Estimation of the Spatial Alumina Concentration of an Aluminium Smelting Cell Using a Huber Function-Based Kalman Filter

The distribution of aluminaAlumina concentration is important for optimal cellCell operationsOperation in the aluminium smeltingAluminium smelting process. However, continuous real-time measurement of aluminaAlumina concentration is generally infeasible due to the hostile environment in the cellCell. As such a soft sensor is often needed to estimate the aluminaAlumina concentration from readily available measurements (e.g., cellCell voltage and line current). However, these approaches often suffer from poor estimation accuracy when the model error increases (e.g., during the anode effectAnode effect). To address these problems, this work develops a robust Kalman filter to estimate the spatial aluminaAlumina concentration using voltage measurements and individual anodeAnode current data. The proposed methodMethod utilises a Huber function to deal with model errors, resulting in more robust estimations. The effectiveness of this approach is validated through experimental data, demonstrating its potential for improving spatial aluminaAlumina concentration estimation in the aluminium smeltingAluminium smelting process.