Global stability of a nuclear reactor using on-line uncertainty identification

In a nuclear power plant application it is important to guarantee stability of the system. Unlike conventional proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controllers, the A-synthesis controller can be mathematically synthesized to guarantee stability of the closed-loop system in the presence of real plant uncertainty. Unfortunately, the closed-loop system is only guaranteed to be stable if the assumed plant model and assumed uncertainty model are exact. By using an on-line estimate of the actual plant uncertainty and an upper bound on the a priori uncertainty in the plant, global stability of the actual closed-loop system can be guaranteed.