Research Initiation:  A Bilevel Programming Methodology for Optimizing Control of Chemical Processes
{'Code': '07020000', 'Directorate': {'LongName': 'Directorate For Engineering'}, 'Division': {'LongName': 'Div Of Chem, Bioeng, Env, & Transp Sys'}}
{'SignBlockName': 'Maria Burka'}
The objectives of control and operation of industrial processes                 are set up in a hierarchial mode.  Short-term, random, rapid                    fluctuations are handled by regulators which implement some                     chosen operating policy and are at the bottom of the control                    hierarchy.  Medium-term transients are the domain of an                         optimizing layer in the middle of the hierarchy, which produces                 setpoints to respond to changes in operating policy, process                    performance and feed quality.  Long-term changes are managed by a               production planning layer at the top of the hierarchy, which                    allocates feeds, assigns production rates and determines the best               mix of products in response to changing market conditions.  Thus,               the process is insulated from a failure of a higher layer by the                presence of the lower ones, e.g., if the optimizing computer goes               down, operation will still continue under the direction of the                  regulator.  These control schemes in the past were designed                     assuming that the regulator acts much more quickly than the                     optimizer, so the optimizer can ignore the dynamics of the                      regulator.                                                                                                                                                      The principal goal of this research is to develop a novel                       optimizing control frame work that explicitly accounts for the                  interplay between the optimizer and the regulator.  Continuing                  pressures to operate with reduced inventories have caused                       feedstocks to be purchased in smaller quantities, on an "as                     needed" basis.  If a commodity available from several producers                 is used as a feed, this introduces a source of significant                      variations into a process.  This higher frequency of feed changes               demands more frequent action by the optimizer.  However, imposing               a more rapid optimizing action on industrial processes with slow                dynamics pushes the time scales of the optimizer and regulator                  closer, making an optimizer which ignores the actions of the                    regulator inadequate.  The proposed approach to account for the                 interaction between the optimizer and the regulator in such                     circumstances uses an optimization formulation known as the                     bilevel program.  The PI proposes to develop an efficient                       algorithm for solving this optimization problem.
{'FirstName': 'Peter', 'LastName': 'Clark', 'EmailAddress': None, 'StartDate': '06/15/1988', 'EndDate': None, 'RoleCode': 'Principal Investigator'}
{'Name': 'Cornell University', 'CityName': 'Ithaca', 'ZipCode': '148502820', 'PhoneNumber': '6072555014', 'StreetAddress': '373 Pine Tree Road', 'CountryName': 'United States', 'StateName': 'New York', 'StateCode': 'NY'}
{'Code': '1403', 'Text': 'Proc Sys, Reac Eng & Mol Therm'}
{'url': 'https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/download?DownloadFileName=1988&All=true', 'xml': '8808865.xml'}