Application of neuron-based adaptive control system to the operation of marine water pumps

In this paper, two kinds of methods which are used to regulate the flow rate of main engine cooling water are compared under the consideration of energy saving. It shows that the use of variable-voltage-variable-frequency (VVVF) based speed regulation system to regulate the rotating speed of pump motor consumes less energy than to use traditional method of regulating the throttle valve position. Then, a model of VVVF based speed regulating system, which works to regulate the flow rate of main engine cooling water, is established. In this system, the controlling unit of the system is a neuron-based adaptive controller whose property is compared with that of traditional autocontrol system - PID (proportional-integral-differential) control system. It can be concluded from the simulation results that the dynamic characteristics of cooling water temperature variation after the application of adaptive controller is much better than that of the temperature variation after the application of PID controller