This paper presents a neural scheme for controlling an actuator of pneumatic control valve system. Bondgraph method has been used to model the actuator of control valve, in order to compare the response characteristics of valve. The proposed controller is such that the system is always operating in a closed loop, which should lead to better performance characteristics. For comparison, minimum- and full-order observer controllers are also utilized to control the actuator of pneumatic control valve. Simulation results give superior performance of the proposed neural control scheme. 1. Introduction Process plants consist of hundreds, or even thousands, of control loops all networked together to produce a product to be offered for sale. Each of these control loops is designed to keep some important process variables such as pressure, flow, level, and temperature within a required operating range to ensure the quality of the end product. Each of these loops receives and internally creates disturbances that detrimentally affect the process variable, and interaction from other loops in the network provides disturbances that influence the process variable. To reduce the effect of these load disturbances, sensors and transmitters collect information about the process variable and its relationship to some desired set points. A controller then processes this information and decides what must be done to get the process variable back to where it should be after a load disturbance occurs. When all the measuring, comparing, and calculating are done, some type of final control element must implement the strategy selected by the controller. The most common final control element in the process control industries is the control valve. The control valve manipulates a flowing fluid, such as gas, steam, water, or chemical compounds, to compensate for the load disturbance and keep the regulated process variable as close as possible to the desired set point. Control valves adjust the temperature, pressure, flow rate, and so forth by changing the flow rate. Figure 1 shows a reverse-acting diaphragm actuator of pneumatic control valve. Pneumatic control valves are still the most used valves in the process industries, due to their low cost and simplicity. Pneumatic valves are used extensively in various industries today. Industry standard has been established that details the vibration, humidity, thermal, salt spray, and temperature extremes that these valves must operate within. This makes the design of valve control systems a very challenging task. Control valves have two major
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