Design Optimization of Solenoid Actuated Butterfly Valves Dynamically Coupled in Series

In this effort, we present novel nonlinear modeling of two solenoid actuated butterfly valves operating in series and then develop an optimal configuration in the presence of highly coupled nonlinear dynamics. The valves are used in the so-called “Smart Systems” to be employed in a wide range of applications including bioengineering, medicine, and engineering fields. Typically, tens of the actuated valves are instantaneously operating to regulate the amount of flow and also to avoid probable catastrophic disasters which have been observed in the practice. We focus on minimizing the amount of energy used in the system as one of the most critical design criteria to yield an efficient operation. We optimize the actuation subsystems interacting with the highly nonlinear flow loads in order to minimize a lumped amount of energy consumed. The contribution of this work is to include coupled nonlinearities of electromechanical valve systems to optimize the actuation units. Stochastic, heuristic, and gradient based algorithms are utilized in seeking the optimal design of two sets. The results indicate that substantial amount of energy can be saved by an intelligent design that helps select parameters carefully but also uses flow torques to augment the closing efforts.