This study proposes a self-evolving offset-free model predictive control (MPC) algorithm
for dynamic working-point change (DWPC) tasks in industrial processes.
The algorithm mitigates disturbance impacts caused by model–plant
mismatch (MPM) and enhances the dynamic performance of MPC by locating
sequences (scenarios) similar to the current operational scenario
from historical DWPC tasks and using them for multistep-ahead disturbance
prediction. First, a disturbance-augmented state–space model
guarantees the basic offset-free control behavior of MPC with MPM.
Next, to enhance the MPC performance, a direct multistep-ahead disturbance
prediction approach is proposed by combining historically similar
DWPC task scenarios. Specifically, a dynamic autoencoder is constructed
to extract private features from process scenarios and locate similar
scenarios from historical DWPC tasks. Based on the located scenarios,
the multistep-ahead disturbance and its uncertainty are directly predicted
through multioutput Gaussian process regression. Finally, the obtained
disturbance results are incorporated into the MPC framework, which
continuously enhances MPC performance in DWPC tasks. Two case studies
demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed MPC.