2011 International Conference on Transportation, Mechanical, and Electrical Engineering (TMEE)
December 16-18, Changchun, China
Adaptive Predictive Control of Grain Drying
Process Parameters
Han Feng
College of Mechanical Science and Engineering
Jilin University
Changchun, China
han5578@163.com
Li Junxing
2. Jilin Provincial Agricultural Machinery Research
Academy
Changchun, China
junxing03@yahoo.com.cn
Abstract—To ensure the quality of the dried grain and
improve the intelligent level in drying process, the
automatic control system for grain drying machine is
developed. Based on virtual instrument and predictive
control, the system can automatically detect moisture
content and temperature, calibrate moisture sensor,
detect faults and alarm, automatically control the air
temperature and predictive control the discharging
speed of grain, etc. It has advantages such as strong
adaptive capacity, a high degree of automation and
simple operation. The actual application shows that it
can meet the requirements of the actual drying
operation, effectively control the stability of the grain
moisture, improve the dry food quality and reduce the
energy consumption.
Keywords: grain drying; parameter; predictive control; virtual
instrument
ĉ. INTRODUCTION
The final purpose of grain drying is to maintain its
quality and reach safe moisture, which is helpful for safe
storage and further deep processing. But in the drying
process, drying quality is closely related to the selection of
parameters such as initial moisture content, temperature
and humidity of hot air and environmental conditions. Due
to drying characteristics of multi-factor, multi-level,
variable structure, large time delay, time-varying and
nonlinear, the establishment of control system which is
intelligent and good robustness will be difficult and a key
in the drying process [1-3]. At present, PID is still the
most common control method in industrial process control.
However, the limitations of conventional PID control is
that, when the charged object is complex non-linear, and is
difficult to establish accurate mathematical model, the
control parameters tuning will be very difficult, and when
object and environment are uncertain, the controller has no
adaptive capacity, and is difficult to achieve satisfactory
control effect [4-6]. It is a hot issue for researching
intelligent control of the drying process at home and
abroad, but more for large-scale drying machines [7].The
paper established an intelligent predictive control system
of parameters self-setting based on model contrlol, the
978-1-4577-1701-7/11/$26.00 ©2011 IEEE
Zuo Chuncheng
College of Mechanical Science and Engineering
Jilin University
Changchun, China
lshxhf@126.com
Wu Wenfu
College of Biological & Agricultural engineering,
Jilin University
Changchun, China
wwfzlb@126.com
system software adopts graphical programming language
Labview.
Ċ. GENERAL DESIGN
A. Operating principle of dryer
The establishment of this control system is based on
the 5 HSZ combined cross-flow dryer produced by Jilin
University of Scientific Instrumentation and Equipment
Co., Ltd. Its drying process is shown in Fig.1 below. The
drying system is consists of 2 single dryer, each with two
drying segments. Drying segments using transverse
eight-groove technology, and stagger up and down, in
order to ensure the uniform of drying grain. Currently,
control processes of the small dryers are mostly manual
mode, which requires the operating personnel constantly
adjust the operating parameters according to long-term
work experience, to control the parameters such as
moisture content and quality. It is thus clear that grain
drying system is a significant time-varying, delay and
uncertain nonlinear system; therefore, it is urgent to build
a practical and reliable control system to control the
drying process.
B. Detection and actuators
Fig.1 shows the layout of the drying process control
sensors and actuators, including grain temperature
sensorsT1 to T4, hot air temperature sensors T01 and T02,
moisture sensors M0 to M4 and actuators C1 to C4. In
addition, the system also adds in the real-time monitoring
of temperature and humidity. Data exchanges between the
host and temperature measuring instrument, moisture
sensor and control actuators through the RS 485 serial bus.
T01 and T02 corresponding PLC control actuators C1 and
C2 according to the requirements of control words after
receiving from the host, to make the air temperature of
two air intake tubes be adjusted and stabilized around the
setting value. C3 and C4 are frequency converters,
receiving the control commands from the host to change
discharging speed of grain.
2327

Figure 1 Drying process and sensors positions
ċ CONTROL SYSTEM ESTABLISHMENT
A. Design neural network controller
Model predictive control is a compound optimization
algorithm which is based on model, rolling optimization,
and feedback correction. It will control output changes by
tracking the change of the set value, so it is very effective
for the non-linear and large lag process control [8].There
is a detailed description in literature [9] for the
establishment of the prediction model about the system.
This paper will combine the conventional PID controller
with neural network technology to build neural network
PID controller for controlling technological parameters.
Neural network adopts three-layer feed forward network
structure; the forward numeration of network is used for
the control law of PID controller, while adaptive
adjustment of parameters PID controller are achieved by
BP network algorithm. This neural network PID controller
not only has the advantages of the traditional one, but has
parallel structure of the neural network and memory of
nature learning, the ability of multi-level network to
approximate any function. Control structure is shown in
Fig.2.
Figure 2 Neural network controller structure
Allowing for the control rule of incremental PID, the
difference equation is that:
­'u (k ) K P (e(k )  e(k  1))  K I e(k )  K D (e(k )  2e(k  1)  e(k  2))
®
¯e ( k ) r ( k )  y ( k )
˄1˅
Whereˈ r ( k ) is the set value , y (k ) is the output value,
'u (k ) is the control increase output, and K P , K I , K D are
proportional, integral and differential factors respectively.
Therefore, we can build a neural network model for
the system of single variable, the input of the network
is: I ( k ) [v1 ( k ), v2 (k ), v3 (k )]T , and
v1 (k ) 'e(k ) e(k )  e( k  1)
v2 (k ) e(k )
2328
v3 ( k ) ' 2 e( k ) e( k )  2e( k  1)  e( k  2)
e( k ) r ( k )  y ( k )
Where, r (k ) is the expectation system output,
y (k ) is the actual system output, the output of neural
network is the control element u (k ) , Ki is the weight
matrix of neural network, that is, the network model is
u ( k ) g NN [e( k ), 'e( k ), ' 2 e( k ), K i ]
The network can be regarded as a nonlinear PID
controller, which realizes adaptive control over
parameters of the PID controller by real-time correction
of weighting factor Ki when parameters of the
controlled object change. If the neural network is two
layer structure, and the output layer activation function is
a linear, namely h (x) = x, then this network can
degenerate into a conventional linear PID controller. For
n variables controlled system, using the n sub-networks in
parallel, each sub-network structure is a fore-mentioned
nonlinear PID network. In this system, to ensure the
quality characteristics of the dried grain, predictive
control over the grain discharge revolution and air
temperature is necessary, so a two-variable system was
established, i.e. two nonlinear PID networks in parallel,
mutual coupling between the two variables constitutes a
Bi-objective controller. Controller structure is shown in
Fig. 3.5.
y1
r1
r2
y2
Figure 3 Bi-objective control system
B. Multi-step predictive control algorithm for drying
process
The system controller is a decoupling controller
which is composed by the two previous non-linear PID
controllers, with control elements of air temperature and
grain discharge revolution respectively[10]. Provided the
i-th network input I i ( k ) [ei ( k ), 'ei ( k ), ' 2 ei ( k )]T ,
where ei ( k ) ri ( k )  yi ( k ) , variable definitions are same
as the earlier. Network output corresponding to the i-th
control element ui (k ) . The objective function used to
modify the network weights is
1 N O N
Ji ¦ [Yr (k  j )  Y (k  j )]T [Yr (k  j )  Y (k  j )]  2i
2j 0
¦ ['u (k  j )]
i
2
j 0
˄2˅
Where, Yr (k  j ) is the settings soften
array, Yr ( k  j ) [ yr1 (k  j ), , yri ( k  j )]T , N is the
prediction horizon, Oi is control weighting factor. Block
diagram of predictive control system is shown as Fig.4
 
this interface mainly includes information such as the
drying process online collection of digital information,
e1 (k  j ) digital and graphical display, control process parameters
yi '  k  j  1
'e1 ( k  j ) display, file save path, communication ports choice, and
'e12 (k  j ) ui '  k  j 
moisture sensor calibration parameters.
u1 ( k  j  1) yi '  k  1
ri  k  j 

e2 (k  j )

'e2 (k  j )
ri ( k ) ui  k  vi  k  1
'e2 2 ( k  j )
 
u2 (k  j  1)

yi  k 

Figure 4 Multi-step prediction neural network control system

Here, we use iterative methods to evaluate the
predicted system output, provided weight matrix
maintained unchanged in iterative process. The detailed
Figure 5 The main interface of control system
calculation steps are as follows:
Step 1: At present time k, let S 1 ; Č System application and testing
Step 2: Calculate the step forward predictive value,
and obtain the error signal E ( k )  [e1 ( k ),, en (k )]T , and To verify the actual operation of the controller, it
was tested on two drying machines in series connection,
apply it in the decoupling controller, generating the the drying machine is model 5HSZ-30 small cross flow
control element U (k ) [u1 (k ),, u n (k )]T ; continuous dryer, the test site is in Gongzhuling Jilin
Step 3: Update the variables, Grain trading company depots. Test material is the horse
U ( k  nu  1) U ( k  nu ),  , U ( k  1),  , U ( k ), tooth corn provided by the company grain depots. During
,
Y ( k  n y  1) Y ( k  n),  , Y ( k  1) Y ( k ) the test, corn water content, grain discharge revolution,
hot air temperature and humidity at intake and exit,
apply the above variables to the prediction model to
ambient air temperature and humidity, sampling and so
calculate the predicted output. As the above step, obtain
the corresponding error signal, and apply it in the forth are recorded. Data at a relatively stable test phase
decoupling controller, to calculate the control element was selected as the actual measured results, and
compared these results with data in manual control
U (k  1) at the next moment;
process to verify whether the control system meets with
Step 4: by this rule, repeat step 2, and in turn get
application requirements. Table 1 shows the test condition
Y '(k  1), , Y '(k  j ) , computing multi-step forward parameters.
predicted output and the future time control signal.
Step 5: Correct weighting value of each control
network according to objective function (equation 2).
wJ i
'Vi (k ) Vi ( k  1)  Vi ( k ) Ki ˄3˅
wVi (k )
From (2) shows that,
wJ i N
w[Yr (k  j )  Y (k  j )]T wJ i wJ i wui (k  j )
wVi (k )
¦{
j 0 wVi (k )
˜ 
w[Yr (k  j )  Y (k  j )] wui ( k  j ) wVi ( k )
}

Figure6 Test site

TABLE ĉ TEST CONDITIONS AND MEASUREMENT RESULTS
˄4˅
(AVERAGE VALUE)
While, Test conditions Tower Tower
w[Yr ( k  j )  Y ( k  j )]T w[Yr ( k  j )  Y ( k  j )]T wui ( k  j ) ĉ Ċ
wVi ( k ) wui ( k  j ) wVi ( k )
˄5˅ Capacity / kg 10000 10000
So, Initial moisture content (wet basis) /% 27.31 18.26
wJ i N
wY T (k  j ) wui (k  j ) Unprocessed grain temperature / ć -0.7 32
wVi (k )
¦{ wu (k  j ) [Y (k  j)  Y (k  j)]  O ˜ 'u (k  j  1)}
j 0
r i i
wVi (k ) Ambient Temperature / ć -1.0 -1.0
i
Ambient humidity /% 45 45
˄6˅ Fan flow / m3·min-1 150 150
Take it into (3), we get Hot air temperature / ć 85.8 109.4
N
wY T (k  j ) wu (k  j ) Hot air humidity /% 65 58
'Vi (k ) Ki ˜ ¦{ [Yr (k  j )  Y (k  j )]  Oi ˜ 'ui (k  j  1)} i
j 0 wui (k  j ) wVi (k ) Grain discharge revolution (frequency) / Hz 15.50 15.00
Note: Grain discharge revolution shown in table is the output frequency
˄7˅
of inverter.
C. Control system establishment
Fig.5 shown is the main interface of control system,

2329
 relative germination rate of 80.16%, higher than


70.05% in manual control process, significantly
7
improved the quality of dried corn. Relative
7HPSHUDWXUHć


7

 7 germination rate fluctuations for manual and automatic
 7 controls were 61.3% -78.4% and 75.9% -83.1%,


7 deviations were 13.67 and 1.98 respectively, and
7
 stabilities of dried grain after automatic control were
             
   
higher than that of manual control. From the above
7LPHPLQ analysis it can be seen, the system greatly enhanced the
accuracy and stability of exit corn water content and
Figure 7 Air temperature and food temperature curve of manual control quality, and suitable for production application.
process
č CONCLUTION


7 Presently, grain drying has shift from simply
7HPSHUDWXUHć

7
 focusing on productivity to drying quality, the dried
 7
 grains are required to maintain the quality of its original
7

 7
features. This presents higher requirements for process
 7 precision and automation. Therefore, for the control the

             
system, good control performance and robust, good
    dynamic problems handling capacity are necessary. In
7LPHPLQ this paper, an adaptive PID predictive control system
 based on neural network was established using model
Figure 8 Air temperature and food temperature curve of Automatic prediction, neural network and incorporating traditional
control process PID control. The test showed that this system control
 method can provide a reference for the precise control of
ZDWHUFRQWHQWRIJUDLQZE

 0DQXDOFRQWURO
 $XWRPDWLFFRQWURO
drying process, and applicable for drying process control
 and intelligent control.


 REFERENCE
 [1] Liu Xuejiang. Complexity Analysis and Process Control for Grain
 Drying [D]. Changchun: Jilin University, 2006.

 [2] Liu Q, Bakker-Arkema F W. A model-predictive controller for
        grain drying [J]. Journal of Food Engineering. 2001, 49: 321-326.
7LPHK
[3] Liu Q, Bakker-Arkema F W. Automatic control of crossflow grain
Figure 9 The water content of grain in manual and automatic mode dryers, Part 1: Development of a process model [J]. Journal of
 Agricultural Engineering Research. 2001, 80 (1): 81-86.
ZDWHUFRQWHQWRIJUDLQZE

 0DQXDOFRQWURO [4] Wu Zhimin, Li Shuchen. Adaptive PID Control Based on










  
Figure 10 The relative germination rate of grain in manual and
automatic mode
The production test was made in January 2008. The
test site is shown in Fig. 6. In manual and automatic
control processes, corn initial moisture fluctuations were
23.5% -27.4% and 23.7% -27.6%, mean square
deviations were 0.84 and 0.96 respectively, which shows
that they were basically in the same initial conditions.
Exit moisture (oven method) fluctuations were 13.5%
-14.6% and 13.6% -14.3%, deviations were 0.98 and 0.58,
which can be seen in the automatic control process, the
exit dried grain has a smaller moisture fluctuation, and
the control accuracy was higher than manual control. For
the relative germination rate; as model prediction was
adopted in the automatic process, air temperature and
discharge revolution were adjusted timely, which had a
$XWRPDWLFFRQWURO
Dynamic Recurrent Neural Network [J]. Control Engineering,
2004, 3(11): 216-219.
[5] Wang Yi, Hu Weiping, Deng Huiwen. A Self-Adaptive PID
Controller Based on Neural Network Identification [J]. Joural of
Southwest China Normal University (Nature Science Edition),
2004, 29 (1): 41-44.
[6] Yan Z, Zengqiang C, Zhuzhi Y. Non-minimum phase nonlinear
     system predictive control based on local recurrent neural network
7LPHK
[J]. Journal of Systems Engineering and Electronics. 2003, 14 (1):
70-73.
[7] Jiang Ping, Zhu Chuanxiang, Lv Dezhi, etc. Intelligent Control
System for Circulating Grain Dryer [J]. Journal of Agricultural
Engineering, 2006, 22 (11): 126-130.
[8] Gordon Lew, Wang Kai. Model Predictive controller [J]. Software.
2007, 1: 50-51.
[9] Han Feng. Corn Drying Process Digital Simulation, Control and
Expert System Technology [D]. Changchun: Jilin University,
2010.
[10] Zhang Yan, Wang Fanzhen, Chen Zengqiang, et al. Recurrent
Neural Networks-Based Multivariable System Predictive Control
[J]. Acta Scientiarum Naturalium Universitatis Nankaiensis. 2006,
39(1): 49-54.

2330