DESIGN OF AN INTERVAL OBSERVER FOR EXOTHERMIC FED-BATCH PROCESSES

Abstract

This paper proposes an interval observer for continuous or fed-batch chemical reactors with uncertainties related to both the heat exchange coefficient and the kinetics. The interval observer provides an upper and a lower bound of the state given bounds for the uncertain parameters.The under- and over-estimators are state observers for the non-linear reactor model with two positive tuning parameters that guarantees that the estimated interval contains the state and that the interval width is limited.The observer performance are illustrated with the production of a resin in an industrial fed-batch reactor.