Department of Biochemical and Chemical Engineering

Process Dynamics and Operations Group (DYN)

Tutorial 6

Model Predictive Control

Process Dynamics and Operations Group

(DYN)
TU-Dortmund

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 Model Predictive Control
1 - Explain briefly the idea behind a model predictive control (MPC) scheme?

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 Model Predictive Control

It uses a plant model to predict the plant output(s) over a certain prediction
horizon P

It minimizes a quadratic objective function to compute the optimal control

moves over the control horizon M.

From the obtained control moves, only the first one is used and the rest is
discarded.

At the next time instant, both the horizons are shifted by one time step and
the above steps are repeated to obtain a new set of control moves. This is
called the receding horizon strategy.

The quadratic objective function is usually of the form:

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 Objective function

Conventional tracking control

where,
N: Number of controlled variables Bias correction
R: Number of control inputs
P: Prediction horizon
M: Control horizon

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 subject to constraints
Linear model of the system

Measurements

State constraints

Output constraints

Absolute constraints

Velocity constraints

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 Model Predictive Control

2 - How is the feedback realized in MPC?

The feedback is realized by using the bias correction term, and

By the re-initialization of the model states and parameters using the

measurements and the estimated states and parameters of the real plant.
So, if not all of the states are measured a state estimator is needed for
better performance of the MPC controller.

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 Model Predictive Control

3 - In commercial applications, why is the MPC scheme more popular than

the classical control methods?

MPC is an optimization-based control scheme. It computes the optimal

control moves considering a certain prediction horizon as well as a control
horizon.
Constraints on the control inputs, states as well as the plant outputs can be
easily incorporated as opposed to the classical control methods. Moreover,
other types of constraints can also be considered.

MPC is a non-square multivariable control scheme which means that it can

handle multiple inputs and multiple outputs simultaneously as opposed to
the classical control methods.

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 Model Predictive Control

Why MPC is not widely used in industry?

A proof that a new control scheme (MPC) does really improve the
productivity of the process. Difficult to proof

Stability must be guaranteed, i.e. it must be assured that the optimization

solver always converges.

The biggest problem is, that the plant operator may not understand the
control steps. For them it's more or less a black box. It follows that they will
not longer watch the process attentively, errors may not be detected or
important alarms ignored.

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 Model Predictive Control

4 - What is the idea behind real-time optimization (RTO)?

In real-time optimization (RTO), the optimum values of the set-points are

re-calculated on a regular basis (e.g. every hour or every day). These
repetitive calculations involve solving a constrained, nonlinear steady-state
optimization problem with economic objectives.

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 Model Predictive Control
5 - What is the main assumption considered in multi-stage MPC?

The main assumption considered in multi-stage NMPC is that the uncertainty

can be represented by a tree of discrete scenarios. Each branching at a node
represents the effect of an unknown uncertain influence (disturbance and
model error) together with the chosen control input. The scenario tree usually
considers combinations of the maximum, minimum and nominal values of the
uncertainty.

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Model Predictive Control

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Model Predictive Control

Questions

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