Diseño para operabilidad: Una revisión de enfoques y estrategias de solución

In the last decades the chemical engineering scientific research community has largely addressed the design-foroperability problem. Such an interest responds to the fact that the operability quality of a process is determined by design, becoming evident the convenience of considering operability issues in early design stages rather than later when the impact of modifications is less effective and more expensive. The necessity of integrating design and operability is dictated by the increasing complexity of the processes as result of progressively stringent economic, quality, safety and environmental constraints. Although the design-for-operability problem concerns to practically every technical discipline, it has achieved a particular identity within the chemical engineering field due to the economic magnitude of the involved processes. The work on design and analysis for operability in chemical engineering is really vast and a complete review in terms of papers is beyond the scope of this contribution. Instead, two major approaches will be addressed and those papers that in our belief had the most significance to the development of the field will be described in some detail.En las últimas décadas, la comunidad científica de ingeniería química ha abordado intensamente el problema de diseño-para-operabilidad. Tal interés responde al hecho de que la calidad operativa de un proceso esta determinada por diseño, resultando evidente la conveniencia de considerar aspectos operativos en las etapas tempranas del diseño y no luego, cuando el impacto de las modificaciones es menos efectivo y más costoso. La necesidad de integrar diseño y operabilidad esta dictada por la creciente complejidad de los procesos como resultado de las cada vez mayores restricciones económicas, de calidad de seguridad y medioambientales. Aunque el problema de diseño para operabilidad concierne a prácticamente toda disciplina, ha adquirido una identidad particular dentro de la ingeniería química debido a la magnitud económica de los procesos involucrados. El trabajo sobre diseño y análisis para operabilidad es realmente vasto y una revisión completa en términos de artículos supera los alcances de este trabajo. En su lugar, se discutirán los dos enfoques principales y aquellos artículos que en nuestra opinión han tenido mayor impacto para el desarrollo de la disciplina serán descriptos con cierto detalle.Fil: Blanco, Anibal Manuel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química; ArgentinaFil: Bandoni, Jose Alberto. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química; Argentin

Control of a Solar Energy Systems

8th IFAC Symposium on Advanced Control of Chemical ProcessesThe International Federation of Automatic Control Singapore, July 10-13This work deals with the main control problems found in solar power systems and the solutions proposed in literature. The paper first describes the main solar power technologies, its development status and then describes the main challenges encountered when controlling solar power systems. While in other power generating processes, the main source of energy can be manipulated, in solar energy systems, the main source of power which is solar radiation cannot be manipulated and furthermore it changes in a seasonal and on a daily base acting as a disturbance when considering it from a control point of view. Solar plants have all the characteristics needed for using industrial electronics and advanced control strategies able to cope with changing dynamics, nonlinearities and uncertainties.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación PI2008-05818Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación DPI2010-21589-C05-01/04Junta de Andalucía P07-TEP-0272

Coherent Transport of Quantum States by Deep Reinforcement Learning

Some problems in physics can be handled only after a suitable \textit{ansatz }solution has been guessed. Such method is therefore resilient to generalization, resulting of limited scope. The coherent transport by adiabatic passage of a quantum state through an array of semiconductor quantum dots provides a par excellence example of such approach, where it is necessary to introduce its so called counter-intuitive control gate ansatz pulse sequence. Instead, deep reinforcement learning technique has proven to be able to solve very complex sequential decision-making problems involving competition between short-term and long-term rewards, despite a lack of prior knowledge. We show that in the above problem deep reinforcement learning discovers control sequences outperforming the \textit{ansatz} counter-intuitive sequence. Even more interesting, it discovers novel strategies when realistic disturbances affect the ideal system, with better speed and fidelity when energy detuning between the ground states of quantum dots or dephasing are added to the master equation, also mitigating the effects of losses. This method enables online update of realistic systems as the policy convergence is boosted by exploiting the prior knowledge when available. Deep reinforcement learning proves effective to control dynamics of quantum states, and more generally it applies whenever an ansatz solution is unknown or insufficient to effectively treat the problem.Comment: 5 figure

Context in Synthetic Biology: Memory Effects of Environments with Mono-molecular Reactions

Synthetic biology aims at designing modular genetic circuits that can be assembled according to the desired function. When embedded in a cell, a circuit module becomes a small subnetwork within a larger environmental network, and its dynamics is therefore affected by potentially unknown interactions with the environment. It is well-known that the presence of the environment not only causes extrinsic noise but also memory effects, which means that the dynamics of the subnetwork is affected by its past states via a memory function that is characteristic of the environment. We study several generic scenarios for the coupling between a small module and a larger environment, with the environment consisting of a chain of mono-molecular reactions. By mapping the dynamics of this coupled system onto random walks, we are able to give exact analytical expressions for the arising memory functions. Hence, our results give insights into the possible types of memory functions and thereby help to better predict subnetwork dynamics.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figures Accepted Versio

Fast model predictive control for hydrogen outflow regulation in ethanol steam reformers

© 20xx IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.In the recent years, the presence of alternative power sources, such as solar panels, wind farms, hydropumps and hydrogen-based devices, has significantly increased. The reasons of this trend are clear: contributing to a reduction of gas emissions and dependency on fossil fuels. Hydrogen-based devices are of particular interest due to their significant efficiency and reliability. Reforming technologies are among the most economic and efficient ways of producing hydrogen. In this paper we consider the regulation of hydrogen outflow in an ethanol steam reformer (ESR). In particular, a fast model predictive control approach based on a finite step response model of the process is proposed. Simulations performed using a more realistic non-linear model show the effectiveness of the proposed approach in driving the ESR to different operating conditions while fulfilling input and output constraints.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Control of an over-actuated nanopositioning system by means of control allocation

This Master’s Thesis is devoted to the analysis and design of a control structure for the nanopositioning system LAU based on the dynamic control allocation technique. The objective is to control the vertical displacement with nanometer precision under a control effort distribution criterion among the actuator set. In this case, the pneumatic actuator is used as a passive gravity compensator while the voice coil motor generates the transient forces. The analysis of the system characteristics allows defining the design criterion for the control allocation. In this direction, the proposed dynamic control allocation stage considers a frequency distribution of the control effort. The lower frequency components are assigned to the pneumatic actuator while the higher frequencies are handled by the voice coil drive. The significant actuator dynamics are compensated through a Kalman filter approach. The position controller is based on a feedback linearization framework with a disturbance observer for enhanced robustness. The experimental validation demonstrates the feasibility of the proposed technique.Diese Masterarbeit widmet sich der Analyse und dem Entwurf einer Regelungsstruktur für das Nanopositioniersystem LAU. Dabei werden Methoden untersucht, welche das notwendige Stellsignal auf zwei Aktoren aufteilen. Ziel ist es, die vertikale Verschiebung des LAU mit Nanometerpräzision zu regeln. In diesem Fall wird der pneumatische Aktor als passiver Schwerkraftkompensator verwendet, während die elktromagnetische Tauchspule die transienten Kräfte erzeugt. Die Analyse der Eigenschaften des LAUSystems ermöglicht die Definition der Entwurfskriterien zur Aufteilung der Stellgröße. In dieser Richtung berücksichtigt die vorgeschlagene dynamische Methode eine Aufteilung der Stellgröße bezüglich der Frequenzanteile. Die niederfrequenten Komponenten werden dem pneumatischen Aktor zugeordnet. Dem elektromagnetische Aktor werden die verbliebenen hochfrequenten Anteile zugeordnet. Die signifikanten Effekte der Aktordynamik in Bezug auf die Bewegungsdynamik werden durch einen Kalman- Filteransatz kompensiert. Nichtlineare Streckenanteile werden basierend auf dem Modell und einem Störbeobachter kompensiert, sodass der verbleibende Anteil des Positionsreglers mit linearen Methoden entworfen werden kann. Die experimentelle Validierung zeigt die Effektivität des untersuchten Konzeptes.Tesi

Modeling and control of freeze-form extrusion fabrication

Freeze-form Extrusion Fabrication (FEF) is an additive manufacturing technique that extrudes ceramic loaded aqueous pastes layer by layer below the paste freezing temperature for component fabrication. As the FEF is aimed at being conducted at low environmental temperatures, down to -20°C, it is necessary to investigate the effect of environmental temperature on the process. The advantages of fabrication at low temperature have been proved by experiments. Comparisons in terms of operation parameters, self-sustaining ability, and system dynamic response were performed at different environmental temperatures ranging from 20°C to -20°C. It is commonly known in paste extrusion processes that due to unmodeled effects such as air bubble release, non-uniform water content, unpredictable agglomerate breakdown, etc., the throughput (extrusion rate) is difficult to control. Moreover, during the extrusion, the rheological characteristics of the paste changes due to liquid migration, resulting in a processing challenge. Because of these difficulties, additional paste extrusion research is still in progress. Traditional PID controllers based on off-line empirical models are inadequate to control the ram extrusion processes. The Recursive Least Square algorithm is used in this research to identify the dynamic responses of the FEF process in real time. An adaptive controller with a novel general tracking control strategy is designed and implemented to regulate the extrusion force in real time. Experimental results demonstrated the robust performance of the controller, allowing the extrusion force to track various types of reference signals, while traditional controllers could only maintain the extrusion force (pressure) at a constant level (operation point). --Abstract, page iv

Determination of Silver Binding to Natural Organic Matter Using Ion Selective Electrode

Natural organic matter (NOM) is considered an important factor in the protection of the aquatic environments; organic ligands can complex with metals, to decrease their toxicity and bioavailability. NOM is measured as dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in mg C/L. Silver metal can enter into the aquatic environment from natural and anthropogenic sources, and is found in different chemical forms. Free silver ion (Ag+) is considered as the most toxic form of the metal. However, it can form complexes with both inorganic and organic ligands, such as ammonia, chloride, hydroxyl, carbonato, phosphato, and thiol groups. Thiol is the most important ligand because it forms very strong complexes with Ag. To date, the behavior of silver in the aquatic environment, is still not well understood. The aim of this research is divided to three steps. First, the experimental objective of this study was to determine free silver ion binding to NOM in three different commercially available sources. Also, samples were tested under different pH (4.0, 6.0, 8.0 and 10.0) conditions. In the laboratory tests, the technique that was used was a flow through ion selective electrode (ISE) system utilizing an Ag2S electrode. In the second step, Windermere Humic Aqueous Model (WHAM), which is a very important risk assessment tool, was validated by comparison WHAM and ISE silver speciation results. Silver binding to NOM depends on the specific ligands in each samples. For example, the sample with the most sulphur content was also strongest in binding to silver. Also, pH plays an important role in silver bioavailability. When pH increases, NOM has more sites available to bind to silver ions. In contrast, proton concentration increases at low pH and competes with free silver cations to bind with NOM. Finally, optical characterization of NOM was performed using absorbance (SAC340) and fluorescence indices (FI) in order to distinguish among NOM samples. It found that optical characteristics have similar value for all NOM samples

Effects of Ponderosa Pine Ecological Restoration on Forest Soils and Understory Vegetation in Northern Arizona

The human exclusion of wildfire and overgrazing by livestock since settlement have caused dramatic changes in ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa Dougl ex Laws) forest ecosystems. These changes include increased numbers of tree stems, reduced understory cover and diversity, and the introduction of invasive, non-native understory species. This study evaluated the coverage and species composition of understory vegetation present in the “cool-season” (late spring and early summer) in a ponderosa pine forest on grazed and ungrazed plots that had undergone restoration treatments on three different soil/geologic parent material types near Flagstaff, Arizona, twelve years after tree thinning and grazing exclosure treatments were applied. Several measured soil properties, such as soil respiration and temperature, were also evaluated in this study. Species richness of “cool-season” vegetation was influenced more by grazing practices than restoration treatments. Differences could be less or greater when vegetation that is active later in the season is measured. Vegetative cover was significantly influenced by restoration treatments (9.3% cover under open canopies and 6.5% under dense canopies), probably due to differences in competition for light and other resources (i.e. soil moisture and nutrients). Unlike finding by Abella et al. (2015), who studied “warm-season” vegetation, “cool-season” understory cover was not influenced by soil parent material type in this study, which might suggest that differences in understory cover due to soil properties are only seen shortly after restoration treatments are applied, or the time of year vegetation is evaluated may play a role in the differences seen. Soil respiration was highest on limestone soil parent material type (3.3 g C-CO2 m-2 day-1), and soil temperature was lowest under closed canopy treatments (15°C)

Development of dynamic model and control techniques for microelectromechanical gyroscopes

In this thesis we investigate the effects of stiffness, damping and temperature on the performance of a MEMS vibratory gyroscope. The stiffness and damping parameters are chosen because they can be appropriately designed to synchronize the drive and sense mode resonance to enhance the sensitivity and stability of MEMS gyroscope. Our results show that increasing the drive axis stiffness from its tuned value by 50%, reduces the sense mode magnitude by ~27% and augments the resonance frequency by ~21%. The stiffness and damping are mildly sensitive to typical variations in operating temperature. The stiffness decreases by 0.30%, while the damping increases by 3.81% from their initial values, when the temperature is raised from -40 to 60C. Doubling the drive mode damping from its tuned value reduces the oscillation magnitude by 10%, but ~0.20% change in the resonance frequency. The predicted effects of stiffness, damping and temperature can be utilized to design a gyroscope for the desired operating condition