An Experimental Study of Minimum-time Optimal High Pressure Gas Storage System Recharging

This work describes the implementation and experimental application of a nonlinear optimal control strategy for recharging gas storage tank systems from a high pressure source. The objective of the open-loop optimal control strategy presented here is to refill a high pressure gas storage tank in minimum time with a specified quantity of gas subject to pressure and temperature constraints. The nonlinearity in the system model arises from the non-ideal thermodynamic behavior of the gas at the high operating pressures under consideration. The control strategy is illustrated using an experimental carbon dioxide recharging system. We choose this system because there are significant deviations from ideal behavior at relatively low pressure.