Modeling and optimal control for production-regeneration systems - preliminary results -

This work presents a general model for production - regeneration systems, alternating two functioning modes, the first one as a production process while the second one regenerates the process performances. Such systems are quite common in industry: they include for instance filtration/backwash of membranes, discharge/charge of accumulators. Basically, in these systems the sequence of production/regeneration over time cycles is the manipulating variable. A simple mathematical model involving a single explanatory "hidden variable" to capture the dynamic behavior of the process in both functioning modes is designed. Based on the Pontryagin's Maximum Principle, we characterize the optimal control strategy for a given criterion minimizing the energy consumption under a constraint on the performances.