Core Power Control of the fast nuclear reactors with estimation of the delayed neutron precursor density using Sliding Mode method

• We present a S.M.C. system based on the S.M.O for control of a fast reactor power.
• A S.M.O has been developed to estimate the density of delayed neutron precursor.
• The stability analysis has been given by means Lyapunov approach.
• The control system is guaranteed to be stable within a large range.
• The comparison between S.M.C. and the conventional PID controller has been done.

In this paper, a nonlinear controller using sliding mode method which is a robust nonlinear controller is designed to control a fast nuclear reactor. The reactor core is simulated based on the point kinetics equations and one delayed neutron group. Considering the limitations of the delayed neutron precursor density measurement, a sliding mode observer is designed to estimate it and finally a sliding mode control based on the sliding mode observer is presented. The stability analysis is given by means Lyapunov approach, thus the control system is guaranteed to be stable within a large range. Sliding Mode Control (SMC) is one of the robust and nonlinear methods which have several advantages such as robustness against matched external disturbances and parameter uncertainties. The employed method is easy to implement in practical applications and moreover, the sliding mode control exhibits the desired dynamic properties during the entire output-tracking process independent of perturbations. Simulation results are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed controller in terms of performance, robustness and stability.