An LQR-based optimal actuator guidance in thermal processing of materials

An LQR-based optimal actuator guidance strategy is developed for thermal processing of materials that are dominated by conductive heat transfer. The optimal location and power of the actuator at successive time periods is determined by minimization of quadratic performance indices that are evaluated at prespecified actuator locations for each of these time subintervals. A finite-dimensional representation of the heat input distribution and the temperature state provides a computationally efficient heat source guidance strategy. This is verified by FEA simulations results that also indicate the superior temperature tracking performance when fixed-location actuation is applied. This thermal control strategy is validated experimentally as it is implemented on a plasma-arc processing station