A model-free control strategy for an experimental greenhouse with an application to fault accommodation

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel model-free control approach for greenhouse climate regulation that effectively manages disturbances and faults without relying on detailed models, demonstrated through experiments and comparisons.

Contribution

It presents a new model-free control strategy tailored for greenhouses, simplifying implementation and enhancing fault accommodation compared to traditional model-based methods.

Findings

Excellent climate control performance demonstrated

Effective fault accommodation achieved

Outperforms Boolean controllers in tests

Abstract

Writing down mathematical models of agricultural greenhouses and regulating them via advanced controllers are challenging tasks since strong perturbations, like meteorological variations, have to be taken into account. This is why we are developing here a new model-free control approach and the corresponding intelligent controllers, where the need of a good model disappears. This setting, which has been introduced quite recently and is easy to implement, is already successful in many engineering domains. Tests on a concrete greenhouse and comparisons with Boolean controllers are reported. They not only demonstrate an excellent climate control, where the reference may be modified in a straightforward way, but also an efficient fault accommodation with respect to the actuators.