A continuous-time nonlinear model predictive controller(NMPC) was designed for a boiler-turbine unit.The controller was designed by optimizing a receding-horizon performance index,with the nonlinear system approximated by its Taylor series expansion with a certain order,the magnitude saturation constraints on the inputs satisfied by increasing the predictive time,and the rate saturation conditions on the actuators satisfied by tuning the time constant of the reference trajectories in a reference governor.Simulation results showed that the controller can drive the drum pressure and output power of the nonlinear boiler-turbine unit to follow their respective reference trajectories throughout a varying operation range and keep the water level deviation within tolerances.Comparison of the NMPC scheme with the generic model control(GMC) scheme indicated that the responses are slower and there are more oscillations in the responses of the water level,fuel flow input and feed water flow input in the GMC scheme when the boiler-turbine unit is operating over a wide range.
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