tuned next using Genetic Algorithm (GA) to control the reactor at different operating conditions. The effectiveness of using the fuzzy FOPID controller over conventional fuzzy PID controllers is shown with credible numerical simulations. The controllers tuned with the highest and lowest power models are shown to work well at other operating conditions also and hence are robust with respect to the changes in nuclear reactor power level.