MULTIVARIABLE H MODEL MATCHING CONTROL OF A HEAT

EXCHANGER NETWORK (HEN) WITH BYPASSES

Fabio Delatore 1 , Fabrizio Leonardi2 , Lus Fernando Novazzi3 , Jos Jaime da Cruz4
1, 4
Department of Electrical Engineering, University of So Paulo, USP
Prof. Luciano Gualberto Avenue, travessa 3 n 380 Zip Code 05508-970 So Paulo, SP, Brazil
2,3
Centro Universitrio da FEI
Humberto de A. C. Branco Avenue, n3972 Zip Code 09850-901 So Bernardo do Campo, SP, Brazil
1
fdelatore@usp.br, 2fabrizio@fei.edu.br, 3 lnovazzi@fei.edu.br, 4 jaime@lac.usp.br

Abstract

A countless of different multivariable control

techniques, ranging from decentralized PID to predictive
controls, are presented in several literatures and applied to
chemical plants. This work intends to present a study
developed using a control solution based on optimal control,
applied on a heat exchanger network (HEN) with bypasses.
The HEN is frequently used in chemical processes to promote
energy integration, reducing the utility consumption as its
main objective. A H model matching control was developed
successfully to the network by using time domain specification
instead of the traditional frequency domain specification. The
results of the simulations have demonstrated that the proposed
optimal control leaded to a reasonable control performance,
i.e., process variables became almost totally decoupled, no
offset was observed and the output responses presented a small
time constant.

1. Introduction
The heat exchanger is one of the most important
equipment widely used in chemical plants to promote the
energy exchange between streams. This energy exchange
intends to minimize the consumption of the utilities (cold
water and high pressure steam) necessaries for the
manufacturing processes. To reduce the consumption of the
utilities are always desirable because they reflects directly
on the expenditure of the industries, minimizing the usage
of electrical and fuel (gas, oil) energies to cool / heat the
streams of the process.
This reduction on the consumption of the utility is
obtained by using not only one heat exchanger, but some
heat exchangers, named as heat exchanger network (HEN).
This network is indispensable to achieve the reduction of
the consumption of the utilities e. The HEN is responsible
to promote the energy integration of the chemical plant by
interchanging some streams (hot and cold) [1].
The major problem faced by the process engineers
on this energy integration is to choose which streams
(hot/cold) could be cooled or heated. One of the current
techniques to develop this study that helps engineers to

achieve the desirable integration on the industries is named

as Pinch technology [1].
Nowadays, the majority of the HEN applications
on industrial plants use the shell and tube heat exchangers.
However, it is very important that stream outlet
temperatures are in a specified range, regardless of the heat
exchanger type [1]. This specified range of temperatures
could be achieved by using an efficient control system.
There are a lot of different control techniques that
could be used within industrial processes. These techniques
range from methodologies that have a complex and highly
engineered design with a superior performance, up to
methodologies that are easy and effortless to design but not
capable to lead to a desirable performance. As an example,
the PID is the most common controller due to its
straightforward design procedure (such as the heuristic
tuning methods) and easy implementation, widely used on
the chemical plants.
Nonetheless, if the chemical process presents
inputs/outputs, the PID design will demand a supplementary
engineering attempt to tune and design the controller. In
these situation, the DMC Predictive controllers are the most
suitable control strategy to be used within industrial
processes, as it deals with many inputs/outputs, complex
dynamics, dead time or inverse output response [2]. The
drawback of those Predictive Controllers is that it needs too
much engineering contribution to be designed [3].
Based on the literature, the most common applied
control techniques to perform the closed loop control on a
HEN are the predictive control, the neural network and even
the feed forward PID [4].
The objective of this work is to demonstrate the
procedure of the design, as well as to exhibit the
performance of the H Model Matching control to perform
the closed loop control on a HEN. A reference model is
used to include time domain specifications within a H
controller by the means of the model matching technique.
Note that H Model Matching control applied to the HEN is
not commonly found on the scientific literature [5].

On the H control, the design specifications are

presented on frequency domain (frequency domain design),
design) [13].
The H problem control can be expressed as an
optimization problem in which a controller must be found
that satisfies the requirements of robustness, performance
and control effort. The formulation of the H problem
involves the application W1 (s), W2 (s) and W3 (s) weighting
matrices, responsible for the performance, control effort and
robustness, respectively, as depicted in Figure 1.

different from the LQR control, for example, that the design
is based mainly on temporal characteristics (time domain
The shell and tube heat exchangers are the most
common HE used in chemical plants due to some particular
characteristics, mainly associated with their low cost and
uncomplicated repairing and maintenance. This HE can also
be built with a lot of different sizes of the exchanger area in
order to be applied in almost all chemical processes.
The mathematical model of the HE used on this
work was obtained through stream energy balance, as
represented in Equations (2), (3), (4) and (5) [6]:
dTH ,i
dt

dTC ,n i 1
dt

dTHby ,i
dt

Figure 1 H frequency domain design.

W1( s ) S ( s )
W2 ( s) R ( s )
W3 ( s ) Z ( s)

1,

(2)

T T T T
n m C 1 f C
TC ,n i TC ,n i 1 UA H ,i C, n i H ,i 1 C ,n i 1
CVC
CVC C p ,C
2

(3)

n mH f H
T Hby , i1 THby ,i
H VHby

(4)

dTCby, ni 1

Therefore with the performance control effort and

robustness specifications previously defined, the project
goal is to find the controller K(s) that satisfies the infinity
norm inequality

T s

T T T T
n m H 1 f H
TH ,i 1 TH, i UA H ,i C ,ni H,i 1 C ,ni 1
HV H
H VH Cp , H
2

(1)

where S(s) is the sensibility function, R(s) is the control

effort function, Z(s) is the complementary sensibility
function.
Besides the design specifications presented on the
frequency domain, it is possible to develop the H project
control by using time domain specifications, where the
controller K(s) is obtained by the technique known as
Model Matching. On the Model Matching project, the
desired response is presented by the reference matrix
GREF(s) and the H finds the K(s) controller, capable to put
the transfer matrix of the closed loop system close to the
reference matrix [14].
This article is divided in 6 sections. On section 2, a
basic introduction of the heat exchanger non linear model is
presented, including its dynamics characteristics. On section
3, the structure of the HEN is presented. The section 4
brings the H Model Matching simulation results
performing the closed loop control of the HEN. Section 5
presents the conclusions obtained from this work.

2. The shell and tube heat exchanger (HE)

non-linear model

dt

n mC f C
TCby ,n i TCby, ni 1
C VCby

(5)

where T is the stream temperature, m is the mass flow rate,

is the density, is the relationship between volume and
length of the exchanger, t is the time, z is the axial position,
A is the heat transfer area, C P is the specific heat, V is the
volume and U is the global heat transfer coefficient. The
indices c and h refers to the variables related to the cold and
to the hot stream. The indices by refers to the bypass.
Equations (2) up to (5) were discretized and solved by finite
difference method, in Matlab [6]. The bypasses positions fH
and fC are the manipulated variables that affect the
controlled variables THOUT and TC OUT.
The physical dimensions of the HE and the fluid
characteristics, used on the simulations are described in
Table 1.
Table 1 Nominal values of the HE non-linear model
Fluid density ( )
Sp ecific heat (CP)
M ass flow (m)
Input temp erature (T)
Outp ut temp erature (T)
The global coefficient
of HE

Cold, Hot streams: 900 kg.m-3

Cold stream CP,C = 3230 Jkg-1C-1
Hot stream CP,H = 2215 Jkg-1C-1
Cold stream mC = 4 kg.s -1
Hot stream mH = 6 kg.s -1
Cold temp erature TCIN = 133,1 C
Hot temperature THIN = 204,4 C
Cold temp erature TCOUT = 188,1 C
Hot temperature THOUT = 150,8 C
U = 190 Wm-2C-1

HE area

A = 220 m2

A simulation of the HE model was performed in

order to verify the THOUT and TC OUT dynamics. It used a
step input variation of the variables (input temperatures,
flow and bypass position) that is frequently affected by
disturbances on a real process. By modifying the input
temperatures, the output temperatures (THOUT and TC OUT)
exhibited a first-order dynamics in association with a deadtime, as shown on Figure 2.

Figure 4 P ositive bypass step hot disturbance.

3. The shell and tube HEN arrangement

Figure 2 P ositive hot input step temperature disturbance.

When the disturbance is applied on the input flow

values, THOUT and TC OUT exhibited a first-order dynamics
and the output responses are higher on the streams directly
disturbed. Figure 3 restates the previous explanation.

Before presenting the control design and its

performance applied on a HEN, it is important to define a
physical arrangement of the exchangers, determining the
manipulated, the controllable and the disturbances variables
of the network.
Figure 5 shows the arrangement adopted of the HEN
considered on this work. The configured HEN has two hot
streams and one cold stream, two output controllable
variables and two manipulated variable.

Figure 5 The HEN structure.

This arrangement is used to develop the HEN non

linear model. It interconnects adequately the inputs and the
outputs of the HE model [6] presented on the Section 2. The
manipulated, controllable outputs and disturbance variables
of the HEN to perform the simulations analyses are listed
below:
Figure 3 P ositive hot input step flow disturbance.

To conclude this dynamic analysis, the bypasses

positions were changed, demonstrated by Figure 4. The
output temperature responses could be approximated by a
transfer function with one zero and one pole.
With all of the output responses presented, it seems
that the dynamics involved on the exchanger can be
basically represented by first-order transfer functions. And
although it presents simple dynamics, it still has an
inevitable variable loop interaction.

Controllable variables:
o THOUT 1 Hot stream 1 output temperature;
o THOUT 2 Hot stream 2 output temperature;
Manipulated variables:
o fhI 1 Bypass valve position, hot stream 1;
o fhI 2 Bypass valve position, hot stream 2;
Disturbance variables:
o THIN 1 Hot stream 1 input temperature;
o THIN 2 Hot stream 2 input temperature;
o TCIN Cold stream input temperature.

4. The H model matching

The project of the H model matching controller
begins with of the HE model proposed, performed around
the operation point given by the nominal values of the
variables described by the Table 2 as follows.
The H traditional design is based on the frequency
specifications, as demonstrated on Figure 1, by choosing
W1 (s), W2 (s) and W3 (s).

The singular values of the reference model

considered on the H model matching project, is presented
by Figure 7 as follows.

Table 2 Nominal values of the HEN non-linear model

Fluid density ( )

Cold, Hot streams: 1000 kg.m-3

Specific heat (CP)

Cold, Hot streams: 4180 Jkg-1C-1

Nominal flow (m)

Cold, Hot streams: 0.16 kg.s -1

Input temp erature

(T)

Outp ut temp erature

(T)

Cold stream: TCIN = 21 C

Hot stream 1: THIN 1 = 55 C
Hot stream 2: THIN 2 = 55 C
Cold stream: TCOUT = 31.17 C
Hot stream 1: THOUT 1 = 50,37 C
Hot stream 2: THOUT 2 = 49,47 C

HE area
The global
coefficient of HE
By p ass p osition

A = 0.1 m2
U = 1300 Wm-2C-1
Hot stream 1: fH1 = 0
Hot stream 2: fH2 = 0

The model matching structure proposed on this

article will design an H controller by using time domain
specifications instead of using frequency domain
specifications. This time domain specification is given by
an reference model, GREF(s), representing the system whose
response is the goal for the design, including transient e
decoupling issues.

Figure 7 GREF(s) singular values.

The W1 (s) considered on the project was a

constant equal to 50 and its value determine directly the
final transient response of the model matching project. The
low pass frequency characteristic of the W1 (s) from the
traditional H project (Figure 1) is given by the reference
model.
Three different simulations were developed in
order to verify the performance of the H model matching
controller: set point variation, cold flow and hot input
temperature disturbance rejection. The operation point of
the HEN for the simulations is presented by the Table 2.
4.1. H model matching performance on set point
variation
For this first simulation the set point variation
happened on the instant t=500(s). The HEN responses are
demonstrated by Figure 8 and 9, showing the TCOUT 1 and
the TC OUT 2 dynamics and the control effort (bypass
position) to change the set point.

Figure 6 H model matching structure.

Figure 6 demonstrates the structure of the model

matching project. The traditional H project will obtain the
controller K(s) that approaches the GREF (s) and G(s)K(s) by
the using the W1 (s), that penalizes the difference between
the models outputs GREF(s) and G(s)K(s).

Figure 8 H performance on set point variation.

b) Hot input temperature disturbance rejection

This third simulation will present the H controller
performance to eliminate the disturbances applied on the
THIN 1 and on the THIN 2 . The simulations are demonstrated
on Figures 12 and 13, presenting the cold output
temperatures and the control effort needed, respectively.
The disturbances were applied on the instants t=500(s) and
t=1500(s), for the THIN 2 and on the THIN 1 , respectively.

Figure 9 H control effort on set point variation.

4.2. H model matching performance on disturbance

rejection (fixed set point)
a) Cold mass flow disturbance rejection
This second simulation presents the H results in
order to reject the cold flow disturbance, where Figure 10
brings the controlled temperatures dynamics and Figure 11
shows the control effort demanded. The disturbance was
applied on the instant t=500(s).

Figure 10 H performance on cold flow disturbance rejection.

Figure 12 H performance on hot input temperature disturbance

rejection.

Figure 13 H control effort on hot input temperature disturbance

rejection.

Once more, the simulations have demonstrated

satisfactory results, in a case where a new steady state is
reached in about 300 seconds, using a control effort
consistent with the variations of the bypass valve.
Furthermore, the outputs variables presented a significant
decoupling of each other.
The matrices AK, BK, CK and DK of the controller
obtained with the H model matching project (using the
GREF (s) presented by Figure 7, with W1 (s) = 50) are as
follows:
Figure 11 H control effort on cold flow disturbance rejection.

Analyzing the Figures 10 and 11 its possible to

notice that the bypass position stayed between the minimum
and the maximum value (0 and 1, respectively), with a new
steady state reached in approximately 150 seconds for both
output temperatures.

0.6026

16.62
0.7138
AK
4
1.812 E

16.62
0.6488
2.836 E 3
0.6458

0.7137
2.832E 3
0.6005
15.21

4.87 E 4
0.6456
15.21
0.6513

0
0
0
0

0
0

0
0

0
0

5.712 E 14
6.883E 15

14
1.843 E

14
1.088 E
0
0
0
0

BK

1.173
1.05
2.572
2.517
0.8971
0.4651

7.84E3
CK
2.882

0
DK
0

2.633
2.682
0.993
1.121
0.4672

0.8959

0.1248
2.878

2.754
0.1319

2.756
6.697 E 3

12

1.691E
2.856 E12

12
1.21 E

4.547 E13

Figure 15 GREF(s), hot input temperature disturbance.

In order to check if the H model matching

response matches the GREF (s) dynamics, the same
simulations were performed with the reference model and
Figures 13 up 15 shows the simulations results obtained.
Analyzing the results presented by the Figures 13
up to 15, its possible to verify that the GREF (s) demands
approximately the same time to reach a new steady state as
the H model matching demanded: 200 seconds for set
point variation, 150 seconds for cold flow disturbance and
250 seconds for the hot input temperature disturbance.

Figure 13 GREF(s), set point variation.

6. The final conclusions and contributions

Observing the GREF (s) and H model matching
closed loop simulations responses applied on HEN (Figures
from 8 up to 15), the following conclusions can be drawn:
The H project was developed by using a non
traditional method. Normally, the specifications and
the requirements for the traditional H project are
expressed on a frequency domain. The model
matching technique, proposed on this paper, gave the
possibility to develop the H project by using time
domain specifications ;
The H model matching controller obtained to
implement the closed loop control for the HEN
presents a small order (6x6);
In spite of H not being a new control methodology,
the results obtained suggested that it can be an
interesting alternative when compared to other
traditional techniques, such as PID. The H presented
an accurate performance to decouple the variables,
associated with a short time to establish the outputs, as
notice on Figures 8 up to 13;
New studies with the HEN model will be performed
by including robustness issues on the H model
matching project;
All the simulations reported in this work were
successfully performed without any experimental
result. The Figures 16 up to 15 shows the experimental
HEN that is almost finished, installed on the Chemical
Engineering Laboratory of Centro Universitrio da
FEI, one of the most important engineering
universities in Brazil. This experimental HEN will be
used to validate the simulations results, testing the H
model matching performance in practice.

Figure 14 GREF(s), cold flow disturbance.

7. References
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Heat Transfer (CRC Press Inc, 1993)
[2] HU, GL; SUN, YX, Study and application of dynamic
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Technical Conference on Computers, Communications,
Control and Power Engineering, China, 2002. 1667-1671

Figure 16 Overview of the experimental apparatus.

[3] A. H. GONZALEZ, D. ODLOAK, J. L. MARCHETTI,

Predictive control applied to heat-exchanger networks,
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[5] F. DELATORE, J.J. Cruz, F. LEONARDI, L.F.
NOVAZZI. Multivariable Control of a Heat Exchanger with
Bypasses, 11th IASTED International Conference on
Control and Applications, 2009, Cambridge, UK

Figure 13 Data acquisition / control system.

[6] NOVAZZI, L. F., Dynamics and control of heat

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[8] F. LEONARDI, J. J. CRUZ,
Multivariable
Robust
Control with PID Structure, Proc. II Congresso
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[9] P. B. DESHPANDE, Multivariable Process Control,
(Instrument Society of America, 1989)

Figure 14 Heating system.

[10] G. M. LIMEBEER, Linear Robust Control, (Prentice

Hall, 1995)
[11] M. ATHANS, A tutorial on the LQG/LTR method,
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[12] J.J. CRUZ, Multivariable Robust Control (USP, 1996),
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[13] J. S. WILLIAMS, H for the Layman, in Measurement
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Figure 15 Electrical panel overview.