Daz 2001
Daz 2001
Daz 2001
www.elsevier.com/locate/ijhmt
Abstract
We extend the arti®cial neural network (ANN) technique to the simulation of the time-dependent behavior of a heat
exchanger (HX) and use it to control the temperature of air passing over it. The experiments are carried out in a open
loop test facility. First a methodology is proposed for the training and prediction of the dynamic behavior of thermal
systems with heat exchangers. Then an internal model scheme is developed for the control of the over-tube air tem-
perature with two arti®cial neural networks, one to simulate the heat exchanger and another as controller. An integral
control is implemented in parallel with the ®lter of the neural network controller to eliminate a steady-state oset. The
results are compared with those of standard PI and PID controller. There is less oscillatory behavior with the neural
network controller, which allows the system to reach steady-state operating conditions in regions where the PI and PID
controllers are not able to perform as well. Ó 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
0017-9310/01/$ - see front matter Ó 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 0 1 7 - 9 3 1 0 ( 0 0 ) 0 0 2 2 8 - 3
1672 G. Dõaz et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 44 (2001) 1671±1679
HX slowly changes over time due to such factors as compared with those of standard PI and PID tech-
fouling that changes the heat transfer characteristics of niques.
surfaces.
Arti®cial neural networks (ANNs) have been used in
recent years to avoid the problems associated with de- 2. Background
terministic approaches, and have been shown to ap-
proximate nonlinear functions up to any desired level of 2.1. Experimental setup
accuracy [8]. They are also less sensitive to noise and
incomplete information than other approaches such as The experimental setup consists of a variable speed
empirical models and correlations. In recent years, the wind tunnel facility located in the Hydronics Laboratory
technique has been applied to many thermal problems at the University of Notre Dame (details are in [22]). A
[1], among them the prediction of the steady state [9] and single-row water-to-air ®n-tube heat exchanger is used
the dynamic behavior of heat exchangers [10±12]. The to obtain static and dynamic measurements. Fig. 1
advantage of using ANNs to simulate thermal processes shows a picture of the experimental facility. There is a
is that, after they are trained, they represent a quick and single water-side circuit which goes back and forth
reliable way of predicting their performance. They can across the face of the heat exchanger. This is a nominal
also be continuously updated. Thus, if we apply this 18 in: 24 in: type T water coil heat exchanger manu-
technique to the problem of simulation and control of factured by Trane. Type-T isolated thermocouples are
HXs, then we obtain an accurate prediction with a short used to measure the inlet and outlet temperature of the
computational time for the simulation which can be used air and water side. The motion of the air in the tunnel is
in an ecient real-time control scheme. due to a fan that is controlled by a variable speed drive
There are several schemes that have been proposed that can be operated manually or automatically from a
for the neural control of nonlinear systems [13±16]. One personal computer. The air speed is measured using a
of these is a method called internal model control (IMC) Pitot tube, located upstream of the heat exchanger, that
[17±19]. This technique has been used for a variety of is connected to a dierential pressure transducer. The
problems in dierent areas due to its excellent charac- ®lter and data acquisition board used can obtain
teristics of robustness and stability [20]. The IMC tech- measurements of up to 16 dierent channels, simulta-
nique using ANNs consists of training a network to neously. The data acquisition board receives informa-
learn the dynamics of a process, after which another tion about inlet and outlet temperatures of both the air
ANN is trained to learn the inverse dynamics so that it and water side, the mass ¯ow rate of water, the air speed
can be used as a nonlinear controller [17,21]. and the time at which the measurements were taken. The
In this work, we use the combined advantages of inlet water temperature is varied by using a heater with a
ANNs and IMC to generate an ecient real-time con- PID-controlled electrical resistance. The water ¯ow rate
trol scheme for a HX installed in a test facility. The HX is modi®ed by an electronic valve so that the percentage
transfers heat from water to air, and the objective is to of opening can be controlled as desired from the
control a single output variable, the outlet air tempera- personal computer. LabVIEW is used to acquire and
ture, by changing a single input variable, the air speed. send data to the experimental system and an interface
The system consists of the HX and the entire water- and was built in C language to simulate the neural networks
air-¯ow subsystems. The results of the neural control are and perform the desired control action. Time-dependent
G. Dõaz et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 44 (2001) 1671±1679 1673
a 1 _
Tout Q Tina ; 4.1. ANNs with IMC
m_ a ca
where Q_ is the heat rate which also depends on m_ a . Fig. 7 IMC consists of having a model of a plant M in
shows the measured function Tout a
m_ a for dierent m_ w . parallel with the real system P, as shown in Fig. 8. The
a
Fig. 6. (a) Training a system of order n. (b) Response of HX treated as a system of dierent orders. Tout is normalized and s is the
sample number.
1676 G. Dõaz et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 44 (2001) 1671±1679
and it is able to bring the system to a stable condition. shut down completely one of the valves on the water side
On the other hand, both PI and PID controllers os- for a short time. Once again, we test the controllers at a
a
cillate signi®cantly more and are not able to bring the state that is hard to control, i.e. with Tout 36°C and a
a
system to a steady state, but keep Tout within 36°C by low air speed. The PI controller showed the worst
constantly adjusting the air speed. Thus, the ANN performance and is left out of the comparison shown in
controller uses less energy and is more stable by Fig. 10. Fig. 10(a) shows the change in the water ¯ow
keeping the system steady instead of generating an rate which is the disturbance itself; the water ¯ow is shut
oscillatory controlling action. down between t 40 and 70 s. After the disturbance
pulse, the controller brings the system back to steady
a
state. Figs. 10(b) and (c) show the change in Tout and m_ a ,
4.3. Comparison with PID: disturbance rejection respectively. Once again it is seen that the PID is not
able to bring the system to a steady-state condition while
We now analyze the disturbance rejection capabilities the oscillations of the ANN controller are quickly
of the control system. In this test, a disturbance is ap- damped out. It is seen in Fig. 10(c) that the PID con-
plied to the plant in the form of a pulse in the following troller, in trying to control the temperature, generates an
way. Once the system is at steady-state operation, we oscillatory air speed.
1678 G. Dõaz et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 44 (2001) 1671±1679
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