Comparison of PFC Controllers for Heating Process

The paper presents research with Predictive Functional Control (PFC) for fluid heating process. Two types of models are proposed and used as internal models for PFC algorithm. The first one includes all nonlinearities that are captured in the process, while the second one includes additionally time varying dead time. Both models were calibrated and verified using experimental data. The paper compares performance of two PFC versions based on mentioned models to indicate the profit of including dead time in model based predictive (MPC) control. Experimental results indicate that including dead time in controller's internal model result in better performance. Although including varying dead time in controller requires extra programming effort and implementation considerations. All identification and control experiments, which are presented in the paper, were made using experimental installation equipped with industrial control equipment.