Reclaimer control: modeling, identification, and a robust Smith predictor

In this paper, a robust time delay control for a reclaimer is investigated. Supplying the same amount of raw material throughout the reclaimation process, from the raw yard to a sinter plant, it is important to keep the quality of the molten steel in a blast furnace uniform. Since the parameter values of the reclaimer are not available, the boom rotational dynamics is modeled as a second order differential equation with unknown coefficients. The unknown parameters in the nominal model are estimated using recursive estimation method. Another important factor in the control problem of a reclaimer is the large time delay in output measurement. A robust Smith predictor is designed, and a robust stability criterion for the multiplicative uncertainty is derived. Following the work of Goodwin et al. (1992), a quantifying procedure of the multiplicative uncertainty bound, through experiments, is described. Experimental and simulation results are provided.