Dynamic Output Feedback Power-Level Control for the MHTGR Based On Iterative Damping Assignment

Because of its strong inherent safety features and high outlet temperature, the modular high temperature gas-cooled nuclear reactor (MHTGR) is already seen as the central part of the next generation of nuclear plants. Such power plants are being considered for industrial applications with a wide range of power levels, and thus power-level control is an important technique for their efficient and stable operation. Stimulated by the high regulation performance provided by nonlinear controllers, a novel dynamic output-feedback nonlinear power-level regulator is developed in this paper based on the technique of iterative damping assignment (IDA). This control strategy can provide the L2 disturbance attenuation performance under modeling uncertainty or exterior disturbance, and can also guarantee the globally asymptotic closed-loop stability without uncertainty and disturbance. This newly built control strategy is then applied to the power-level regulation of the HTR-PM plant, and numerical simulation results show both the feasibility and high performance of this newly-built control strategy. Furthermore, the relationship between the values of the parameters and the performance of this controller is not only illustrated numerically but also analyzed theoretically.