A bilinear self-tuning controller for industrial heating plant

Outlines preliminary simulation trials involving a novel self-tuning control strategy applied to a nonlinear model of an industrial heat treatment furnace. The nonlinear model is derived from physical considerations and takes into account the dominant radiative effects which are known to be prevalent in high temperature processes; the structure thus obtained is found to be bilinear. Open-loop tests on a high temperature box furnace have been carried out and time series analysis is used to validate the physical model. By accommodating the nonlinearity (bilinearity) into the self-tuning framework an extended pole-placement control strategy is proposed. To provide for a realistic comparison a measure of effectiveness is also proposed, which takes into account energy usage, maintenance and wear on actuators and penalty costs on large deviations from set-point. Results to date are encouraging and indicate that use of the bilinear self-tuning approach provides a potential improvement over existing state of the art controllers