Control of a distillation column by type-2 and type-1 fuzzy logic PID controllers

The aim of this paper is to develop a type-1 and a type-2 fuzzy logic PID controller (type-1 FLC and type-2 FLC, respectively) for the control of a binary distillation column, the mathematical model of which is characterized by both high nonlinearities and parameter uncertainties. Attention was focused on the tuning procedure proposed by the authors and representing a development of the original Jantzen [1] method for type-1 and type-2 fuzzy controllers, in particular including input type-2 Gaussian membership functions. A theoretical explanation of the differences in fuzzy controller performance was in fact provided in the light of simulation results. The performance of a type-1 FLC was then compared in simulation with the one of type-2 FLC. All the simulation results confirmed the robustness and the effective control action of each fuzzy controller, with evident advantages for the type-2 FLC.