Process Control Closed Loop Controller

The facility process controller uses a PID control system. Error is rounded to even kFE to 0 the error at low values to avoid integral windup. Additionally, when the controller output is saturated, the integrator accumulator is put on pause to avoid integral windup.

Charge Level PD Controller

The charge level target mode uses a high-D gain PD controller. This provides rapid approach to the setpoint, but right before the D term "puts on the brakes" and heavily slows the system to deal with the time lag issues with the turbines. Then the controller pushes back and finally approaches the setpoint. Minor deviations are mostly handled by the D term pushing back in the opposite direction of the changes.

kP = 0.275 kD = 4.5

Generation Rate PID w/ Feed Forward Controller

This controller acts as a "velocity" style PID controller. First the system ramps to the pre-calculated feed-forward based on the charge conversion ratio for the number of turbine blades. The PID controller then takes over to bring the system exactly to the setpoint. The P/D terms contribute to nudging in the right direction as the I term begins to accumulate until it becomes the correct offset from the feed-forward to achieve and maintain the exact burn rate.

This controller was designed to have a slow response to guarantee stability. Reaching the setpoint may take anywhere from 0 seconds to 120 seconds (or longer), depending on the setpoint and reactor setup. There is a sweet spot on reactor control where the feed-forward is exactly correct, but below and above that spot the PID is necessary to adjust the output rate.

kP = 2.45 kI = 0.4825 kD = -1.0 kFF = genTarget / conversionRatio

The conversion ratio is the 285.6 FE per turbine blade per 0.1 mB.