ADRC Robustness for Boiler Turbine Unit at Equilibrium Operation Point

In this paper, control techniques for a Boiler-Turbine Unit (BTU) are presented. The BTU is a multivariable, nonlinear, and strongly coupled system, and the goal is to eliminate the impact of undesired signals by designing a controller that can accomplish this task. The proposed controller is called an active disturbance rejection controller (ADRC), which utilizes an extended state observer (ESO) to recognize the system's nonlinear components as disturbance terms and its unknown dynamics. By rejecting the defined disturbance, future controller design is simplified and the system is linearized. This results in a more straightforward controller design process that requires less system expertise. The ADRC is compared with an Anti-Windup controller, and simulation results demonstrate the robustness of the ADRC to adjustment points, internal, and external disturbances