An approach to improve the performance of adaptive predictive control systems: theory, simulations and experiments

Abstract

In this paper an approach to improve the overall performance of indirect adaptive control systems tailored for non-linear stable plants is presented. The approach involves a commutation of a linear time-varying robustness filter in the feedback path of the control loop in synchronization with an adaptive controller. The algorithm is framed in the celebrated IMC structure for predictive control systems. It can automatically suit to structural changes in the system as order and dead-time, and can deal with plants with zero dynamics. The convergence and stability of the system is analysed in details. It is shown through numeric simulations and experimentation on a heat exchanger with cooling system, that undesired transients due to abrupt and significative changes in the dynamics can be efficiently damped down by the developed control algorithm, achieving a high-quality performance in steady state.

Acknowledgments

The first author thanks Prof. Dr.-Ing. Rolf Isermann at the Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany for support and test facilities for the realization of the experiments presented here. Also thanks go to the National Council for Science and Technology (CONICET) in Argentine, the Universidad Nacional del Sur and Universidad Nacional de Rosario for the financial support of this investigation.