APPLICATION OF FUZZY-LOGIC IN NUCLEAR-REACTOR CONTROL .1. AN ASSESSMENT OF STATE-OF-THE-ART

This article discusses the application of fuzzy logic to nuclear react or control. The method has been suggested by many investigators in man y control applications.(1-6) Reviews of the application of fuzzy logic in process control are given by Tong(7) and Sugeno.(8) Because fuzzy logic control (FLC) provides a pathway for transforming human abstract ions into the numerical domain, it has the potential to assist nuclear reactor operators in the control room. With this transformation, ling uistically expressed control principles can be coded into the fuzzy co ntroller rule base. Having acquired the skill of the operators, the FL C can assist an operator in controlling the complex system. The thrust of FLC is to derive a conceptual model of the control operation, with out expressing the process as mathematical equations, to assist the hu man operator in interpreting incoming plant variables and arriving al a proper control action, To introduce the concept of FLC in nuclear re actor operation, an overview of the mythology and a review of its appl ication in both nuclear and nonnuclear control application domains are presented along with subsequent discussion of fuzzy logic controllers , their structures, and their method of information processing. The ar ticle concludes with the application of a tunable FLC to a typical rea ctor control problem.