Delta-operator-based adaptive MPC for an MCFC system

A delta-operator-based adaptive model predictive control (AMPC) technique has been proposed for stack temperature control of a molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC) system. The MCFC system is unique in that the system should be kept as stable as possible to avoid potential electrode damage, which renders the identification experiment difficult; many stack variables should be monitored at a high frequency and constrained for safe and energy-efficient operation over a long period of time. To accommodate such characteristics, an MCFC simulator was developed and delta-operator-based adaptive MPC was devised and applied to the numerical MCFC system. The model for controller design was derived from the MCFC simulator. To cope with the model error from the true system, a small number of tunable parameters were introduced so that they can be adjusted on-line during the operation of the system. The performance of the proposed technique was investigated numerically.