Two degree of freedom control for a glass feeder

In the paper the two degree of freedom control for a glass feeder is considered. The mathematical model of the plant is described by a time-varying partial differential equation in one space dimension with a source function corresponding to the control input. The control output is the temperature at the end of the feeder. The boundary input being an entrance temperature of the glass smelt is treated as a disturbance. The proposed strategy decouples approximately the control output from the boundary input as well as from the influence of the time-varying mass flow. The design of the control strategy is based on the system description with power series and flatness property. This description allows to develop the feedforward control and the decoupling part of the feedback. The stability of the closed loop system is analysed with the Lyapunov method. Some experimental results are shown and demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed control strategy.