Control of a non-isothermal continuous stirred tank reactor by a feedback–feedforward structure using type-2 fuzzy logic controllers

A control system that uses type-2 fuzzy logic controllers (FLC) is proposed for the control of a non-isothermal continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR), where a first order irreversible reaction occurs and that is characterized by the presence of bifurcations. Bifurcations due to parameter variations can bring the reactor to instability or create new working conditions which although stable are unacceptable. An extensive analysis of the uncontrolled CSTR dynamics was carried out and used for the choice of the control configuration and the development of controllers. In addition to a feedback controller, the introduction of a feedforward control loop was required to maintain effective control in the presence of disturbances. Simulation results confirmed the effectiveness and the robustness of the type-2 FLC which outperforms its type-1 counterpart particularly when system uncertainties are present.