Control of tandem hot metal strip rolling processes using an improvement to the state dependent Riccati equation technique

The state-dependent Riccati equation (SDRE) technique is rapidly becoming recognized as a very useful method for control of nonlinear industrial processes such as the tandem rolling of hot metal strip. In this paper we show that, for these types of processes, improvements in the implementation of the SDRE technique such as the elimination of the need for lookup tables and of the need for on-line solution of the state dependent Riccati equation can be accomplished without any degradation in the performance of the resulting controller. These improvements are significant advancements in the application of this very useful method that are of practical significance as they greatly simplify the design and implementation of the controller for the tandem hot metal strip rolling process. Moreover, such advancements have the potential of making the SDRE technique even more attractive in the control of many similar complex fast nonlinear industrial processes.