Robust control of a continuous stirred-tank reactor

This paper presents a robust control scheme to deal with the temperature control of a continuous stirred-tank reactor (CSTR) which exhibits significant nonlinearities and extreme parametric sensitivity. The new control scheme is robust since it can effectively weaken the harmful effects of the parameter uncertainties on the overall system. The uncertainties existing in the input part can be compensated by an parameter update mechanism involved in this control scheme. Computer simulations show that one pre-designed controller can be used to control various cases with very different plant parameters, thus avoiding the need for gain scheduling.