A practical nonlinear furnace controller with plant model adaption

This paper describes a predictive nonlinear controller with real-time plant model adaption, which has been designed for and tested on a gas fired furnace. The techniques used, however, are general and can be used in a wide range of control applications where a linear control is not sufficient. The paper describes the model form used, explaining its advantages over conventional methods. Further, it describes how this model may be incorporated into a predictive control scheme for the gas fired furnace described above. Adaption is then added to the scheme.