APPLICATION OF A SELF-ORGANIZING FUZZY-LOGIC CONTROLLER TO NUCLEAR STEAM-GENERATOR LEVEL CONTROL

In this paper, the self-organizing fuzzy logic controller is investiga ted for the water level control of a steam generator. In comparison wi th conventional fuzzy logic controllers, this controller performs the control task with no initial control rules; instead, it creates contro l rules and tunes input membership functions based on the performance criteria as the control behavior develops, and also modifies its contr ol structure when uncertain disturbance is suspected. Selected tuning parameters of the self-organizing fuzzy logic controller are updated o n-line in the learning algorithm, by a gradient descent method. This c ontrol algorithm is applied to the water level control of a steam gene rator model developed by Irving et al. The computer simulation results confirm the good performance of this control algorithm for all power ranges. This control algorithm can be expected to be used for the auto matic control of a feedwater control system in a nuclear power plant w ith digital instrumentation and control systems. (C) 1997 Elsevier Sci ence S.A.