• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.11
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• pp.3685-3693
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• 2021

This paper presents a disturbance observer-based robust backstepping load-following control (DO-RBLFC) scheme for modular high-temperature gas-cooled reactors (MHTGRs) in the presence of actuator saturation and disturbances. Based on reactor kinetics and temperature reactivity feedback, the mathematical model of the MHTGR is first established. After that, a DO is constructed to estimate the unknown compound disturbances including model uncertainties, external disturbances, and unmeasured states. Besides, the actuator saturation is compensated by employing an auxiliary function in this paper. With the help of the DO, a robust load-following controller is developed via the backstepping technique to improve the load-following performance of the MHTGR subject to disturbances. At last, simulation and comparison results verify that the proposed DO-RBLFC scheme offers higher load-following accuracy, better disturbances rejection capability, and lower control rod speed than a PID controller, a conventional backstepping controller, and a disturbance observer-based adaptive sliding mode controller.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.97-106
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• 2018

Improved load-following capability is one of the most important technical tasks of a pressurized water reactor. Controlling the nuclear reactor core during load-following operation leads to some difficulties. These difficulties mainly arise from nuclear reactor core limitations in local power peaking: the core is subjected to sharp and large variation of local power density during transients. Axial offset (AO) is the parameter usually used to represent the core power peaking. One of the important local power peaking components in nuclear reactors is axial power peaking, which continuously changes. The main challenge of nuclear reactor control during load-following operation is to maintain the AO within acceptable limits, at a certain reference target value. This article proposes a new robust approach to AO control of pressurized water reactors during load-following operation. This method uses robust feedback-linearization control based on the multipoint kinetics reactor model (neutronic and thermal-hydraulic). In this model, the reactor core is divided into four nodes along the reactor axis. Simulation results show that this method improves the reactor load-following capability in the presence of parameter uncertainty and disturbances and can use optimum control rod groups to maneuver with variable overlapping.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.159-173
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• 2007

In this paper, an intelligent sliding-mode position controller (ISMC) for achieving favorable decoupling control and high precision position tracking performance of permanent-magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) servo drives is proposed. The intelligent position controller consists of a sliding-mode position controller (SMC) in the position feed-back loop in addition to an on-line trained fuzzy-neural-network model-following controller (FNNMFC) in the feedforward loop. The intelligent position controller combines the merits of the SMC with robust characteristics and the FNNMFC with on-line learning ability for periodic command tracking of a PMSM servo drive. The theoretical analyses of the sliding-mode position controller are described with a second order switching surface (PID) which is insensitive to parameter uncertainties and external load disturbances. To realize high dynamic performance in disturbance rejection and tracking characteristics, an on-line trained FNNMFC is proposed. The connective weights and membership functions of the FNNMFC are trained on-line according to the model-following error between the outputs of the reference model and the PMSM servo drive system. The FNNMFC generates an adaptive control signal which is added to the SMC output to attain robust model-following characteristics under different operating conditions regardless of parameter uncertainties and load disturbances. A computer simulation is developed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed intelligent sliding mode position controller. The results confirm that the proposed ISMC grants robust performance and precise response to the reference model regardless of load disturbances and PMSM parameter uncertainties.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.221-225
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• 2008

This paper presents a self-tuning controller for pressurized water reactor (P.W.R.). This self-tuning controller includes two substantial steps, such as parameter identification and control-law building in each cycle. Extended least square algorithm is used for parameter identification, Kalman filter is used for state estimation, and discrete Riccati equation is used for optimal control. Effectiveness of this algorithm is shown through computer simulation and sensitivity analysis.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2005.05a
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• pp.21-23
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• 2005

NARX(Nonlinear AutoRegressive with eXogenous input) neural network was used for prediction of nuclear reactor behavior which was influenced by control rods in short-term period and also by xenon and boron in long-term period in load following operations. The developed model was designed to predict reactor power, xenon worth and axial offset with different burnup rates when control rod and boron were adjusted in load following operations. Data of UCN 3 were collected by ONED94 code. The test results presented exhibit the capability of the NARX neural network model to capture the long term and short term dynamics of the reactor core and seems to be utilized as a handy tool for the use of a plant simulation.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers D
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• v.54 no.9
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• pp.567-569
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• 2005

NARX(Nonlinear AutoRegressive with eXogenous input) neural network was used for prediction of nuclear reactor behavior which was influenced by control rods in short-term period and also by the concentration of xenon and boron in long-term period in load following operations. The developed model was designed to predict reactor power, xenon worth and axial offset with different burnup states when control rods and boron were adjusted in load following operations. Data of the Korea Next Generation PWR were collected by ONED94 code. The test results presented exhibit the capability of the NARX neural network model to capture the long term and short term dynamics of the reactor core and the developed model seems to be utilized as a handy tool for the use of a plant simulation.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.47 no.7
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• pp.838-848
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• 2015

One of the most important operations in nuclear power plants is load following, in which an imbalance of axial power distribution induces xenon oscillations. These oscillations must be maintained within acceptable limits otherwise the nuclear power plant could become unstable. Therefore, bounded xenon oscillation is considered to be a constraint for the load following operation. In this paper, the design of a sliding mode control (SMC), which is a robust nonlinear controller, is presented.SMCis ameansto control pressurized water nuclear reactor (PWR) power for the load following operation problem in a way that ensures xenon oscillations are kept bounded within acceptable limits. The proposed controller uses constant axial offset (AO) strategy to ensure xenon oscillations remain bounded. The constant AO is a robust state constraint for the load following problem. The reactor core is simulated based on the two-point nuclear reactor model with a three delayed neutron groups. The stability analysis is given by means of the Lyapunov approach, thus the control system is guaranteed to be stable within a large range. The employed method is easy to implement in practical applications and moreover, the SMC exhibits the desired dynamic properties during the entire output-tracking process independent of perturbations. Simulation results are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed controller in terms of performance, robustness, and stability. Results show that the proposed controller for the load following operation is so effective that the xenon oscillations are kept bounded in the given region.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.369-378
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• 2012

A load-following operation in APR+ nuclear plants is necessary to reduce the need to adjust the boric acid concentration and to efficiently control the control rods for flexible operation. In particular, a disproportion in the axial flux distribution, which is normally caused by a load-following operation in a reactor core, causes xenon oscillation because the absorption cross-section of xenon is extremely large and its effects in a reactor are delayed by the iodine precursor. A model predictive control (MPC) method was used to design an automatic load-following controller for the integrated thermal power level and axial shape index (ASI) control for APR+ nuclear plants. Some tracking controllers employ the current tracking command only. On the other hand, the MPC can achieve better tracking performance because it considers future commands in addition to the current tracking command. The basic concept of the MPC is to solve an optimization problem for generating finite future control inputs at the current time and to implement as the current control input only the first control input among the solutions of the finite time steps. At the next time step, the procedure to solve the optimization problem is then repeated. The support vector regression (SVR) model that is used widely for function approximation problems is used to predict the future outputs based on previous inputs and outputs. In addition, a genetic algorithm is employed to minimize the objective function of a MPC control algorithm with multiple constraints. The power level and ASI are controlled by regulating the control banks and part-strength control banks together with an automatic adjustment of the boric acid concentration. The 3-dimensional MASTER code, which models APR+ nuclear plants, is interfaced to the proposed controller to confirm the performance of the controlling reactor power level and ASI. Numerical simulations showed that the proposed controller exhibits very fast tracking responses.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.5
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• pp.1698-1711
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• 2024

Heat pipe cooled reactors have gained attention as a potential solution for nuclear power generation in space and deep sea applications because of their simple design, scalability, safety and reliability. However, under complex operating conditions, a control strategy for variable load operation is necessary. This paper presents a two-dimensional transient characteristics analysis program for a heat pipe cooled reactor and proposes a variable load control strategy using the recuperator bypass (CSURB). The program was verified against previous studies, and steady-state and step-load operating conditions were calculated. For normal operating condition, the predicted temperature distribution with constant heat pipe temperature boundary conditions agrees well with the literature, with a maximum temperature difference of 0.4 K. With the implementation of the control strategy using the recuperator bypass (CSURB) proposed in this paper, it becomes feasible to achieve variable load operation and return the system to a steady state solely through the self-regulation of the reactor, without the need to operate the control drum. The average temperature difference of the fuel does not exceed 1 % at the four power levels of 70 %,80 %, 90 % and 100 % Full power. The output power of the turbine can match the load change process, and the temperature difference between the inlet and outlet of the turbine increases as the power decreases.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.30 no.3 s.246
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• pp.193-200
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• 2006

The purpose of this study is to compare the part-load performance of a SOFC/GT hybrid power system with three different kinds of load-following operation modes. The primary mode for the part load operation of a hybrid power system is the reduction of supplied fuel (e.g., fuel control mode) to the hybrid system. The other two options, i.e., variable speed and VIGV controls, are related to the reduction of supplied air simultaneously with the reduction of supplied fuel to the system. With the performance analysis of a SOFC/GT hybrid power system, it is concluded that the variable speed con佐ol mode Provides the best performance for the part-load operations. It is also found that the VIGV control mode, with its better performance behavior than the fuel control mode, can be used as an important option for the part-load operation especially in case that the variable speed control mode can not be adopted.