ESTIMATION OF RESIDENCE TIME IN CONTINUOUS-FLOW SYSTEMS WITH DYNAMICS

A method for estimation of residence time in continuous flow systems w ith varying dynamics is presented. By resampling, i.e. choosing time i nstants different from the given sampling instants, and interpolation between measured data points, we obtain a continuous flow system with constant residence time expressed in the new resampled time vector. We assume the flow patterns in the systems are invariant. The new data s et is then used for identification of parameters in a chosen model str ucture. From the identified model, the residence time is readily calcu lated and a procedure for that is briefly described. The presented met hod is readily extended to enable use in recursive identification, in that case, however, as an improvement in the tracking ability of an or dinary recursive routine.