Hierarchical Control of Reactor Inlet Temperature in Pool-Type Plants: Implementation and Results

The implementation of a computer-based controller for regulating reactor inlet temperature (RIT) in a pool-type power plant is described. The mathematical description of the controller is given in a companion paper. The elements of the control system are organized in a master-follower hierarchical architecture that takes advantage of existing in-plant hardware and software to minimize the need for plant modifications. Low-level control algorithms are executed on existing local digital controllers (followers) with the high-level algorithms executed on a new plant supervisory computer (master). A distributed computing strategy provides integration of the existing and additional computer platforms. The control system operated by having the master controller first estimate the secondary sodium flow needed to achieve a given RIT. The estimated flow is then used as a setpoint by the follower controller to regulate sodium flow using a motor-generator pump set. The control system has been implemented in a hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) setup and qualified for operation in the Experimental Breeder Reactor II at Argonne National Laboratory. The HIL results are provided.