Real-Time Implementation of Switched Multi-Objective Prioritizing MPC for a Brandy Distillation Process

This paper addresses the implementation of a novel approach to the design of Model Predictive Control (MPC) on a brandy distillation process. This new approach is based on multi-objective optimization with prioritization and switching between multiple models obtained at different operating phases. At each sampling step, several conflicting objectives are to be optimized under an order of priority that may be changed from one phase of the process working cycle to another. The proposed Switched Multi-Objective Prioritizing MPC (S-MOP-MPC) is compared with a PID-based control structure in terms of various performance indices. The results show that S-MOP-MPC provides better control and better performance than the PID-based control structure.