Passivity Based Control of Irreversible Port Hamiltonian Systems

The frameworks of thermodynamic availability function and irreversible port Hamiltonian systems are used to derive passivity based control strategies for irreversible thermodynamic systems. An energy based availability function is defined using as generating function the internal energy. This is a variation with respect to previous works where the total entropy usually corresponds to the generating function. The specific structure of irreversible port-Hamiltonian systems then permits to elegantly derive stability conditions for open and closed thermodynamic systems. The results are illustrated on two classical thermodynamic examples: The heat exchanger and the continuous stirred tank reactor.