Robust PI control of interval plants with gain and phase margin specifications: Application to a continuous stirred tank reactor

The paper is focused on robust Proportional-Integral (PI) control of interval plants with gain and phase margin specifications and on the application of this approach to a Continuous Stirred Tank Reactor (CSTR). More specifically, the work aims at the determination of PI controller parameter regions, for which not only robust stability but also some level of robust performance of the closed-loop control system is guaranteed, and this robust performance is represented by the required gain and phase margin that has to be ensured for all potential members of the interval family of controlled plants, even for the worst case. The applied technique is based on the combination of the previously published generalization of stability boundary locus method (for specified gain and phase margin under the assumption of fixed-parameter plants) with the sixteen plant theorem. This extension enables the direct application of the method to design the robustly performing PI controllers for interval plants. The effectiveness of the improved method is demonstrated on a CSTR, modeled as the interval plant, for which the robust stability and robust performance regions are obtained. © 2013 IEEE.CEBIA-Tech Instrumentation Project through the European Regional Development Fund [CZ.1.05/2.1.00/19.0376]; National Sustainability Programme of Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports, Czech Republic [LO1303 (MSMT-7778/2014)

Graphical Method for Robust Stability Analysis for Time Delay Systems: A Case of Study

This chapter presents a tool for analysis of robust stability, consisting of a graphical method based on the construction of the value set of the characteristic equation of an interval plant that is obtained when the transfer function of the mathematical model is connected with a feedback controller. The main contribution presented here is the inclusion of the time delay in the mathematical model. The robust stability margin of the closed-loop system is calculated using the zero exclusion principle. This methodology converts the original analytic robust stability problem into a simplified problem consisting on a graphic examination; it is only necessary to observe if the value-set graph on the complex plane does not include the zero. A case of study of an internal combustion engine is treated, considering interval uncertainty and the time delay, which has been neglected in previous publications due to the increase in complexity of the analysis when this late is considered

A biased approach to nonlinear robust stability and performance with applications to adaptive control

The nonlinear robust stability theory of Georgiou and Smith [IEEE Trans. Automat. Control, 42 (1997), pp. 1200–1229] is generalized to the case of notions of stability with bias terms. An example from adaptive control illustrates nontrivial robust stability certificates for systems which the previous unbiased theory could not establish a nonzero robust stability margin. This treatment also shows that the bounded-input bounded-output robust stability results for adaptive controllers in French [IEEE Trans. Automat. Control, 53 (2008), pp. 461–478] can be refined to show preservation of biased forms of stability under gap perturbations. In the nonlinear setting, it also is shown that in contrast to linear time invariant systems, the problem of optimizing nominal performance is not equivalent to maximizing the robust stability margin

Formal Analysis of Linear Control Systems using Theorem Proving

Control systems are an integral part of almost every engineering and physical system and thus their accurate analysis is of utmost importance. Traditionally, control systems are analyzed using paper-and-pencil proof and computer simulation methods, however, both of these methods cannot provide accurate analysis due to their inherent limitations. Model checking has been widely used to analyze control systems but the continuous nature of their environment and physical components cannot be truly captured by a state-transition system in this technique. To overcome these limitations, we propose to use higher-order-logic theorem proving for analyzing linear control systems based on a formalized theory of the Laplace transform method. For this purpose, we have formalized the foundations of linear control system analysis in higher-order logic so that a linear control system can be readily modeled and analyzed. The paper presents a new formalization of the Laplace transform and the formal verification of its properties that are frequently used in the transfer function based analysis to judge the frequency response, gain margin and phase margin, and stability of a linear control system. We also formalize the active realizations of various controllers, like Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID), Proportional-Integral (PI), Proportional-Derivative (PD), and various active and passive compensators, like lead, lag and lag-lead. For illustration, we present a formal analysis of an unmanned free-swimming submersible vehicle using the HOL Light theorem prover.Comment: International Conference on Formal Engineering Method

Robot Impedance Control and Passivity Analysis with Inner Torque and Velocity Feedback Loops

Impedance control is a well-established technique to control interaction forces in robotics. However, real implementations of impedance control with an inner loop may suffer from several limitations. Although common practice in designing nested control systems is to maximize the bandwidth of the inner loop to improve tracking performance, it may not be the most suitable approach when a certain range of impedance parameters has to be rendered. In particular, it turns out that the viable range of stable stiffness and damping values can be strongly affected by the bandwidth of the inner control loops (e.g. a torque loop) as well as by the filtering and sampling frequency. This paper provides an extensive analysis on how these aspects influence the stability region of impedance parameters as well as the passivity of the system. This will be supported by both simulations and experimental data. Moreover, a methodology for designing joint impedance controllers based on an inner torque loop and a positive velocity feedback loop will be presented. The goal of the velocity feedback is to increase (given the constraints to preserve stability) the bandwidth of the torque loop without the need of a complex controller.Comment: 14 pages in Control Theory and Technology (2016

Regulation Theory

This paper reviews the design of regulation loops for power converters. Power converter control being a vast domain, it does not aim to be exhaustive. The objective is to give a rapid overview of the main synthesis methods in both continuous- and discrete-time domains.Comment: 23 pages, contribution to the 2014 CAS - CERN Accelerator School: Power Converters, Baden, Switzerland, 7-14 May 201

Digital phase-lock loop having an estimator and predictor of error

A digital phase-lock loop (DPLL) which generates a signal with a phase that approximates the phase of a received signal with a linear estimator. The effect of a complication associated with non-zero transport delays related to DPLL mechanization is then compensated by a predictor. The estimator provides recursive estimates of phase, frequency, and higher order derivatives, while the predictor compensates for transport lag inherent in the loop

Control of a launcher in atmospheric ascent with guardian maps

This paper describes the synthesis of a SISO scheduled controller for a launcher vehicle. The problem consists in designing a control law which will be valid on the atmospheric ascent trajectory from time 25 s to time 60 s, while ensuring robustness and performance requirements. Moreover a flexible model with two bending modes is considered, making the problem more challenging. An algorithm based upon guardian maps has been retained in order to find an a priori fixed architecture controller. The algorithm yields a sequence of controllers that ensures that pole confinement constraints are fulfilled for any time between 25 s and 60 s. The user can then interpolate those controllers to find a scheduled controller with respect to time