A Hybrid PI–Fuzzy Control Scheme for a Drum Drying Process

Abstract

The drying process is widely used in the food industry for its ability to remove water, provide microbial stability, and reduce spoilage reactions, as well as storage and transportation costs. In particular, rotary drum drying becomes important when it is applied to liquid and pasty foods because of the desire to maintain defined characteristics in terms of product moisture. This drying process is characterized by the existence of many linearities; therefore, different strategies for controlling this process have been proposed. This work focuses on the design of a hybrid PI–fuzzy control scheme for the rotary drum drying process; the idea is to use the advantages of fuzzy logic to obtain a robust monitoring and control system. A pilot plant rotary drum dryer was used to tune the PI control part. Then, the proposed scheme was programmed and tested at the simulation level, comparing it with a classical PI control algorithm.