Robust Control Methods for a Recycle Bioreactor

Abstract

The paper presents a robust control design strategy for bioprocesses, which are characterized by strongly nonlinear dynamics. More precisely, we present the H2 methodology in order to compute the controller for a recycle Continuous Stirred Tank Bioreactor (CSTB). We consider a general method of formulating control problem, which makes use of linear fractional transformation as introduced by Doyle (1978). The formulation makes use of the general two-port configuration of the generalized plant with a generalized controller. The H2 norm is the quadratic criterion used in optimal control as LQG. The overall control objective is to minimize the H2 norm of the transfer matrix function from the weighted exogenous inputs to the weighted controlled outputs. The advantage of H2 control technique, which uses the linearized model of the CSTB, is that it is completely automated and very flexible. Finally, we prove that the closed loop control structure has very good inner robustness.