Synthesis and Investigation of the Control System for the Process of Сarbon Article Molding

Among the most energy-intensive industries is the production of carbon articles, therefore, the improvement of its efficiency is a relevant scientific and technical task. One of the ways to resolve the set task is to create a modern production management system.

This paper considers the creation of a control system for one of the essential technological processes in carbon articles production – the process of their formation. Underlying the control system is the optimality criterion based on the specific cost of products taking into consideration their quality indicators. The control method used is Model Predictive Control (MPC). The results of studying the dependence of an optimality criterion on the setting parameters of an MPC-controller have made it possible to determine the optimum values for the prediction and control horizons, which could ensure the minimization of the products’ specific cost. The structure of the proposed control system, developed in the Simulink programming environment, makes it possible to investigate a given control system through computer simulations.

The efficiency of the proposed system to control the process of carbon product molding was examined by comparing the quality of control by a given system and by the system that uses the classic PID control law. To this end, a three-circuit control system based on the PID-controllers was synthesized in the Simulink programming environment. Each controller was set, using a Powell method, for a minimum value of the integrated criterion. The results of the comparative study have demonstrated that at each operation cycle the optimality criterion value in the control system employing an MPC-controller was 8.8 % less than that in the system with PID-controllers at the same indicators of product quality. That testifies to the improvement in the technical and economic indicators of the formation process. This fact is of particular importance when taking into consideration the circularity of the technological process of carbon product formation.