Fault-tolerant control system for once-through steam generator based on reinforcement learning algorithm

• Published in: Nuclear engineering and technology Vol. 54; no. 9; pp. 3283 - 3292
• Main Authors: Li, Cheng, Yu, Ren, Yu, Wenmin, Wang, Tianshu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Korean
• Published: 2022
• Subjects: DQN algorithm; Reinforcement learning; Once-through steam generator; Incremental action
• ISSN: 1738-5733; 2234-358X

Based on the Deep Q-Network(DQN) algorithm of reinforcement learning, an active fault-tolerance method with incremental action is proposed for the control system with sensor faults of the once-through steam generator(OTSG). In this paper, we first establish the OTSG model as the interaction environment for the agent of reinforcement learning. The reinforcement learning agent chooses an action according to the system state obtained by the pressure sensor, the incremental action can gradually approach the optimal strategy for the current fault, and then the agent updates the network by different rewards obtained in the interaction process. In this way, we can transform the active fault tolerant control process of the OTSG to the reinforcement learning agent's decision-making process. The comparison experiments compared with the traditional reinforcement learning algorithm(RL) with fixed strategies show that the active fault-tolerant controller designed in this paper can accurately and rapidly control under sensor faults so that the pressure of the OTSG can be stabilized near the set-point value, and the OTSG can run normally and stably.