Fractional order integral sliding mode control for PWR nuclear power plant

This paper presents a robust control strategy for pressurized water type nuclear power plants by combining the optimal linear quadratic Gaussian control strategy with the fractional-order theory based integral sliding mode control strategy. The proposed control scheme follows the reference set-point effectively in spite of the presence of uncertainties in the system by spending minimal control efforts. The non-linear nuclear power plant model adopted in this study is characterized by 38 state variables. The non-linear model is first linearised around steady state operating point to obtain a linear model for which a proposed control strategy is designed. Stability of the closed-loop system is proved with the help of Lyapunov theory. Finally, efficacy of the proposed control scheme for different control loops of the nuclear power plant is demonstrated through simulations and compared with conventional techniques.