Model Predictive Control of an Infrared-Convective Dryer

For product quality purposes, the drying of some delicate materials is not easily feasible without the realization of a tight, well-designed controller. This study presents the results of a model predictive control for the drying of a thin fiber sheet moving through an electric infrared dryer, whose process dynamics are described by a minimum realization, previously developed. The simulation results indicate that the MPC multivariable controller is able to handle process interactions and produced good performance for tracking set point changes in the humidity and temperature of the material exiting the dryer and also for rejecting measured stochastic disturbances in the inlet humidity stream.