Improving static performance robustness of thermal processes

A static (steady-state) robust control design problem is considered using a nonlinear model of a thermal system. For a given operating point, the control problem is to determine a feedforward/feedback static controller that minimizes the worst-case static peak performance deviation from nominal in the presence of bounded disturbances and parameter variations. It is desired to obtain the tradeoff between the size of the worst-case deviation and the size of the uncertainty set. A complete solution is derived for the static linear control design problem obtained from linearization about selected operating points. Efficient computational tools are developed to rapidly analyze numerous operating points and control configurations.<>