Stochastic identification and digital control of a heat exchanger: a simulation test case

In this paper, an extended simulation study is presented by which the power of modern digital identification and control methodology is tested against the nontrivial dynamics of a relatively simple yet nonelementary plant. Many critical issues which may significantly affect the success of the entire design process can be discussed along the lines of this study. The plant considered here is a liquid-saturated steam heat exchanger, where the liquid flow-rate is manipulated to regulate the outlet liquid temperature. All the numerical experiments have been conducted by digital simulation of a fairly standard nonlinear distributed parameter model.