AN ADAPTIVE SYSTEM WITH AN IDENTIFIER (ASI) FOR CONTROL OF THE TEMPERATURE PROFILE IN A TUBULAR REACTOR

Abstract

The paper is concerned with control of a catalytic reactor used for producing maleic anhydride from benzene. The objective of the control is the yield of the product synthesized and is obtained through control of the vertical distribution of the temperature profile in a reactor. A mathematical model is used which describes the dynamics of thermal and chemical processes in a reactor. The model parameters are updated by adaptive identification algorithms. An algorithm of adaptive identification with orthogonalized input variables improves the accuracy of parameter estimation when input variables strongly correlate. The computing load is so low that a micro-computer will do the job. An identifier updates the process parameters which is a crucial advantage since dynamic properties of a plant may change substantially due to different reasons, like catalyst ageing, changes in the environment air composition, stuffed holes in the benzene spraying devices, etc. Special attention was given to the system reliability. An algorithm was designed for protecting the information stored in RAM including the programs which use error-correcting codes.