Title: Control structure selection for the ALSTOM gasifier benchmark process using GRDG analysis

Authors: Rudy Agustriyanto, Jie Zhang

Addresses: School of Chemical Engineering and Advanced Materials, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, UK; University of Surabaya, Indonesia. ' School of Chemical Engineering and Advanced Materials, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, UK

Abstract: Exploring the disturbance rejection capability of possible multi-loop control structures for the ALSTOM gasifier benchmark process and selecting the appropriate control structure are presented in this paper. Generalised relative disturbance gain (GRDG) analysis is used for control structure determination. In order to carry out GRDG analysis, process models in the form of transfer functions are obtained from the discrete time models identified using the output-error (OE) system identification method from the simulated process operation data. Models identified with the OE method can provide accurate long range prediction (or simulation) performance and, hence, lead to accurate transfer function models. The GRDG analysis of four control schemes proposed by Asmar et al. (2000) clearly shows that the control structure employed by the baseline controller is the most favoured multi-loop control structure. This study provides explanations for the impressive performance of the ALSTOM baseline controller that were not available before.

Keywords: ALSTOM gasifier; relative disturbance gain array; RDGA; plantwide control; process control; control structure selection; generalised RDGA; GRDGA; process modelling; transfer functions; system identification; ALSTOM baseline controller.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMIC.2009.024329

International Journal of Modelling, Identification and Control, 2009 Vol.6 No.2, pp.126 - 135

Published online: 31 Mar 2009 *

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