Active fault-tolerant control of nonlinear systems with wind turbine application

The thesis concerns the theoretical development of Active Fault-Tolerant Control (AFTC) methods for nonlinear system via T-S multiple-modelling approach. The thesis adopted the estimation and compensation approach to AFTC within a tracking control framework. In this framework, the thesis considers several approaches to robust T-S fuzzy control and T-S fuzzy estimation: T-S fuzzy proportional multiple integral observer (PMIO); T-S fuzzy proportional-proportional integral observer (PPIO); T-S fuzzy virtual sensor (VS) based AFTC; T-S fuzzy Dynamic Output Feedback Control TSDOFC; T-S observer-based feedback control; Sliding Mode Control (SMC). The theoretical concepts have been applied to an offshore wind turbine (OWT) application study. The key developments that present in this thesis are:• The development of three active Fault Tolerant Tracking Control (FTTC) strategies for nonlinear systems described via T-S fuzzy inference modelling. The proposals combine the use of Linear Reference Model Fuzzy Control (LRMFC) with either the estimation and compensation concept or the control reconfiguration concept.• The development of T-S fuzzy observer-based state estimate fuzzy control strategy for nonlinear systems. The developed strategy has the capability to tolerate simultaneous actuator and sensor faults within tracking and regulating control framework. Additionally, a proposal to recover the Separation Principle has also been developed via the use of TSDOFC within the FTTC framework.• The proposals of two FTTC strategies based on the estimation and compensation concept for sustainable OWTs control. The proposals have introduced a significant attribute to the literature of sustainable OWTs control via (1) Obviating the need for Fault Detection and Diagnosis (FDD) unit, (2) Providing useful information to evaluate fault severity via the fault estimation signals.• The development of FTTC architecture for OWTs that combines the use of TSDOFC and a form of cascaded observers (cascaded analytical redundancy). This architecture is proposed in order to ensure the robustness of both the TSDOFC and the EWS estimator against the generator and rotor speed sensor faults.• A sliding mode baseline controller has been proposed within three FTTC strategies for sustainable OWTs control. The proposals utilise the inherent robustness of the SMC to tolerate some matched faults without the need for analytical redundancy. Following this, the combination of SMC and estimation and compensation framework proposed to ensure the close-loop system robustness to various faults.• Within the framework of the developed T-S fuzzy based FTTC strategies, a new perspective to reduce the T-S fuzzy control design conservatism problem has been proposed via the use of different control techniques that demand less design constraints. Moreover, within the SMC based FTTC, an investigation is given to demonstrate the SMC robustness against a wider than usual set of faults is enhanced via designing the sliding surface with minimum dimension of the feedback signals

Optimized state feedback regulation of 3DOF helicopter system via extremum seeking

In this paper, an optimized state feedback regulation of a 3 degree of freedom (DOF) helicopter is designed via extremum seeking (ES) technique. Multi-parameter ES is applied to optimize the tracking performance via tuning State Vector Feedback with Integration of the Control Error (SVFBICE). Discrete multivariable version of ES is developed to minimize a cost function that measures the performance of the controller. The cost function is a function of the error between the actual and desired axis positions. The controller parameters are updated online as the optimization takes place. This method significantly decreases the time in obtaining optimal controller parameters. Simulations were conducted for the online optimization under both fixed and varying operating conditions. The results demonstrate the usefulness of using ES for preserving the maximum attainable performance

Reconfiguration and bifurcation in flight controls

Numerous aviation accidents have been caused by stuck control surfaces. In most cases the impaired aircraft has sufficient redundancy to reconfigure the flight. However, the actions that the pilot needs to make could be counter intuitive, demanding and complicated. This is due to the drastic changes in the system's dynamics thatare caused by the nonlinearities, the loss of control authority and the disturbance imposed by the stuck surface. The reconfiguration of the flight laws will alleviate the work load on the crew and give them a better leeway to safely land the aircraft. The fault tolerant scheme that is adopted here is a multiple model one with a finite number of reconfigured controllers. Each reconfigured controller consists of a nonlinear output regulator and a constant gain nonlinear observer. The guidelines available for designing the nominal stabilizer are not appropriate for the reconfigured systems.The ability of the control law to reconfigure the aircraft is limited by saturation of the control surfaces, bifurcation points and stability limits. Identifying and characterizing these limitations is the first step in systematically improving the fault tolerant design. The computational results were obtained using a continuation method based on the Newton-Raphson and Newton-Raphson-Seydel methods. The numerous subtleties in employing these tools, when bifurcation points are clustered together, when many eigenvalues are near the origin or when the eigenvalues nearest the origin are complex, are addressed in this work. The reconfigured controller design for all possible single surface failures and the bifurcation analysis of the nominal and reconfigured systems was carried out on a real aircraft, namely the F-16. This was facilitated by the development of a unique, high fidelity, six degree of freedom, F-16 model.Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering -- Drexel University, 200