Li Ding

Comparison of some new schemes for the control of the boiler of a nuclear power plant

Lancaster University, Doctor of Philosophy, 2003

Supervisors: A. Bradshaw and C.J. Taylor

Abstract

A state-space model of the boiler temperature and pressure control system of an Advanced Gas-Cooled Reactor (AGR) is derived from a high-order industrial performance plant model for Heysham 2 nuclear power plant. A decentralized Proportional-Integral (PI) control system, a continuous-time and a discrete-time Robust Inverse Dynamics Estimation (RIDE) control system, a low gain control system and a multivariable Proportional-Integral-Plus (PIP) control system are each developed to control this linearised Multi-Input Multi-Output (MIMO) state-space model. The corresponding simulation trials are carried out and satisfactory responses are obtained and represented in this thesis. This thesis has demonstrated that these new control schemes can be successfully used to design a control system for the high-order industrial plant.