Continuous-Time Model Predictive Control with Disturbances Compensation for a Glass Forehearth

Model Predictive Control (MPC) is an advanced method of process control. Despite its usefulness, it is applied mostly for large industrial processes. In the paper, a model predictive algorithm for a glass forehearth is presented. The problem of molten glass temperature stabilisation under external disturbances is especially important during the glass conditioning, so the use of an adaptive predictive controller seems to be reasonable. The controller tuning utilizes linear models of the process, that can be obtained on-line. Modifications of the known continuous-time MPC approach are described. The most important difference is the original method of measurable disturbances compensation and its implementation in the algorithm. The developed controller was tested using the process model with distributed parameters (Partial Differential Equation). The experimental results are presented in the paper.