A computer-aided design tool for robustness analysis and control-relevant identification of Horizon Predictive Control with application to a binary distillation column

This paper describes a MATLAB-based computer-aided design tool, IRA-HPC, which accomplishes integrated system identification and robustness analysis for Horizon Predictive Control (HPC), a model predictive control algorithm implemented on the Application Module of the Honeywell TDC 3000 distributed control system. The tool addresses lifecycle as well as functional aspects of the technology, with the goal of making advanced control principles more accessible to the practising control engineer. IRA-HPC systematically performs the various stages of system identification in a control-relevant framework (addressing input design, parameter estimation, and model validation from the standpoint of the final purpose of the model, which is control system design), followed by robust HPC controller tuning using the Structured Singular Value (μ) paradigm as a basis. The benefits of the tool are shown experimentally in the modelling and control of a methanol/isopropanol pilot-scale distillation column, interfaced to an industrial-scale real-time computing testbed. The example demonstrates the practical feasibility of this tool and its benefits in terms of simplifying the choices of design variables in integrated identification and control design.