Control of rotating pulses in a loop reactor

We consider the stabilization of a rotating pulse in a system of connected chemical reactors that are organized in a loop with periodic switching of the feed between units. Such a solution has been shown to exist in a narrow domain of switching velocities (unit length/switching time). We use the switch velocity as control parameter and design it to follow the pulse: the switch velocity is formed at every step on-line using the discrepancy between the temperature at the front of a pulse and the set point. We present a systematic methodology to control design using a mathematical model of the network of reactors. We present analytical results for a limiting many-unit system and apply this know how to design a system with finite number of units.