Patent attributes
An improved process and corresponding controller provide a model predictive control approach that can be implemented with less computational resources and/or with greater speed than conventional MPC, while at the same time retaining all or a substantial portion of the robustness and advantages of conventional MPC. According to one aspect of the invention, the process provides an improved initial estimate of the MPC model trajectory to reduce the number of iterations to find the optimal one. The improved trajectory is obtained by applying a correction to the computed MPC manipulated value trajectory, and using the corrected manipulated value trajectory as the starting point for the next iteration of MPC manipulated value trajectory computation. As set forth in more detail below, the correction is determined from the LQR feedback control strategy. Since the sequence of control laws for the LQR feedback control strategy can be computed off-line and stored, the real time part of the LQR control strategy needed to determine the correction can be retrieved with relatively little computational resources.
