Nonlinear Process Control: Novel Controller Designs for Chemical Processes with Uncertainty and Constraints

This paper highlights some of our recent results on control of single-input single-output constrained uncertain nonlinear processes. The main issues and challenges that arise in control of such processes are discussed and a novel Lyapunovbased framework for nonlinear controller synthesis is presented to address these issues. The proposed framework leads to the explicit synthesis of nonlinear robust optimal state feedback controllers, with well-characterized stability and performance properties, that cope effectively with the simultaneous problems of severe process nonlinearities, significant model uncertainty, and hard constraints on the manipulated input. The impact of the proposed framework is analyzed and its implications for nonlinear process control are identified.