Application of Self-Disturbance-Robust Generalized Predictive Control in Feedwater Temperature Control

To address the issue of energy conservation of high-pressure heater systems in feedwater temperature elevating, this paper proposes an advanced control strategy based on a self-disturbance-compensating generalized predictive control (GPC) algorithm. Combined with the control of high-pressure heater water level, the feedwater temperature is controlled. Aiming at the high inertia and significant delay in high-pressure heater systems, a GPC algorithm is introduced to effectively compensate for system dynamic lag. Concurrently, to tackle multi-source and unmeasurable disturbances during high-pressure heater operation, an extended state observer is presented for their real-time observation and compensation. This significantly enhances the control system’s disturbance rejection capability, while maximizing the heat transfer efficiency of the high-pressure heater and reducing irreversible losses in the thermal system. Simulation experiment results demonstrate that the proposed method achieves superior stability and control performance compared to relevant control methods for feedwater temperature regulation, offering a solution to enhance the thermal economy of the power plant.