Identification, control and optimization strategies for thermo-mechanical pulping (TMP) processes
department or school: Applied Science, Faculty of
department or school: Electrical and Computer Engineering, Department of
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCV
creator: Puwakkatiya-Kankanamge, Eranda Harinath
issued: 2012-06-27T15:27:42Z
issued: 2012
related degree: Doctor of Philosophy - PhD
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: The focus of this thesis is to develop an advanced control system for existing and to-be developed Thermo-Mechanical Pulping (TMP) refining processes. Therefore, the thesis has two parts. The first part developed two different but yet complementary closed-loop identification methods to update the models used in the low-level control layer of the current advanced control systems for TMP refiners. These newly developed identification methods are specific to closed-loop systems controlled by Model Predictive Control (MPC) techniques, and successfully tailored to the presence of the MPC. By updating the existing process models, the current advanced control systems can be operated to give better performance. However, these control systems may not be able to provide optimal performance due to process disturbances. Hence, a novel economically oriented advanced control system is developed for the existing two-stage TMP refiner processes for their optimal operation when disturbances are present. This novel technique dynamically optimizes the TMP processes as opposed to conventional two-layer methods which perform process optimization at steady-state, and has shown a potential economical benefit through reduction of total specific energy of a two-stage TMP process in a simulation study. In the second part, a novel TMP process with multi-stages of Low Consistency (LC) refining is studied for its optimal operation. The proposed Nonlinear Model Predictive Control (NMPC) technique dynamically optimizes the process and provides better performance when disturbances are present. This economically oriented NMPC (econNMPC) minimizes the total specific energy consumption of the process while respecting all the process constraints and achieving final desired pulp quality. In simulation studies, a TMP process with multiple stages of LC refining was able to save significant specific energy consumption with setpoint tracking control when disturbances are present. Moreover, further reductio…
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/42553
note: Identification, Control and Optimization Strategies for Thermo-Mechanical Pulping (TMP) Processes by Eranda Harinath Puwakkatiya-Kankanamge B.Sc., University of Moratuwa, 2003 M. Eng., Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2007 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in The Faculty of Graduate Studies (Electrical and Computer Engineering) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) June 2012 c© Eranda Harinath Puwakkatiya-Kankanamge 2012 Abstract The focus of this thesis is to develop an advanced control system for existing and to- be developed Thermo-Mechanical Pulping (TMP) refining processes. Therefore, the thesis has two parts. The first part developed two different but yet complemen- tary closed-loop identification methods to update the models used in the low-level control layer of the current advanced control systems for TMP refiners. These newly developed identification methods are specific to closed-loop systems con- trolled by Model Predictive Control (MPC) techniques, and successfully tailored to the presence of the MPC. By updating the existing process models, the current advanced control systems can be operated to give better performance. However, these control systems may not be able to provide optimal performance due to process disturbances. Hence, a novel economically oriented advanced control system is developed for the existing two-stage TMP refiner processes for their optimal operation when disturbances are present. This novel technique dynamically optimizes the TMP processes as opposed to conventional two-layer methods which perform process optimization at steady-state, and has shown a potential economical benefit through reduction of total specific energy of a two-stage TMP process in a simulation study. In the second part, a novel TMP process with multi-stages of Low Consis- tency (LC) refining is studied for its optimal operation. The proposed Nonlinear Model Predictive Control (NMP…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2012-11
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0072852
language: eng
degree discipline: Electrical and Computer Engineering
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
scholar level: Graduate
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/42553