Heat exchanger control: Performance of thermodynamics-based geometrical vs classical PID controllers

Authors

Omar R. Gómez-Gómez, Marco A. Zárate-Navarro, J. Paulo García-Sandoval

Abstract

In this communication, a control problem based on thermodynamic principles is developed to control the output temperature of a heat exchanger in an experimental setup. The system is controlled through a nonlinear output error, which is proportional to the total entropy production within the heat exchanger. A lumped-parameter model of the heat exchanger allows to define the thermodynamic control scheme, with geometric control principles, a high-gain observer and an anti-windup scheme, which provides robustness against parametric uncertainties and disturbances. To make a comparison with classical control schemes, a Ziegler–Nichols PID controller was tuned for a First Order Plus Dead Time plant approximation. The experimental setup used a National Instruments Compact FieldPoint controller, and the control scheme was programmed in a LabVIEW interface. The performance of the proposed controller was tested under two criteria: energetic performance and total tracking control error. The results show that the classical controller has a better energy-saving performance, while the thermodynamic controller has a better tracking performance, making it more suitable for applications where temperature control needs to be more precise.

Keywords

Heat exchanger; LabVIEW; Non-equilibrium thermodynamics; PID

Citation

• Journal: Case Studies in Thermal Engineering
• Year: 2025
• Volume: 71
• Issue:
• Pages: 106130
• Publisher: Elsevier BV
• DOI: 10.1016/j.csite.2025.106130

BibTeX

@article{G_mez_G_mez_2025,
  title={{Heat exchanger control: Performance of thermodynamics-based geometrical vs classical PID controllers}},
  volume={71},
  ISSN={2214-157X},
  DOI={10.1016/j.csite.2025.106130},
  journal={Case Studies in Thermal Engineering},
  publisher={Elsevier BV},
  author={Gómez-Gómez, Omar R. and Zárate-Navarro, Marco A. and García-Sandoval, J. Paulo},
  year={2025},
  pages={106130}
}

Download the bib file

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