Iterative learning dual-mode control of exothermic batch reactors

Time-optimal control strategies of the on-off type can be used to bring batch reactor temperature to the set point in the minimum time. A practical controller implementing this control strategy in industry is the dual-mode controller. When well tuned, this controller shows excellent system performance for various batch reactors. However, because time-optimal control is a kind of open loop control strategy, the dual-mode controller may be sensitive to process variations. For robust control, the dual-mode controller is modified here with an iterative learning technique. This iterative learning dual-mode controller requires minimal information from the previous batch runs and can be incorporated in the existing dual-mode controller with minimal effort.