Spatiotemporal disturbance compensation for nonlinear transport processes via moving actuators

The present work deals with the development of a framework that allows an integrated actuator activation policy and controller synthesis method to be realized through a scheme of moving actuators for the performance enhancement of nonlinear transport processes in the presence of spatiotemporal disturbance variations. The transport processes of interest are modeled by nonlinear parabolic partial differential equations (PDEs) and are frequently encountered in a multitude of industrial applications. Standard state feedback controller synthesis methods based on linear matrix inequality-techniques (LMIs) are employed for a finite-dimensional Galerkin approximation of the original nonlinear distributed parameter system, and the value of an appropriately selected objective function is explicitly calculated by solving a location-parameterized Lyapunov matrix equation. A static optimization algorithm is developed that offers a guidance policy and optimal switching rules between the various actuator positions for process performance enhancement. An example with simulation results of a transport process modeled through Burger's equation is included, in order to evaluate the performance-enhancing capabilities of the proposed scheme.