Novel Tools for Model-based Control System Design based on FMI/FMU Standard with Application in Energetics

The paper presents novel tools for model-based control system design based on FMI/FMU standard (Functional Mock-up Interface / Unit). It is focused on application of FMI standard for easy integration of control system development cycle starting with Model-in-the-Loop (MIL) simulation and finishing with Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) simulation. It is shown, how the Functional Mock-up Units (FMU) containing dynamic differential-algebraic equations of various parts of the device (mechanical, electrical, hydraulic, thermal, etc.) can be easily deployed to unified simulation environment where the control system is designed, consequently. The procedure allows to combine inputs from various Modelica-based tools at the process model side, utilizing power of Matlab/Simulink for design, analysis and optimization of control system and perform final test via HIL scenario where both the model and control system are simulated in real-time on separated HW units. The pros and cons of both FMI concepts, i.e. Co-Simulation and Model Exchange are discussed in detail. The whole procedure is demonstrated on a steam turbine example combining component based and equation based modeling. Both the turbine model and the full control loop are validated in all phases of control system development. It is shown, that monolithic simulation block with proprietary solver reduces computational burden compared to automatic FMU concept.