Design of intelligent controllers for exothermal processes

Chemical Industries such as resin or soap manufacturing industries have reaction systems which work with at least two chemicals. Mixing of chemicals even at room temperature can create the process of exothermic reaction. This processes produces a sudden increase of heat energy within the mixture. The quantity of heat and the dynamics of heat generation are unknown, unpredictable and time varying. Proper control of heat has to be accomplished in order to achieve a high quality of product. Uncontrolled or poorly controlled heat causes another unusable product and the process may damage materials and systems and even human being may be harmed. Controlling of heat due to exothermic reaction cannot be achieved using conventional control methods such as PID control, identification and control etc. All of the conventional methods require at least approximate mathematical model of the exothermic process. Modeling an exothermal process is yet to be properly conceived. This paper discusses a design methodology for controlling such a process. A pilot plant of a reaction system has been constructed and utilized for designing and incorporating the proposed fuzzy logic based intelligent controller. Both the conventional and then an adaptive form of fuzzy logic control were used in testing the performance. The test results ensure the effectiveness of controllers in controlling exothermic heat.