Decoupling the control variables of a plant in presence of time delay

In this contribution a concept is presented, which offers independent controllability of pressure and flow-rate whitin process plants. The dynamic of those plants is highly nonlinear and the control variables are coupled. Furthermore, time delays have to be considered. The proposed control concept consists of a nonlinear decoupling controller in combination with an extended smith predictor. The functionallity of the controller is demonstrated by measurements on a test bench.