INDIRECT ADAPTIVE

CONTROL
GROUP 2
TINEMI D HONDO
TALENT DEWAH
NYASHA GONDO
 INDIRECT ADAPTIVE CONTROL
INTRODUCTION

• Indirect adaptive control, which is one of two distinct approaches for the control of dynamical

plants with unknown parameters, as it is commonly used, consists of two stages.

• In the first stage, the parameters of the plant are estimated dynamically on-line using input-output

information.

• At every instant of time, assuming that the estimates represent the true values of the plant

parameters, the control parameters are computed to achieve desired overall system characteristic.

• In contrast with this, in direct adaptive control the control parameters are adjusted continuously

based on the error between the output of the plant and the output of the reference model. The latter

results in the overall system being described by a set of non-linear differential equations. This in

turn makes the formulation of the stability problems of such systems

Direct vs. Indirect Adaptive Control
Indirect
 estimate plant parameters
 compute controller parameters
 relies on convergence of the estimated parameters to their true unknown
values
Direct
 no plant parameter estimation
 estimate controller parameters (gains) only
Indirect methods estimate the parameters in the plant and further use the
estimated model information to adjust the controller.
Direct methods are ones wherein the estimated parameters are those directly
used in the adaptive controller.
Direct vs. Indirect Adaptive Control

 The indirect method adapts estimates of the plant parameters, and then uses
these values to update static controller relations.
 Direct methods typically rely on a gradient method such as the MIT rule, or
are calculated based on Lyapunov stability theory.
 Indirect methods include algorithms such as Recursive Least Squares.
Application Of Indirect Adaptive Control

 Welding processes have been automated over the past decades. Weld quality
features, such as final metallurgy and joint mechanics, typically are not
measurable online for control.
 Therefore, some indirect way of controlling the weld quality is necessary.
 A comprehensive approach to in-process control of welding includes both
geometric features of the bead (such as the cross-sectional features of width,
depth, and height) and thermal characteristics (such as the heat affected
zone width and cooling rate).
 The weld bead depth, which is the key geometric attribute of a major class
of welds, is very difficult to measure directly
 Indirect adaptive control and
nonlinear system identification
 The basic principle in indirect schemes is the separation of the identification
and control mechanisms.
 First, a stable identification scheme is built to estimate the unknown
parameters of the system dynamics, then these parameters are used to build
the control signal based on the certainty equivalence principle.
Design of Indirect control systems

 Quite often, the controlled output of a processing unit

cannot be measured directly.
 Consequently, we cannot use feedback control or any other
configuration which necessitates the direct measurement of
the controlled variable.
 If the disturbances which create the control problems can
be measured and an adequate process model is available,
then we could use feedforward control to keep the
unmeasured output at its desired value.
Design of Indirect control systems

 What happens though if the disturbances cannot be

measured? None of the control configurations studied so
far can be used to control an unmeasured process output in
the presence of unmeasured disturbances.
 This is the type of control problems where INDIRECT
CONTROL is the only solution.
 Let us now examine the structure of an
inferential/indirect control system.
Example 1: Process with need of indirect
control
Abreviations

 unmeasured controlled output (y) and one secondary

measured output (z).
 The manipulated variable m and the disturbance d affect
both outputs.
 The disturbance is considered to be unmeasured.
 The transfer functions in the block diagram indicate the
relationships between the various inputs and outputs.
Input-Output Relationships
Estimate of Unmeasured Disturbance

 From eqn. (22.3) we can solve with respect to d and find

the following estimate of the unmeasured disturbance.
Unmeasured Controlled Output

 Substitute the above estimate into eqn. (22.2) and find

the following relationship.
Explanation Of Unmeasured Controlled
Output
 Equation (22.5) provides the needed estimator which relates
the unmeasured controlled output to measured quantities like m
and z.
 Figure next slide shows the structure of the resulting
inferential control system.
 Notice that the estimated value of the unmeasured output plays
the same role as a regular measured output, i.e. it is
compared to the desired set-point and the difference is the
actuating signal for the controller.
 Figure 22.7 shows a simplified diagram of a typical
inferential control system.
Indirect Control System
 Remarks

 It is important to notice that the success of an inferential/indirect

control scheme depends heavily on the availability of a good estimator,
which in turn depends on how well we know the process. Thus, if the
process transfer functions,

 are perfectly known, then a perfect estimator can be constructed and

consequently we will have perfect control.
 When the process transfer functions are only approximately known (which is
usually the case), then the inferential scheme provides control of varying
quality depending on how well the process is known.
 Remarks

 In chemical process control the variable which is most

commonly inferred from secondary measurements is
composition.
 This is due to the lack of reliable, rapid and economical
measuring devices for a wide spectrum of chemical systems.
Applications of Indirect Control Systems

 Thus, indirect adaptive control may be used for the

control of chemical reactors, distillation columns and
other mass transfer operations like driers, absorbers,
etc.

 Temperature is the most common secondary measurement, used

to infer the unmeasured composition.
Example 3 – Indirect Control
system of a Distillation Column
 Consider a distillation column with 16 trays, which separates a
mixture of propane-butane into two products. The feed
composition is the unmeasured disturbance and the control
objective is to maintain the overhead product molar composition
95% in propane. The reflux ratio is the manipulated variable.

 Since the feed and overhead compositions are considered

unmeasured, we can only use inferential control. The secondary
measurement employed to infer the overhead composition is the
temperature at the top tray.
Developing and Designing the
inferential/indirect control mechanism.

 The process as defined above has two inputs and the two
outputs, i.e.
 - inputs; feed composition (disturbance), reflux ratio
(manipulation),
 - outputs; overhead propane composition (unmeasured
controlled output) and
 temperature of top tray (secondary measurement).
 How can we identify the four process transfer functions?
Transfer Function
The process reaction curve method, is a simpler
approach and yields the transfer functions between the
various inputs and outputs.

Following this methodology, we developed the input-

output relationships

Having developed the four process transfer

functions it is easy to design the inferential
control system
Block Diagram of Distillation Column
Indirect Control System of Distillation
Column