Search Results (57)

Traditional heat diffusion systems are typically regulated using Proportional–Integral–Derivative (PID) controllers. PID controllers still remain the backbone of numerous industrial control applications due to their simplicity, robustness, and efficiency. However, traditional tuning methods—such as Ziegler–Nichols or Cohen–Coon—often exhibit limitations when applied to systems with nonlinear dynamics, time-varying behaviors, or parametric uncertainties. To address these challenges, Fuzzy Logic Controllers (FLC) have emerged as a promising hybrid strategy, by translating quantitative and imprecise linguistic inputs into quantitative control actions, thereby enabling more adaptive and precise regulation. This is achieved through the integration of fuzzy inference mechanisms that dynamically adjust PID gains in response to changing system conditions. This study proposes a fuzzy logic control strategy for a heat diffusion system and conducts a comparative analysis against conventional PID control. The methodology encompasses system modeling, design of the fuzzy inference system, and simulation studies. To improve transient response and address time delays, additional features such as Anti-Windup compensation and a Smith Predictor are integrated into the control scheme. The final validation step involves the introduction of simulated environmental disturbances, including abrupt temperature drops, to evaluate the controller’s robustness. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed FLC provides superior dynamic performance compared to the conventional PID controller, achieving approximately 5–7% faster rise time and 8–10% lower settling time. The incorporation of an anti-windup mechanism did not yield significant benefits in this application. In contrast, the integration of a Smith Predictor further reduced oscillatory behavior and substantially improved disturbance rejection, tracking accuracy, and adaptability under simulated thermal variations. These results underscore the effectiveness of the FLC in handling systems with time delays and nonlinearities, reinforcing its role as a robust and adaptable control strategy for thermal processes with complex dynamics. Full article

Temperature excursions during refrigerated transport strongly affect the quality and shelf life of perishable food, yet reproducing realistic, time-varying cold-chain temperature histories in the laboratory remains challenging. In this study, we present a compact, portable climate chamber driven by Peltier modules and an identification-guided control architecture designed to reproduce real refrigerated-truck temperature histories with high fidelity. Control is implemented as a cascaded regulator: an outer two-degree-of-freedom PID for air-temperature tracking and faster inner PID loops for module-face regulation, enhanced with derivative filtering, anti-windup back-calculation, a Smith predictor, and hysteresis-based bumpless switching to manage dead time and polarity reversals. The system integrates distributed temperature and humidity sensors to provide real-time feedback for precise thermal control, enabling accurate reproduction of cold-chain conditions. Validation comprised two independent 36-day reproductions of field traces and a focused 24-h comparison against traditional control baselines. Over the long trials, the chamber achieved very low long-run errors ($\mathrm{MAE}\cong 0.19 °\mathrm{C}$, $\mathrm{MedAE}\cong 0.10 °\mathrm{C}$, $\mathrm{RMSE}\cong 0.33 °\mathrm{C}$, $R^2=0.9985$). The 24-h test demonstrated that our optimized controller tracked the reference, improving both transient and steady-state behaviour. The system tolerated realistic humidity transients without loss of closed-loop performance. This portable platform functions as a reproducible physical twin for cold-chain experiments and a reliable data source for training predictive shelf-life and digital-twin models to reduce food waste. Full article

This study investigates multi-level coupled dynamic issues in near-space balloon-borne astronomical observation platforms subjected to multi-source disturbances, proposing an integrated azimuth pointing control scheme combining unified modeling with composite control strategies. A nonlinear dynamic model is established to characterize inertial coupling effects between the gondola system and secondary gimbal platform. The velocity-loop feedback mechanism utilizing fiber-optic gyroscopes achieves base disturbance decoupling, while an adaptive fuzzy PID controller enhances position-loop disturbance rejection capabilities. A gain adaptation strategy coordinates hierarchical control dynamics, complemented by anti-windup constraints safeguarding actuator operational boundaries. Simulation verifications confirm the exceptional high-precision pointing capability and robust stability under representative wind disturbances and sensor noise conditions. The system maintains a superior control performance across parameter perturbation scenarios, demonstrating consistent operational reliability. This study provides an innovative technical paradigm for precision observation missions in near space. Full article

When the speed of an induction motor (IM) exceeds its rated value, voltage saturation occurs, which degrades its performance. Traditional flux-weakening (FW) control suffers from delays due to cascaded PI regulators and sensitivity to rotor field orientation lag. Addressing these two issues, the proposed ancillary flux-weakening (AFW) method introduces two d-axis current compensation paths. One compensation path is from the reference value of the q-axis current, which simplifies the traditional three-PI cascade FW path into a single PI path in the transient process. The other compensation path is derived from the q-axis current tracking error to mitigate voltage saturation caused by orientation error. Comparative experiments show that during precise direction acceleration, the AFW method increases the current response time by 35% and reduces the peak voltage fluctuation by 38.98%. It also reduces low voltage ripple by 76.4% in inaccurate direction and burst load conditions. The results confirm a significant enhancement of dynamic performance and voltage anti-saturation capability in the FW region. Full article

With the aim of addressing the power quality problem associated with voltage fluctuation of multiple electric vehicles and renewable energy generation equipment integration into the AC micro-grid, a multi-agent system-based model-free adaptive constrained control method is proposed in this paper. First, a novel hierarchical control structure is developed. Therein, the upper-level cooperative controller is designed based on the directed graph and droop control strategy, enabling efficient power distribution among multiple electric vehicles. For the lower-level voltage controller, a model-free adaptive constrained control strategy is designed, incorporating a pseudo-partial derivative-based output observer, and an anti-windup compensator is designed to solve the voltage fluctuation problem, which achieves precise tracking of each electric spring output voltage. Finally, the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed control strategy is verified by the MATLAB/Simulink platform under scenarios of grid-side voltage fluctuations and load variations. Full article

The electromechanical composite transmission technology for tracked vehicles demonstrates excellent performance in energy efficiency, mobility, and ride comfort. However, due to frequent operation under harsh conditions, the components of the electric drive system, such as drive motors, are prone to failures. This paper proposes three fault-tolerant control methods for three typical fault scenarios of the electromechanical composite transmission system (ECTS) to ensure the normal operation of tracked vehicles. Firstly, an ECTS and the electromechanical coupling dynamics model of the tracked vehicle are established. Moreover, a double-layer anti-windup PID control for motors and an instantaneous optimal control strategy for the engine are proposed in the fault-free case. Secondly, an anti-windup PID control law for motors and an engine control strategy considering the state of charge (SOC) and driving demands are developed in the case of single-side drive motor failure. Thirdly, a B4 clutch control strategy during starting and a steering brake control strategy are proposed in the case of electric drive system failure. Finally, in the straight-driving condition of the tracked vehicle, the throttle opening is set as 0.6, and the motor failure is triggered at 15 s during the acceleration process. Numerical simulations verify the fault-tolerant control strategies’ feasibility, using the tracked vehicle’s maximum speed and acceleration at 30 s as indicators for dynamic performance evaluation. The simulation results show that under single-motor fault, its straight-line driving power drops by 33.37%; with electric drive failure, the drop reaches 43.86%. The vehicle can still maintain normal straight-line driving and steering under fault conditions. Full article

This paper presents some of the most significant findings in the design of a hydraulic servomechanism for flight controls, which were primarily achieved by the first author during his activity in an aviation institute. These results are grouped into four main topics. The first one outlines a classical theory, from the 1950s–1970s, of the analysis of nonlinear automatic systems and namely the issue of absolute stability. The uninformed public may be misled by the adjective “absolute”. This is not a “maximalist” solution of stability but rather highlights in the system of equations a nonlinear function that describes, for the case of hydraulic servomechanisms, the flow-control dependence in the distributor spool. This function is odd, and it is therefore located in quadrants 1 and 3. The decision regarding stability is made within the so-called Lurie problem and is materialized by a matrix inequality, called the Lefschetz condition, which must be satisfied by the parameters of the electrohydraulic servomechanism and also by the components of the control feedback vector. Another approach starts from a classical theorem of V. M. Popov, extended in a stochastic framework by T. Morozan and I. Ursu, which ends with the description of the local and global spool valve flow-control characteristics that ensure stability in the large with respect to bounded perturbations for the mechano-hydraulic servomechanism. We add that a conjecture regarding the more pronounced flexibility of mathematical models in relation to mathematical instruments (theories) was used. Furthermore, the second topic concerns, the importance of the impedance characteristic of the mechano-hydraulic servomechanism in preventing flutter of the flight controls is emphasized. Impedance, also called dynamic stiffness, is defined as the ratio, in a dynamic regime, between the output exerted force (at the actuator rod of the servomechanism) and the displacement induced by this force under the assumption of a blocked input. It is demonstrated in the paper that there are two forms of the impedance function: one that favors the appearance of flutter and another that allows for flutter damping. It is interesting to note that these theoretical considerations were established in the institute’s reports some time before their introduction in the Aviation Regulation AvP.970. However, it was precisely the absence of the impedance criterion in the regulation at the appropriate time that ultimately led, by chance or not, to a disaster: the crash of a prototype due to tailplane flutter. A third topic shows how an important problem in the theory of automatic systems of the 1970s–1980s, namely the robust synthesis of the servomechanism, is formulated, applied and solved in the case of an electrohydraulic servomechanism. In general, the solution of a robust servomechanism problem consists of two distinct components: a servo-compensator, in fact an internal model of the exogenous dynamics, and a stabilizing compensator. These components are adapted in the case of an electrohydraulic servomechanism. In addition to the classical case mentioned above, a synthesis problem of an anti-windup (anti-saturation) compensator is formulated and solved. The fourth topic, and the last one presented in detail, is the synthesis of a fuzzy supervised neurocontrol (FSNC) for the position tracking of an electrohydraulic servomechanism, with experimental validation, in the laboratory, of this control law. The neurocontrol module is designed using a single-layered perceptron architecture. Neurocontrol is in principle optimal, but it is not free from saturation. To this end, in order to counteract saturation, a Mamdani-type fuzzy logic was developed, which takes control when neurocontrol has saturated. It returns to neurocontrol when it returns to normal, respectively, when saturation is eliminated. What distinguishes this FSNC law is its simplicity and efficiency and especially the fact that against quite a few opponents in the field, it still works very well on quite complicated physical systems. Finally, a brief section reviews some recent works by the authors, in which current approaches to hydraulic servomechanisms are presented: the backstepping control synthesis technique, input delay treated with Lyapunov–Krasovskii functionals, and critical stability treated with Lyapunov–Malkin theory. Full article

This paper proposes a Distributed Cooperative Algorithm (DCA) that solves the windup problem caused by the saturation of the Distributed Energy Resource (DER) PI-based control unit. If the reference reactive current output by the PI exceeds the maximum reactive power capacity of the DER, the control unit saturates, preventing the optimal voltage regulation at the connection node of the Active Distribution Network (ADN). Instead of relying on a centralized solution, we proposed a cooperative approach in which each DER’s control unit takes part in the DCA. If a control unit saturates, the voltage regulation error is not null, and the algorithm is activated to assign a share of this error to all DERs’ control units according to a weighted average principle. Subsequently, the algorithm determines the control unit’s new value of the voltage setpoint, desaturating the DER and enhancing the voltage profile. The proposed DCA is independent of the design of the control unit, does not require parameter tuning, exchanges only the regulation error at a low sampling rate, handles multiple saturations, and has limited communication requirements. The effectiveness of the proposed DCA is validated through numerical simulations of an ADN composed of two IEEE 13-bus Test Feeders. Full article

As an X–Y table has input saturation constraints or inadequate trajectory planning, the positioning control performance degrades. To overcome this issue, this study proposes an effective anti-integral windup approach based on basic PID control, and then plans a motion trajectory with an S-curve velocity profile to enhance the overall control performance. Finally, the corresponding experiments are conducted to assure the effectiveness of the control framework. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed control scheme can greatly improve the system positioning precision compared to that without anti-windup when the X–Y table suffers from actuator saturations. Moreover, the corresponding results clearly showcase the superior tracking responses with errors of ±11.23 mm in the X-axis and ±13.63 mm in the Y-axis using the S-curve velocity profile for tracking errors, and ±13.48 mm in the X-axis and ±19.88 mm in the Y-axis applied to the T-curve velocity profile. It is validated and concluded that the proposed control scheme combined with trajectory planning can effectively mitigate integral windup and enhance the positioning precision with the smoother velocity as well as continuous acceleration profiles without vibration. Full article

Given the growing need to enhance the accuracy of exploration robots, this study focuses on designing a teleoperated navigation system for a robot equipped with a continuous-track traction system. The goal was to improve navigation performance by developing mathematical models that describe the robot’s behavior, which were validated through experimental measurements. The system incorporates a digital twin based on ROS (Robot Operating System) to configure the nodes responsible for teleoperated navigation. A PID controller is implemented for each motor, with zero-pole cancellation to achieve first-order dynamics, and anti-windup to prevent integral error accumulation when the reference is not met. Finally, a physical implementation was carried out to validate the functionality of the proposed navigation system. The results demonstrated that the system ensured precise and stable navigation, highlighting the effectiveness of the proposed approach in dynamic environments. This work contributes to advancing robotic navigation in controlled environments and offers potential for improving teleoperation systems in more complex scenarios. Full article

Real-world plants have various nonlinear characteristics such as friction and hysteresis, so nonlinear control is essential for precise control. In addition, actuators of plants have input constraints, which cause the integrator of the controller to windup. So far, anti-windup methods have mainly been for linear controllers, and research on nonlinear controllers has not been sufficient. This paper proposes a back-calculation anti-windup method for nonlinear controllers. By analyzing and extending the back-calculation anti-windup for a Proportional–Integral controller using operator theory, it can be applied to nonlinear controllers. The proposed method is applied to integral sliding mode control and right coprime factorization. In the simulation, we compared the proposed method with and without its application, as well as with conditional integration, and confirmed the effectiveness of the proposed method. In the future, it is necessary to extend the method to be applicable to more complex systems. This study has the potential to contribute to the practical application of nonlinear control. Full article

This study presents the design of an intelligent robust controller for the 3-degree-of-freedom motion of an aerial robot using waterpower. The proposed controller consists of two parts: (1) an anti-windup super-twisting algorithm that provides stability to the system under actuator saturation; and (2) a fully adaptive radial basis function neural network that estimates and compensates for unexpected influences, i.e., system uncertainties, water hose vibration, and external disturbances. The stability of the entire closed-loop system is analyzed using the Lyapunov stability theory. The controller parameters are optimized such that the effect of these unexpected influences on the control system is minimized. This optimization problem is interpreted in the form of an eigenvalue problem, which is solved using the method of centers. Experiments are conducted where a proportional-integral-derivative controller and a conventional sliding mode controller are deployed for comparison. The results demonstrate that the proposed control system outperforms the others, with small tracking errors and strong robustness against unexpected influences. Full article

This paper provides a comprehensive survey on advanced control techniques for Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy systems that are subject to input and output performance constraints. The focus is on addressing practical applications, such as actuator saturation and output limits, which are often encountered in industries like aerospace, automotive, and robotics. The paper discusses key control methods such as model predictive control, anti-windup compensators, and Linear Matrix Inequality (LMI)-based control, emphasizing their effectiveness in handling input and output constraints. These techniques ensure system stability, robustness, and performance even under strict physical limitations. The survey also highlights the importance of T-S fuzzy systems, which provide a flexible framework for modeling and controlling nonlinear systems by breaking them down into simpler linear models. Additionally, recent developments in robust and adaptive control strategies are explored, particularly in handling time delays, disturbances, and uncertainties. These methods are crucial for real-time applications where the system must remain stable and safe despite unmeasured states or external disturbances. By reviewing these advanced techniques, the paper aims to identify research gaps and future directions, particularly in scalable solutions and integrating data-driven approaches with T-S fuzzy control frameworks. Full article

The present paper proposes a new Maximum Torque Per Ampere (MTPA) algorithm applied to sensorless speed control for the Synchronous Reluctance Machine (SynRM). The SynRM mathematical model is suitably modified and expressed in the γδ estimated reference frame, which could be applied in sensorless implementations. In the controller–observer scheme, an MTPA controller is coupled with a sliding mode observer (SMO) of first order. The provided equivalent control inputs are directly utilized by a modified EMF observer to estimate the rotor speed and position. Also, the MTPA control, SMO, and modified EMF observer are accordingly expressed in the γδ reference frame. In the duration of the SynRM operation, the developed MTPA algorithm succeeds in adjusting both stator current components in the γ-axis and δ-axis to the maximum torque point, while the SMO converges rapidly, achieving the coincidence between the γδ and dq reference frames. In addition, a simple torque decoupling technique is used to determine the γ-axis and δ-axis reference currents connected with the Anti-Windup Controller (AWC) for stator current control. Despite conventional MTPA methods, the proposed MTPA control strategy is designed to be robust in a wide speed range, exhibiting a high dynamic performance, regardless of the presence of external torque disturbances, reference speed variation, and even current measurement noise. The performance of the overall observer–control system is examined and evaluated using MATLAB/Simulink and considering noisy current feedback. Simulation results demonstrate the robustness and effectiveness of the proposed MTPA-based control method. Full article

Variable-Speed Hydropower Plants (VSHP) are becoming more promising for stabilising power grids with the increasing integration of renewable energy sources. This research focuses on improving fault ride-through capabilities and delivering efficient ancillary services for VSHPs to support the grid by developing a comprehensive control strategy. The control system proposed integrates a machine-side controller, a Frequency Support Controller (FSC), a Virtual Synchronous Machine (VSM), a Vector Current Controller (VCC) for the grid-side converter, a turbine governor for regulating turbine speed, and a DC-link controller. PID with an anti-windup scheme and a Model Predictive Controller (MPC) were employed for the turbine governor. The MPC turbine governor results demonstrate the potential of advanced control methods for enhanced performance of the VSHP. A benchmarking between the MPC and the PID governor was made. The benchmarking results have reported that the MPC can achieve reference tracking improvements up to $99.42\%$. Tests on a diverse set of grid scenarios were conducted, and the graphical results showed significant improvements in mitigating the frequency drops through the effective governor response. The synthetic inertia provision is swift, completing within seconds of a frequency drop. Compared to the fixed-speed approach, the VSHP improves the grid’s overall stability by minimising frequency dipping and achieving steady-state recovery remarkably faster. The fixed-speed approach only begins to recover minutes after the VSHP reaches the settling time. By effectively providing critical ancillary services such as frequency support, synthetic inertia, and smooth fault ride-through capability, the VSHP can become a transformative solution for future power grids, which are estimated to be more reliant on renewable energy sources. Full article