Nonlinear model predictive control of a benchmark nonlinear boiler

This paper presents a case study of nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC) applied to a benchmark nonlinear boiler model. The motivation for NMPC is that if the controlled plant exhibits nonlinear behavior, a linear controller based on a linearized model may often be unable to achieve satisfactory performance. The case study in this paper, a power plant boiler, exhibits significant nonlinearities and includes time delays. The NMPC controller based on this nonlinear model is developed and presented, and simulation results illustrate its performance. Thereby it is demonstrated, that MPC based on full nonlinear optimization is viable for control of power plant subsystems.