An Adaptive Gain Scheduled PID Controller for PWR type of Nuclear Reactor

In this paper a strategy for an adaptive gain scheduled PID controller is proposed for PWR type of Nuclear reactor. Nuclear reactors are highly nonlinear in nature. The proportion of Pressurized Water Reactor is beyond 60% of the total Nuclear reactor components, since PWRs are the most desirable reactors for producing nuclear power. The reactor power level is regulated by adjusting the control rod speed. The reactor model is developed from the basic point-kinetics equations with reactivity feedback and thermal hydraulic considerations. The reactor model is linearized at different percentages of reactor power levels. There is a significant variation in linear model parameters and Gain scheduled adaptive PID control scheme is attempted to accommodate the variations in model parameters at different power levels. The performance of proposed controller is compared with fixed PID controller. From the results obtained it is found that the proposed control scheme gives an improved performance over conventional PID.