Hierarchical Controllers for the Optimal Operation of SMD Plants

Abstract

This chapter describes the works performed in the second development stage of the Ph.D. thesis, which dealt with the study of hierarchical controllers for the optimal operation of SMD facilities. This second phase is the natural evolution of control engineering projects since a regulatory control layer is usually developed first. Then a hierarchical controller can be formulated in which the lower layer includes the regulatory controllers, whereas the upper layer is made up of advanced controllers in charge of high-level tasks. Therefore, the first controller proposed in this stage was aimed at improving high-level objectives of SMD plants, such as maximizing distillate production, minimizing thermal energy consumption, or minimizing the operating costs. The second controller was focused on improving the start-up procedure by reducing the time spent on this operation in SMD facilities.