Design of a dynamical hybrid observer for pressure swing adsorption processes

As an integral part of a hybrid control system for Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) processes, a dynamical hybrid observer is proposed for online reconstruction of the active mode and continuous states of these processes. Hybrid systems feature both continuous and discrete-event dynamics and hence are very suited to describe PSA processes. For estimation of the active mode, a mode observer is designed, and the continuous spatial profiles in each mode are estimated by distributed and decentralized Kalman filters. The proposed hybrid observer has been applied, in silico, for a two-bed, six-step PSA process used for Hydrogen purification. The active mode of the process along with the continuous spatial profiles of its adsorption beds have been estimated quite accurately based on the measured temperatures and pressures at a few points in the process, these measured signals are all noise-corrupted and measured discretely. (C) 2017 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.