Title: Applications and Beyond
Speaker: Amit M. Manthanwar
Affiliation: On Industrial Process Automation and Control Theory
Location: CPSE seminar room (C615 Roderic Hill)
Time: 3:00pm
Abstract. At the end of second millennia advent of the technology of Model Predictive Control (MPC) has revolutionized the way process industry is controlled and operated. This technological breakthrough for industrial process automation asks the much sought-after control objective question, how to attain desired profit margins while satisfying all the conditions of feasibility, stability, operability, performance and safety from plants operating under the influence of uncertainty? Towards answering this question, first generation of MPC development was focused on the various regulation types of issues. Next, we focused on the development of MPC tuning engine that drives the dynamic economics of process control–delivering true economic value of control strategy. Now in the second generation of its evolution questions are raised on how MPC could be administered to the applications having fast dynamics (e.g., fuel cells, automobile and biomedical applications) or systems to which on-line implementation of MPC is expensive or not possible. This has lead to the development of off-line (explicit) implementation of MPC via –you-solve-only-once– multi-parametric optimisation techniques. In this new role of MPC-on-a-chip, we aim to develop robust control algorithms and tools for nonlinear systems operating under uncertainty. Using these tools and underlined computer-aided technologies of process automation we can minimise use of energy, minimise exploitation of environment and maximise the economic profit incentives that are consistently demanded from modern industrial plants while operating at their optimal performance and safety conditions.
In this seminar we will present historical developments and major milestones in modern control theory. Furthermore, a theoretical perspective and computational challenges to account for uncertainty in process operation for various classes of nonlinear systems will be outlined. From the practical application standpoint, we will present a generic control automation framework for fuel cell system and its integrated subsystems. To achieve this objective a fully integrated state-of-the-art process automation laboratory for fuel cell system is developed. This testing and validation facility will be used for characterising various designs as well as benchmarking control policies of the polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell system. Finally, we will present how the proposed control platform will be able to communicate with the integrated subsystems at the different length-time scales while improving operational performance of fuel cell system by guaranteeing efficiency, material stability and longevity. As a concluding remark we will highlight our vision and goal of this research program so as to contribute significantly to the knowledge while fostering new technological discoveries in the area of process systems engineering by symbiotic, synergetic and sustainable development of industrial process automation technology.
About the speaker. Amit received his Master's Degree in Chemical Engineering from Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago. He worked as a senior distributed control systems engineer and automation consultant with RasGas in Qatar before joining Invensys as a Software Technology Developer for Advanced Process Performance Suit and Model Predictive Control product 'Connoisseur™'. He was Lecturer and Assistant Professor at the College of Engineering, Pune. Currently he is working with Professor Efstratios N. Pistikopoulos at the Centre for Process Systems Engineering at Imperial College London. His research is focused on the development of economically and environmentally conscious process design, global optimisation and robust control theory. His research work carried out in collaboration with Professor Donald J. Chmielewski has been incorporated in the book titled: 'Smart Process Plants: Software and Hardware Solutions for Accurate Data and Profitable Operations'. He has published 7 scientific papers with G-index 3 and H-index 2. He is a recipient of Hamid Arastoopour Excellence in Teaching Award at Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago and is listed in 2006 Marquis Who's who in Science and Engineering. He is a recipient of IChemE Journals' 2011 Best Reviewers Award.