Chattering-free higher order sliding mode controller with a high-gain observer for the load following of a pressurized water reactor

An overview of power reactor kinetics and control in load-following operation modes

“…In one-energy-group point kinetics equations, the delayed neutron precursor nuclides are typically merged into either 6 groups (Shibata et al, 2011;Brown et al, 2018) or 8 groups (Plompen et al, 2020), based on the half-lives of the precursor nuclides, or into a single group (Hui et al, 2020;Hui and Yuan, 2021;2022c;d;Liu and Wang, 2014;Mousakazemi, 2019;Wang et al, 2019).…”

“…In the past, load following capabilities of nuclear reactors have been studied in numerous references, which are reviewed in the main part of this paper. They mostly rely on single point kinetics (Aboanber et al, 2014;Arab-Alibeik and Setayeshi, 2005;Ben-Abdennour et al, 1992;Edwards et al, 1990;Elsisi and Abdelfattah, 2020;Hui et al, 2020;Hui and Yuan, 2021;2022c;d;Khajavi et al, 2002;Khorramabadi et al, 2008;Li and Zhao, 2013a;b, 2014;Liu and Wang, 2014;Mousakazemi, 2019;Nair and Gopal, 1987;Park and Cho, 1992;Torabi et al, 2011;Wang et al, 2019;Zarei et al, 2016) or multi-point kinetics (Ansarifar and Saadatzi, 2015;Eliasi et al, 2011;Hui and Yuan, 2022a;b;Kobayashi and Yoshikuni, 1982;Li, 2014a;b;Li et al, 2014b;Marseguerra et al, 2003;Na et al, 1998b;a;Na, 2001;Onega and Kisner, 1978;Parhizkari et al, 2015;Pradhan et al, 2016;Saadatzi and Ansarifar, 2017;Shimazu, 1995;Winokur and Tepper, 1984;Yadav et al, 2018) or on 1D time-dependent diffusion codes (Christie and Poncelet, 1973;…”

Fractional‐order sliding mode load following control via disturbance observer for modular high‐temperature gas‐cooled reactor system with disturbances

“…The main merits and contributions of this study can be summarized as follows. Compared to the previous integer‐order sliding mode load following controllers proposed in [8–11], the proposed fractional‐order sliding mode controller possesses better transient and steady‐state performance, while alleviating chattering phenomenon efficiently, owning to the characteristics of the fractional‐order calculus. To the best of our knowledge, this should be the first time to develop fractional‐order sliding mode load following control scheme simultaneously with consideration of model uncertainties and external disturbances. The significant difference from the previous fractional‐order sliding mode load following controller proposed in [27] lies in that the proposed FOSMCS‐DO is capable of compensating the lumped disturbances, thereby enhancing the robustness of the control system. Detailed simulation results demonstrate that the proposed overall control strategy outperforms a disturbance observer‐based conventional sliding mode controller (DO‐CSMC), an active disturbance rejection controller (ADRC), and a conventional backstepping controller (CBC) for load‐following operation of the uncertain MHTGR system. …”

“…• Compared to the previous integer-order sliding mode load following controllers proposed in [8][9][10][11], the proposed fractional-order sliding mode controller possesses better transient and steady-state performance, while alleviating chattering phenomenon efficiently, owning to the characteristics of the fractional-order calculus. • To the best of our knowledge, this should be the first time to develop fractional-order sliding mode load following control scheme simultaneously with consideration of model uncertainties and external disturbances.…”

“…In particular, the load‐following control of the nuclear reactors has attracted a great deal of attention from researchers in the field of nuclear engineering over the past years. Various kinds of control methods have been proposed with consideration of different control aims reported in the existing literature, such as improved proportional‐integral‐derivative (PID) control [2–4], fault tolerated control [5], model prediction control [6], backstepping control [7], sliding mode control [8–11], observer‐based control [12, 13], robust adaptive control [14], $$$ {H}_{\infty } $$$ control [15], and so on. To mention a few, Puchalski et al [3] proposed a fuzzy multi‐regional fractional order PID controller for the average thermal power control of a pressurized water reactor (PWR).…”