Reduced order model based FOPID controller design for power control in Pressurized Heavy Water Reactor with specific gain -phase margin

The substantial portion of the existing power generation comes from Pressurized Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR). However, PHWR is a nonlinear and high order system and designing a controller for such a high order system is not an easy task. Therefore, it is required to design a controller for a reduced order PHWR system which will give the same response as that on the original higher order system. The focus of the present research endeavor is to propose a design methodology for a fractional-order proportional integral derivative controller for the power control of reduced order PHWR system. The reduced order models of PHWR have been obtained using Balanced Truncation method and a robust FOPID controller has been designed using the stability boundary locus method with specific gain-phase margin. The simulation results illustrate a better set point tracking performance with the use of proposed FOPID controller at 30% control drop and varied initial power levels.