Valve control of an adsorption process

In a method of cyclically operating a pressure-swing adsorption apparatus for purifying and separating gases wherein a plurality of adsorbers are connected at their respective intakes to a raw gas supply line, the exhaust ends thereof are connected through respective valves to a product gas line, and the adsorbers are interconnected by plural common purge gas lines through a respective plurality of valves allowing gas to flow between the adsorbers, the improvement comprising a method of controlling said valves wherein a single pneumatic control line having pneumatic control means is provided for all the valves in each purge line for controlling the opening and closing thereof, the improved method steps comprising:

• transmitting an electronic control signal to the pneumatic control means for causing said pneumatic control means to transmit a pneumatic signal through said signal pneumatic control line to the valves associated with the purge line, individually controlling the transmission of said pneumatic signal to each one of said valves by means of electromagnetic control valves operatively associated with a computer, and located respectively between said single pneumatic control line and each valve, by transmitting respective individual on or off signals from said computer to the respective electromagnetic control valves for transmitting or cutting off said pneumatic signal to each one of said valves for specifically changing the condition of each one of the respective electromagnetic control valves.