Multivariable control of a heat exchanger with bypasses

Abstract

A myriad of different multivariable control techniques, ranging from the simplest isolated PID controllers to the most sophisticated model predictive controls, are presented in the literature and applied to chemical plants. This work intends to present an intermediate control solution between the simplest and the most complex control design, with a relative simplicity, in combination with a superior performance when compared to traditional PID controllers. The proposed strategy, based on a Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR), was applied to a heat exchanger with bypasses, which is a typical equipment in industries' processes. Even though the LQR is relatively straightforward to design, with a simple tuning procedure, some simulations' results demonstrated that the proposed approach leaded to a reasonable control performance, i.e., process variables became almost totally decoupled, no offset was observed and the output responses presented an small time constant.