A Pragmatic Approach for Assessing the Economic Performance of Model Predictive Control Systems and Its Industrial Application

In this article, an approach for economic performance assessment of model predictive control (MPC) system is presented. The method builds on steady-state economic optimization techniques and uses the linear quadratic Gaussian (LQG) benchmark other than conventional minimum variance control (MVC) to estimate the potential of reduction in variance. The LQG control is a more practical performance benchmark compared to MVC for performance assessment since it considers input variance and output variance, and it thus provides a desired basis for determining the theoretical maximum economic benefit potential arising from variability reduction. Combining the LQG benchmark directly with benefit potential of MPC control system, both the economic benefit and the optimal operation condition can be obtained by solving the economic optimization problem. The proposed algorithm is illustrated by simulated example as well as application to economic performance assessment of an industrial model predictive control system.