ROBUST TEMPERATURE CONTROL OF A SEMIBATCH POLYMERIZATION REACTOR - FREQUENCY-DOMAIN SPECIFICATIONS

A frequency domain (FD)-based solution to the temperature regulation p roblem for a semibatch emulsion polymerization reactor is presented. T he problem considered is an industrial case study that is representati ve of the types of control problem found in the speciality chemicals i ndustry. Heuristics are presented for defining an FD spec that is appr oximately equivalent to the given time domain spec. The FD-based metho d is shown to provide a simple means of modifying any design to handle a wide class of realistic measurement noise models. An important adva ntage of the FD approach in terms of enabling the design of linear con trollers for tracking slowly varying temperature trajectories is also highlighted. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.