Buffer Tank Design for Acceptable Control Performance

This paper provides a systematic approach for the design of buffer tanks. We consider mainly the case where the objective of the buffer tank is to dampen (“average out”) the fast (i.e., high-frequency) disturbances, which cannot be handled by the feedback control system. We consider separately design procedures for (I) mixing tanks to dampen quality disturbances and (II) surge tanks with averaging level control to handle flow-rate disturbances. also affiliated with Norsk Hydro ASA, Corporate Research Centre, N-3907 Porsgrunn, Norway, E-mail: [email protected], Tel.: +47 35 92 40 21, Fax.: +47 35 92 32 63 Author to whom all correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: [email protected], Tel.: +47 73 59 41 54, Fax.: +47 73 59 40 80 1