Particle Swarm Optimization based PI controller tuning for Fermentation Process

The activities related to fermentation process are uncertain and nonlinear in nature. It poses many challenging characteristics like multivariable interactions, unmeasured state variables, system and time varying parameters. Generally, PID controllers are used in these processes. Tuning of PID controller is necessary for the satisfactory operation of the system. The tuning of PID controllers depends upon how the process responds to the controllers´ corrective effort. The conventional tuning methods like Z-N method and IMC method takes more time, reduces stability and are more sluggish. In this paper, the problem of identifying the PI controller parameters is considered as an optimization problem. An attempt has been made to optimize the values of the PI controller parameters employing particle swarm optimization technique (PSO). From the simulation results it is observed that the PI controller designed with PSO yields better results when compared to the conventional methods