An LQ Adaptive Controller for Industrial Processes

Although many successful industrial and semi-industrial applications of the adaptive systems have been reported in the literature, the gap between theory and practice still exists. More specifically it is easy to get adaptive algorithm to perform well under an idealized simulation framework. In the real world life the adaptive controller should be able to handle non-linearities, non-minimum phase behaviour, load-disturbance, and unmodeled and time-varying dynamics over all the range of operating conditions. In this paper, some practical implications of recent theoretical results in robustness of adaptive controllers are discussed from a design engineer point of view using an adaptive LQ controller. Simulation studies involving a realistic mathematical model of an electrical furnace are given to show the applicability of the considered adaptive controller.