Data-driven fuzzy models for nonlinear identification of a complex heat exchanger

This paper presents and discusses experimental results on nonlinear model identification method applied to a real pilot thermal plant. The aim of this work is to develop a moderately complex model with interpretable structure for a complex parallel flow heat exchanger which is the main component of the thermal plant using a fuzzy clustering technique. The proposed Takagi–Sugeno-type (TS) fuzzy rule-based model is derived through an iterative fuzzy clustering algorithm using a set of input–output measurements. It is shown that the identified multivariable fuzzy rule-based model captures well the key dynamical properties of the physical plant over a wide operating range and under varying operating conditions. For validation, the model is run in parallel and series-parallel configurations to the real process. The experimental results show clearly the high performance of the proposed fuzzy model in achieving good prediction of the main process variables.