Disturbance observer based position tracking of electro-hydraulic actuator

A nonlinear controller based on an extended second-order disturbance observer is presented to track desired position for an electro-hydraulic single-rod actuator in the presence of both external disturbances and parameter uncertainties. The proposed extended second-order disturbance observer deals with not only the external perturbations, but also parameter uncertainties which are commonly regarded as lumped disturbances in previous researches. Besides, the outer position tracking loop is designed with cylinder load pressure as output; and the inner pressure control loop provides the hydraulic actuator the characteristic of a force generator. The stability of the closed-loop system is provided based on Lyapunov theory. The performance of the controller is verified through simulations and experiments. The results demonstrate that the proposed nonlinear position tracking controller, together with the extended second-order disturbance observer, gives an excellent tracking performance in the presence of parameter uncertainties and external disturbance.

Delay Compensation Observer with Sliding Mode Controller for Rotary Electro-hydraulic Servo System

The hip’s lower limb exoskeleton essential and most important function is to support human’s payload as well as to enhance and assist human’s motion. It utilizes an electro-hydraulic servo manipulator which is required to achieve precise trajectory tracking and positioning operations. Nevertheless,these tasks require precise and robust control,which is very difficult to attain due to the inherent nonlinear dynamic behavior of the electro-hydraulic system caused by flow-pressure characteristics and fluid volume control variations of the servo valve. The sliding mode controller(SMC)is a widely used nonlinear robust controller,yet uncertainties and delay in the output degrade the closed-loop system performance and cause system instability. This work proposes a robust controller scheme that counts for the output delay and the inherent parameter uncertainties. Namely,a sliding mode controller enhanced by time-delay compensating observer for a typical electro-hydraulic servo system is adapted. SMC is utilized for its robustness against servo system parameters’ uncertainty whereas a time-delay observer estimates the variable states of the controller(velocity and acceleration). The main contribution of this paper is improving on the closed loop performance of the electro hydraulic servo system and mitigating the delay time effects. Simulation results prove the robustness of this controller,which forces the position to track the desired path regardless of the changes of the amount of transport delay of the system’s states. The performance of the proposed controller is validated by repeating the simulation analysis while varying the amount of delay time.

Two types of coaxial self-balancing robots

Two types of coaxial self-balancing robots(CSBR)were proposed,one can be used as a mobile robot platform for parts transporting in unmanned factory or as an inspector in dangerous areas,and the other can be used as a personal transporter ridden in cities.Mechanical designing and control structures as well as control strategies were described and compared in order to get a general way to develop such robots.A state feedback controller and a fuzzy controller were designed for the robot using DC servo motors and the robot using torque motors,respectively.The experiments indicate that the robots can realize various desired operations smoothly and agilely at the velocity of 0.6 m/s with an operator of 65 kg.Furthermore,the robustness of the controllers is revealed since these controllers can stabilize the robot even with unknown external disturbances.

Control of Multiple PWM Servos by a Single Programmable Timer

An algorithm for control of several servo motors by a mi- crocontroller is presented. The limited ntanber of progranunable timers on the majority of micnocntrollers presents a problem for multiple generation of timing pulses. Two software approaches are discussed in the paper and experimental results given for operation of a set of small servos using a single timer.

Analysis of nonlinearities and effects in direct drive electro-hydraulic position servo system

The direct drive electro-hydraulic servo system is a new approach hydraulic system. It is much smaller and easier controlled than traditional systems and is a perfect energy saver. This paper will briefly introduce the popular nonlinearities in the electro-hydraulic system and analyse the effect of nonlinearities in direct drive electro-hydraulic position servo system by means of simulation research. Some valuable conclusions are given.

Application of direct torque control to electric screw presses for speeding up torque response and reducing starting current

Fast response and stable torque output are crucial to the performance of electric screw presses. This paper describes the design of a direct torque control （DTC） system for speeding up torque response and reducing the starting current of electric screw presses and its application to the J58K series of numerical control electric screw presses with a dual-motor drive. The DTC drive system encompasses speed control, torque reference control, and switching frequency control. Comparison of the DTC dual-AC induction motor drive with corresponding AC servo motor drive showed that for the J58K-315 electric screw press, the DTC drive system attains a higher maximum speed （786 r/min） within a shorter time （1.13 s） during a 250 nun stroke and undergoes smaller rise in temperature （42.0 ℃） in the motor after running for 2 h at a 12 min-1 strike frequency than the AC servo motor drive does （751 r/min within 1.19 s, and 50.6 ℃ rise）. Moreover, the DTC AC induction motor drive, with no need for a tachometer or position encoder to feed back the speed or position of the motor shaft, enjoys increased reliability in a strong-shock work environment.

Adaptive Robust Dead-Zone Compensation Control of Electro-Hydraulic Servo Systems with Load Disturbance Rejection

A backstepping method based adaptive robust dead-zone compensation controller is pro- posed for the electro-hydraulic servo systems （EHSSs） with unknown dead-zone and uncertain system parameters. Variable load is seen as a sum of a constant and a variable part. The constant part is regarded as a parameter of the system to be estimated real time. The variable part together with the friction are seen as disturbance so that a robust term in the controller can be adopted to reject them. Compared with the traditional dead-zone compensation method, a dead-zone compensator is incor- porated in the EH$S without constructing a dead-zone inverse. Combining backstepping method, an adaptive robust controller （ARC） with dead-zone compensation is formed. An easy-to-use ARC tuning method is also proposed after a further analysis of the ARC structure. Simulations show that the proposed method has a splendid tracking performance, all the uncertain parameters can be estimated, and the disturbance has been rejected while the dead-zone term is well estimated and compensated.