Convex-lifting-based Robust Control of a Laboratory Plate Heat Exchanger

The paper investigates the problem of advanced optimization-based robust control design for heat exchanger. To minimize the computational effort of real-time control, a convex-lifting-based robust control strategy was designed. The controlled device was a laboratory-scale plate heat exchanger. The mathematical model was derived using the set of experimentally measured data. The simulation of the closed-loop control was evaluated considering the uncertain model of the device. Both, reference tracking problem and disturbance rejection problem were investigated. The offset-free reference tracking control performance was ensured by introducing the integral action into the closed-loop system setup. The total energy consumption was evaluated.