Reinforcement Learning for Control of Valves
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This paper compares reinforcement learning (RL) with PID (proportional-integral-derivative) strategy for control of nonlinear valves using a unified framework. RL is an autonomous learning mechanism that learns by interacting with its environment. It is gaining increasing attention in the world of control systems as a means of building optimal-controllers for challenging dynamic and nonlinear processes. Published RL research often uses open-source tools (Python and OpenAI Gym environments) which could be difficult to adapt and apply by practicing industrial engineers, we therefore used MathWorks tools. MATLAB's recently launched (R2019a) Reinforcement Learning Toolbox was used to develop the valve controller; trained using the DDPG (Deep Deterministic Policy-Gradient) algorithm and Simulink to simulate the nonlinear valve and setup the experimental test-bench to evaluate the RL and PID controllers. Results indicate that the RL controller is extremely good at tracking the signal with speed and produces a lower error with respect to the reference signals. The PID, however, is better at disturbance rejection and hence provides a longer life for the valves. Experiential learnings gained from this research are corroborated against published research. It is known that successful machine learning involves tuning many hyperparameters and significant investment of time and efforts. We introduce “Graded Learning" as a simplified, application oriented adaptation of the more formal and algorithmic “Curriculum for Reinforcement Learning”. It is shown via experiments that it helps converge the learning task of complex non-linear real world systems.
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