Control of Plate Heat Exchanger Outlet Temperature Using Butterfly Valve and Parametric Model Predictive Control Technique

Abstract

In this work the technique to improve flow control quality of butterfly valve with the use of parametric model predictive control was developed. It is implemented through microcontroller with microchip as valve position reading device and was tested on pilot unit in industrial application. For mathematical modeling of butterfly valves the flow characteristics data supplied by its producers were used. For modeling of plate heat exchanger behavior the simplified models are developed. More rigorous, but complex, requiring the use of specialized software and computing time consuming models, available in literature, also can be used in case of specific requirements for accuracy of temperature control. The pilot unit of developed butterfly valve regulator was fabricated and tested on one of district heating substations, which was installed for tap hot water heating in Kharkiv, Ukraine. The comparison of resulted outlet temperature readings, which were obtained with and without parametric model predictive control technique, demonstrated the significant improvement in accuracy of temperature control.