Gain-scheduled ℓ1-optimal control for boiler-turbine dynamics with actuator saturation

This paper presents a gain-scheduled approach for boiler-turbine controller design. The objective of this controller design is to achieve tracking performance in the power output and drum pressure while regulating water level deviation. Also, the controller needs to take into account the magnitude and rate saturation constraints on actuators. The nonlinear boiler-turbine dynamics is brought into a linear parameter varying (LPV) form which is a parameter-dependent state-space realization. The LPV form of the boiler-turbine dynamics is characterized by nonlinear dependence on drum pressure, which is naturally the scheduling variable. The controller is designed by utilizing the set-valued method for l1- optimization, which explicitly addresses state constraints and controller saturations in the design process. The overall gain-scheduled design is augmented by a reference governor to avoid performance degradation in the presence of large tracking commands.