Gain-Scheduled Control of Counter-Current Shell-and-Tube Heat Exchangers in Series

Gain scheduling is one of the control approaches that improve control of nonlinear processes. It involves tuning of controller parameters as a process passes from one operating range to another. In this way, the controller gains are better aligned with the nonlinear dynamics of the process and the linear nature of the conventional PID controllers is overcome. In this study, the gain-scheduled PID control is proposed for a heat exchanger network composed of five counter-current shell-and-tube heat exchangers in series, in which kerosene coming from a distillation unit in a refinery is cooled. Simulation results show that the gain-scheduled PID controller ensures better control performance as well as energy savings in comparison with conventionally tuned PID controllers.