Prediction-based control of moisture in a convective flow

This work studies a convective flow system and presents experimental closed-loop results carried out on a test-bench representative of several industrial processes. This test bench consists of a horizontal column equipped with a mist actuator located at the inlet and fans generating an air flow circulating along the tube. Following our recent theoretical design, we implemented a prediction-based control strategy aiming at stabilizing the mist at the output of the tube actuating on the wind speed. Correspondingly, this set-up involves a transport input-dependent delay (between the inlet and the output of the tube). We propose a control-oriented model, in which the transport delay satisfies an integral equation, and compared our prediction-based design with a conventional Proportional-Integral controller. Experimental results underline the relevance of the proposed approach.