A critical review of constraint compensation techniques for nonlinear process control

A variety of controller design techniques for nonlinear systems are available. Many methods completely neglect one of the most important types of nonlinearity encountered in process control applications: constraints. We provide a critical review of constraint compensation techniques for nonlinear control systems with an emphasis on methods which have been successfully applied to process control problems. Available methods are classi ed as: (i) anti-windup techniques; (ii) nonlinear model predictive control techniques; and (iii) hybrid feedback linearization/model predictive control techniques. For each approach, the basic design procedure is outlined and advantages/disadvantages are discussed. Directions for future research are summarized.