Crescenzo Pepe

• Control/Automation Engineer/Researcher, Ph.D.
• Research Fellow at Marche Polytechnic University

Intelligent water usage is required in order to target the challenging goals for 2030 and 2050. Hydroelectric power plants represent processes wherein water is exploited as a renewable resource and a source for energy production. Hydroelectric power plants usually include reservoirs, valves, gates, and energy production devices, e.g., turbines. In...

In the present work, the design and the implementation of a Fault Detection and Isolation (FDI) system for an industrial machinery is proposed. The case study is represented by a multishaft centrifugal compressor used for the syngas manufacturing. The system has been conceived for the monitoring of the faults which may damage the multishaft centrif...

The present paper proposes a steel industry case study focused on a reheating furnace and a rolling mill. Hardware and software innovations were successfully combined in order to obtain process control and energy efficiency improvement. The reheating furnace at study is pusher type and processes billets. The hardware innovation is related to the in...

In this paper, a unified level 2 Advanced Process Control system for steel billets reheating furnaces is proposed. The system is capable of managing all process conditions that can occur in different types of furnaces, e.g., walking beam and pusher type. A multi-mode Model Predictive Control approach is proposed together with a virtual sensor and a...

The cement industry includes energy-intensive processes, e.g., clinker rotary kilns and clinker grate coolers. Clinker is obtained through chemical and physical reactions in a rotary kiln from raw meal; these reactions also involve combustion processes. The grate cooler is located downstream of the clinker rotary kiln with the purpose of suitably c...

The present work is in the framework of water resource control and optimization. Specifically, an advanced process control system was designed and implemented in a hydroelectric power plant for water management. Two reservoirs (connected through a regulation gate) and a set of turbines for energy production constitute the main elements of the proce...

The present work proposes a simulation and control framework for home and building automation, focusing on heating, ventilating, and air conditioning processes. Control systems based on different advanced control architectures and different control policies are simulated and compared, highlighting control performances, and energy-saving results in...

In this paper, the reheating process and the initial milling process, i.e. the roughing phase of steel billets, are analyzed. An Advanced Process Control has been developed and installed on pusher-type billets’ reheating furnace of an Italian steel industry. Data analysis is focused on the proof that the installed measurement tools are reliable and...

In this paper an application of Advanced Process Control techniques to an Italian water distribution network is presented. Several in-depth hydraulic studies had previously been conducted in order to perform hardware modifications through sectorization procedures. In order to further improve performance, both pressure management of the water distri...

This paper presents two industrial case studies where Advanced Process Control techniques have been applied. The first case study is represented by a hydroelectric plant located in Italy. In this plant, a model predictive controller has been designed and installed, in order to optimally satisfy the production plan. The predictive control approach h...

This study proposes a data analysis and modelization method for the rolling mill process of billets in steel plants. By exploiting rolling mill signals and advanced data processing algorithms, a reliable billet tracking system is designed, which tracks each workpiece from the furnace entrance to the rolling mill stands’ exit area. Based on the stor...

This paper focuses on the design of an Advanced Process Control system for the control and the optimization of a pusher type billets reheating furnace. The controller formulation is based on a two-layer Model Predictive Control strategy. The formulated linear model of the furnace variables and the billets temperature behavior is constituted by a co...

In this paper, the control and the optimization of the clinker production phase of an Italian dry cement industry is described. A tailored Advanced Process Control architecture has been proposed, based on a two-layer Model Predictive Control strategy. The critical process variables have been included in the controller setup through linear models wi...

This paper presents a project aimed at the optimization of a water distribution network located in Trento (Italy). Several in-depth hydraulic studies have been conducted in order to perform hardware modifications through sectorization procedures. Advanced Process Control methods have been designed in order to optimally and automatically manage the...

The present paper describes the design and the installation of an Advanced Process Control (APC) system on a steel industry billets reheating furnace located in an Italian steel plant. The installed APC system acts as a high-level optimizer that manipulates the furnace zones temperature setpoints. A Model Predictive Control (MPC) strategy represent...

This paper presents the use of advanced control techniques applied to a Water Distribution Network. A pressure minimization problem aimed at leakage minimization has been approached with the implementation of a two-layer Model Predictive Control system. In addition, an optimal scheduling of the pumping stations has been performed which suitably han...

The research reported in this paper proposes an Advanced Process Control system, denoted “i.Process | Steel – RHF”, oriented to energy efficiency improvement in a pusher type billets reheating furnace located in an Italian steel plant. A tailored control method based on a two-layer Model Predictive Control strategy has been created that involves co...

In this paper, Advanced Process Control strategies aimed at energy efficiency achievement and improvement in cement and steel industry are proposed. A flexible and smart control structure constituted by several functional modules and blocks has been developed. The designed control strategy is based on Model Predictive Control techniques, formulated...

The research activity has been focused on the study of Advanced Process Control (APC) techniques aimed at applications oriented to energy efficiency achievement in process industries. Studies about theoretical and practical aspects of APC have been conducted, focusing on Model Predictive Control (MPC) techniques. An APC framework based on a two-lay...

In this paper, the problem of the control and optimization of a walking beam billets reheating furnace located in an Italian steel plant is analyzed. An ad hoc Advanced Process Control framework has been developed, based on a two-layer linear Model Predictive Control architecture. This control block optimizes the steady and transient states of the...

In this work an Advanced Process Control module based on a two-layer linear Model Predictive Control architecture is presented. The two layers, exploiting model-based predictions and suitably cooperating, optimize both the dynamic and steady state behaviors of the considered process. Furthermore, each layer is equipped with a decoupling strategy de...

In this work an advanced control system design aimed to the improvement of economic benefits and control performances of a cement rotary kiln located in an Italian cement plant is discussed. A Model Predictive Controller, together with other functional blocks designed to manage normal and critical situations, constitutes the core of the proposed st...

This paper proposes a formulation of a linear Model Predictive Control system based on two layers. The formulation takes into account a status value associated with each variable. At the lower layer, a basic Model Predictive Control module minimizes a constrained quadratic cost function for the computation of the future control moves. At the upper...

In this paper a two-layer linear Model Predictive Control strategy is proposed. The problem of establishing a consistency between the mathematical formulations of the two layers is analyzed. At the lower layer, a basic Model Predictive Control module computes the future control moves taking into account predictions on the manipulated and controlled...

In this paper, a Model Predictive Control strategy is used to stabilize a temperature profile along a cement rotary kiln minimizing fuel specific consumption. The adopted system architecture is composed of two different optimization layers that interact in order to improve control performances and to meet possibly variable economic goals. The devel...

In this paper an Advanced Process Control system aimed at controlling and optimizing a pusher type reheating furnace located in an Italian steel plant is proposed. The designed controller replaced the previous control system, based on PID controllers manually conducted by process operators. A two-layer Model Predictive Control architecture has been...

In this work an Advanced Process Control approach aimed to the control and the optimization of a cement rotary kiln is proposed. Model Predictive Control techniques have been adopted for the controller and a system architecture based on two optimization layers is proposed. A suitable design of each layer and their interaction policy allowed to impr...

In this work, the control optimization of a rotary kiln located in a cement plant is described. The need to enhance the efficiency level, to increase the profitability as well as the commitment to meet precise production standards has motivated the adoption of Model Predictive Control techniques. The adopted system architecture is composed of two d...

Home & Building Automation provides automatic control of indoor environments and its primary goals are the fulfillment of user requirements while realizing significant energy savings. In the present paper, energy saving in home and office buildings is achieved through an efficient management of heat and lighting devices and with the exploitation of...