On modeling and control of complex dynamic systems

Abstract: Nonlinear complex multi-input multi-output process is very troublesome to control. It is usually also ill-modeled. The problem of such process both in control and modeling requires a comprehensive utilization of various techniques. The thesis presents the methods for the modeling and control of complex systems. A typical example of complex processes is mineral flotation that characterized by multivariable, nonlinearities, strong interactions, stochastic disturbances, and large and variable delay times. The dynamic nonlinear model of a inverse continuous flotation process is developed based on the first order kinetics. The complexity of mineral flotation in modeling and control is shown by the analysis of the dynamic model and the relation between the process inputs and the process parameters. As an attractive alternative of conventional control technologies, fuzzy logic control is discussed for the control of an MIMO nonlinear flotation system and the simulation of the control system is carried out. LQG optimal control of the pulp level, a subsystem in a flotation process is studied and the robustness is analyzed based on the structured singular value. The control of infinite dimensional systems is known to all a knotty problem. Orthogonal collocation method, which is one of the methods of weighted residual, is employed to reduce the infinite dimensional model of the systems. In a case study a time delay system is approximated using the orthogonal collocation and a robust controller of the delay system is synthesized based on the method introduced by Glover and McFarlane in 1989. The robustness degradation caused by model reduction is discussed. The results show that the strategies studied in the thesis are available to solve the relevant modeling and control problems of complex systems.