Multi-scale Dynamics of High Energy Throughput Systems

The present paper analyzes the energy dynamics of process networks and/or staged processes whereby the material recycle streams interconnecting the units/stages take on the additional role of energy carriers. In the presence of large energy input and output flows, the networks considered are shown to exhibit a dynamic behavior with multiple time scales, with the variables in the energy balance evolving over a short time horizon, and the variables in the material balance exhibiting both fast and slow transients. A singular perturbation analysis is employed for the derivation of reduced order models for the fast and slow dynamics. Finally, an illustrative example and numerical simulation results are presented. Copyright 2007 IFAC