A Hierarchical Architecture for the Coordination of an Ensemble of Steam Generators

This work presents a hierarchical architecture for the optimal management of an ensembleof steam generators, which needs to sustain jointly a common load. The coordination of independentsubsystems is provided by a multi-layer control scheme. A high-level optimizer computes the optimalshares of production to be allocated to single generators. At medium level, a robust tube-based ModelPredictive Control (MPC) is proposed to track the time-varying demand of the ensemble using acentralized, but aggregate model, whose order does not scale with the number of subsystems. Atlow level, decentralized controllers are in place to stabilize the internal boiler pressures. The controlarchitecture enables dynamically the modification of the ensemble configuration and plug and playoperations. Simulation results are reported to demonstrate the potentialities of the proposed approach.