Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
5000318 | Control Engineering Practice | 2017 | 14 Pages |
Abstract
The availability of reliable online moisture content measurements exploiting near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy and chemometric tools allows the application of online control strategies to a wide range of drying processes in the pharmaceutical industry. In this paper, drying of particles with a pilot-scale batch fluidized bed dryer (FBD) is studied using a in-line NIR probe. A consolidated phenomenological state-space model of an FBD based on mass and energy balances is calibrated applying a nonlinear least-square identification to experimental data (grey-box modeling). Then, relying on the calibrated model, a nonlinear model predictive controller and a moving horizon state estimator are designed. The objective is to reach a specific particle moisture content setpoint at the end of the drying batch while decreasing cycle time and limiting particle temperature. A penalty term on the energy consumption can also be added to the usual tracking control cost function. Compared to a typical FBD operation in industry (mostly open-loop), it is shown that the drying time and the energy consumption can be efficiently managed on the pilot-scale process while limiting various operation problems like under drying, over drying, or particles overheating.
Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering
Engineering
Aerospace Engineering
Authors
Francis Gagnon, André Desbiens, Ãric Poulin, Pierre-Philippe Lapointe-Garant, Jean-Sébastien Simard,