Optimized start-up procedures of processing systems

Abstract Startup procedures of processing systems are determined by the interaction of both discrete and continuous inputs with the continuous process dynamics. This contribution introduces a modelling approach which represents the startup dynamics as ahybrid automaton first. The task of computingoptimal start up trajectories for the automaton is rewritten into a mixed integer programming problem that can be solved efficiently by branch-and-bound techniques. Furthermore, the paper describes amoving horizon approach to overcome the problem of the exponentially increasing computational effort for an increasing optimization horizon.