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A special issue of Actuators (ISSN 2076-0825). This special issue belongs to the section "Control Systems".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 October 2023) | Viewed by 23033

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Oscar Barambones

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Guest Editor

Department of System Engineering and Automation, Faculty of Engineering of Vitoria-Gasteiz, University of the Basque Country, UPV/EHU, Vitoria, Spain
Interests: intelligent control; advanced control; robust control; adaptive control; wind turbine systems; PV systems; wireless control schemes; wireless sensor networks; smart sensors and actuators
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Prof. Dr. Jose Antonio Cortajarena

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Engineering School of Gipuzkoa, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Otaola 29, 20600 Eibar, Spain
Interests: advanced control of electric machines; power electronics; renewable energy; intelligent control; neural network control; fuzzy logic control; linear system control
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Prof. Dr. Patxi Alkorta

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Guest Editor

Department of Systems Engineering and Automation, Faculty of Engineering, Gipuzkoa (Eibar), University of the Basque Country, UPV/EHU, Avda Otaola N29, 20600 Eibar, Spain
Interests: sliding mode control; robust control; model predictive control; adaptive control; three-phase machine control; nonlinear system control; linear system control
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are inviting submissions to the Actuators Special Issue on “New Control Schemes for Actuators”.

An actuator is a device that moves or controls some mechanism. An actuator turns a control signal into mechanical action, such as an electric motor. Actuators may be based on hydraulic, pneumatic, electric, thermal or mechanical means and may be powered by electric current, hydraulic fluid or pneumatic pressure. However, increasingly, these systems are being driven by software, because the control signal comes from a microcontroller programmed by software.

Therefore, a key element in order to increase the reliability and performance of these actuators is the control system. Limitations of traditional control techniques to cope with real control problems have motivated the invention of new control schemes in order to improve the performance.

Therefore, due to the nonlinear dynamics and uncertainties usually present in actuators, the reliability and performance of these systems can be enhanced employing advanced control schemes.

This Special Issue of Actuators aims at addressing the challenges in control design and implementation for actuators in order to increase the reliability and performance of these systems. Original submissions focusing on new control techniques and practical implementation of these new control schemes which are useful for increasing our knowledge of better and new applications for actuators systems, on the basis of one or more of the following topics, are welcome in this Special Issue. The issue will include but is not be limited to:

Adaptive control schemes;
Robust control schemes;
Sliding-mode-based control schemes;
Fuzzy-logic-based control schemes;
Neural-network-based control schemes;
Observer-based control schemes;
Practical implementation of advanced control schemes;
Wireless sensors in control schemes.

Prof. Dr. Oscar Barambones
Prof. Dr. Jose Antonio Cortajarena
Prof. Dr. Patxi Alkorta
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Actuators is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

Piezoelectric actuators
Electric actuators
Electromechanical actuators
Intelligent control
Robust control
Nonlinear observers

Published Papers (12 papers)

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Editorial

Jump to: Research

6 pages, 167 KiB

Open AccessEditorial

New Control Schemes for Actuators

by Oscar Barambones, José Antonio Cortajarena and Patxi Alkorta

Actuators 2024, 13(3), 99; https://doi.org/10.3390/act13030099 - 01 Mar 2024

Viewed by 945

Abstract

An actuator is a device that moves or controls a mechanism, by turning a control signal into mechanical action, such as in an electric motor [...] Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Control Schemes for Actuators)

Research

Jump to: Editorial

15 pages, 1090 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Enhancing Vibration Control in Cable–Tip–Mass Systems Using Asymmetric Peak Detector Boundary Control

by Leonardo Acho and Gisela Pujol-Vázquez

Actuators 2023, 12(12), 463; https://doi.org/10.3390/act12120463 - 11 Dec 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1106

Abstract

In this study, a boundary controller based on a peak detector system has been designed to reduce vibrations in the cable–tip–mass system. The control procedure is built upon a recent modification of the controller, incorporating a non-symmetric peak detector mechanism to enhance the robustness of the control design. The crucial element lies in the identification of peaks within the boundary input signal, which are then utilized to formulate the control law. Its mathematical representation relies on just two tunable parameters. Numerical experiments have been conducted to assess the performance of this novel approach, demonstrating superior efficacy compared to the boundary damper control, which has been included for comparative purposes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Control Schemes for Actuators)

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19 pages, 10084 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Research on Friction Compensation Method of Electromechanical Actuator Based on Improved Active Disturbance Rejection Control

by Pan Zhang, Zhaoyao Shi and Bo Yu

Actuators 2023, 12(12), 445; https://doi.org/10.3390/act12120445 - 30 Nov 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1140

Abstract

The friction factor of harmonic reducers affects the transmission accuracy in electromechanical actuators (EMAs). In this study, we proposed a friction feedforward compensation method based on improved active disturbance rejection control (IADRC). A mathematical model of EMA was developed. The relationship between friction torque and torque current was derived. Furthermore, the compound ADRC control method of second-order speed loop and position loop was studied, and an IADRC control method was proposed. A real EMA was developed, and the working principles of the EMA driving circuit and current sampling were analyzed. The three methods—PI, ADRC, and IADRC—were verified by conducting speed step experiments and sinusoidal tracking experiments. The integral values of time multiplied by the absolute error of the three control modes under the step speed mode were approximately 47.7, 32.1, and 15.5, respectively. Disregarding the inertia of the reducer and assuming that the torque during no-load operation equals the friction torque during constant motion, the findings indicate that, under a load purely driven by inertia, the IADRC control method enhances tracking accuracy. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Control Schemes for Actuators)

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20 pages, 4130 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Balancing Control of an Absolute Pressure Piston Manometer Based on Fuzzy Linear Active Disturbance Rejection Control

by Hongda Wu, Xianyi Zhai, Teng Gao, Nan Wang, Zongsheng Zhao and Guibing Pang

Actuators 2023, 12(7), 275; https://doi.org/10.3390/act12070275 - 06 Jul 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 992

Abstract

As an international standard pressure-measuring instrument, the absolute pressure piston manometer’s working medium is gas, so the actual working process will be affected by many internal uncertainties and external disturbances, leading to its long stability time and poor performance. In this paper, a fuzzy linear active disturbance rejection control strategy (FLADRC) for absolute pressure piston manometers is proposed to address these problems. First, the characteristics of the main components are analyzed according to the actual working principle of the system to establish a theoretical model of the controlled system. Second, the corresponding linear active disturbance rejection controller (LADRC) is designed according to the model. The principle of fuzzy control is introduced to adaptively adjust the controller parameters of the LADRC in real time, which improves the disadvantages of the LADRC parameters, which are difficult to rectify and have poor immunity to disturbances due to fixed parameters, and the stability of the control method is subsequently demonstrated. Finally, a simulation model is built in the Simulink environment in MATLAB, and three different pressure operating points are selected for the corresponding experiments to make a comparative analysis with Kp, PID, and LADRC. The results show that FLADRC enables the absolute pressure piston manometer to achieve better stability and greater immunity to disturbances. This also verifies the effectiveness and feasibility of the control strategy in practical engineering applications. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Control Schemes for Actuators)

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23 pages, 9868 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Research on Fault-Tolerant Control of Distributed-Drive Electric Vehicles Based on Fuzzy Fault Diagnosis

by Shaopeng Zhu, Haojun Li, Guodong Wang, Chenyang Kuang, Huipeng Chen, Jian Gao and Wei Xie

Actuators 2023, 12(6), 246; https://doi.org/10.3390/act12060246 - 13 Jun 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1118

Abstract

This paper addresses the fault problem in distributed-four-wheel-drive electric vehicle drive systems. First, a fault-factor-based active fault diagnosis strategy is proposed. Second, a fault-tolerant controller is designed to reconstruct motor drive torque based on vehicle stability. This controller ensures that the vehicle maintains stability by providing fault-free motor output torque based on fault diagnosis results. To validate the effectiveness of the fault diagnosis and fault-tolerant control, SIL simulation is conducted using MATLAB/Simulink and CarSim. A hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulation platform with the highest confidence level is established based on NI PXI and CarSim RT. Through the HIL simulation experiments, it is shown that the proposed control strategy can accurately diagnose the operating state of the motor, rebuild the motor torque based on stability, and demonstrate robust stability when the drive system fails. Under various fault conditions, the maximum error in the vehicle lateral angular velocity is less than 0.017 rad/s and the maximum deviation in the lateral direction is less than 0.7 m. These findings substantiate the highly robust stability of the proposed method. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Control Schemes for Actuators)

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18 pages, 7499 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Tracking Control of Robot Manipulator with Friction Compensation Using Time-Delay Control and an Adaptive Fuzzy Logic System

by Yao Sun, Xichang Liang and Yi Wan

Actuators 2023, 12(5), 184; https://doi.org/10.3390/act12050184 - 25 Apr 2023

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1653

Abstract

This paper aims to highlight the critical role of robot manipulators in industrial applications and elucidate the challenges associated with achieving high-precision control. In particular, the detrimental effects of nonlinear friction on manipulators are discussed. To overcome this challenge, a novel friction compensation controller (FCC) that combines time-delay estimation (TDE) and an adaptive fuzzy logic system (AFLS) is proposed in this paper. The friction compensation controller is designed to take advantage of the time-delay estimation algorithm’s strengths in eliminating and estimating unknown dynamic functions of the system using information from the previous sampling period. Simultaneously, the adaptive fuzzy logic system compensates for the hard nonlinearities in the system and suppresses the errors generated by time-delay estimation, thus improving the accuracy of the robotic arm’s tracking. The numerical experimental results demonstrate that the proposed friction compensation controller can significantly enhance the tracking accuracy of the robotic arm, with the addition of the adaptive fuzzy logic system improving time delay estimation’s performance by an average of 90.59%. Moreover, the proposed controller is more straightforward to implement than existing methods and performs exceptionally well in practical applications. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Control Schemes for Actuators)

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20 pages, 4796 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Robust Liquid Level Control of Quadruple Tank System: A Nonlinear Model-Free Approach

by Zahraa Sabah Hashim, Halah I. Khani, Ahmad Taher Azar, Zafar Iqbal Khan, Drai Ahmed Smait, Abdulkareem Abdulwahab, Ali Mahdi Zalzala, Anwar Ja’afar Mohamad Jawad, Saim Ahmed, Ibraheem Kasim Ibraheem, Aws Abdulsalam Najm, Suliman Mohamed Fati, Mohamed Tounsi and Ahmed Redha Mahlous

Actuators 2023, 12(3), 119; https://doi.org/10.3390/act12030119 - 11 Mar 2023

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1899

Abstract

In this paper, two new versions of modified active disturbance rejection control (MADRC) are proposed to stabilize a nonlinear quadruple tank system and control the water levels of the lower two tanks in the presence of exogenous disturbances, parameter uncertainties, and parallel varying input set-points. The first proposed scheme is configured from the combination of a modified tracking differentiator (TD), modified super twisting sliding mode (STC-SM), and modified nonlinear extended state observer (NLESO), while the second proposed scheme is obtained by aggregating another modified TD, a modified nonlinear state error feedback (MNLSEF), and a fal-function-based ESO. The MADRC schemes with a nonlinear quadruple tank system are investigated by running simulations in the MATLAB/SIMULINK environment and several comparison experiments are conducted to validate the effectiveness of the proposed control schemes. Furthermore, the genetic algorithm (GA) is used as a tuning algorithm to parametrize the proposed MADRC schemes with the integral time absolute error (ITAE), integral square of the control signal (ISU), and integral absolute of the control signal (IAU) as an output performance index (OPI). Finally, the simulation results show the robustness of the proposed schemes with a noticeable reduction in the OPI. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Control Schemes for Actuators)

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14 pages, 4711 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Deep Trajectory Controller for a Mechanical Linear Stage Using Digital Twin Concept

by Kantawatchr Chaiprabha and Ratchatin Chancharoen

Actuators 2023, 12(2), 91; https://doi.org/10.3390/act12020091 - 17 Feb 2023

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1711

Abstract

An industrial linear stage is a device that is commonly used in robotics. To be precise, an industrial linear stage is an electro-mechanical system that includes a motor, electronics, flexible coupling, gear, ball screw, and precision linear bearing. A tight fit can provide better precision but also generates a difficult-to-model friction that is highly nonlinear and asymmetrical. Herein, this paper proposes an advanced trajectory controller based on a digital twin framework incorporated with artificial intelligence (AI), which can effectively control a precision linear stage. This framework offers several advantages: detection of abnormalities, estimation of performance, and selective control over any situation. The digital twin is developed via Matlab’s Simscape and runs concurrently having a real-time controller. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Control Schemes for Actuators)

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14 pages, 1654 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

An Enhanced Sliding Mode Speed Control for Induction Motor Drives

by Fahimeh Shiravani, Patxi Alkorta, Jose Antonio Cortajarena and Oscar Barambones

Actuators 2022, 11(1), 18; https://doi.org/10.3390/act11010018 - 10 Jan 2022

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 2821

Abstract

In this paper, an enhanced Integral Sliding Mode Control (ISMC) for mechanical speed of an Induction Motor (IM) is presented and experimentally validated. The design of the proposed controller has been done in the d-q synchronous reference frame and indirect Field Oriented Control (FOC). Global asymptotic speed tracking in the presence of model uncertainties and load torque variations has been guaranteed by using an enhanced ISMC surface. Moreover, this controller provides a faster speed convergence rate compared to the conventional ISMC and the Proportional Integral methods, and it eliminates the steady-state error. Furthermore, the chattering phenomenon is reduced by using a switching sigmoid function. The stability of the proposed controller under parameter uncertainties and load disturbances has been provided by using the Lyapunov stability theory. Finally, the performance of this control method is verified through numerical simulations and experimental tests, getting fast dynamics and good robustness for IM drives. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Control Schemes for Actuators)

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16 pages, 5724 KiB

Open AccessArticle

An IDA-PBC Design with Integral Action for Output Voltage Regulation in an Interleaved Boost Converter for DC Microgrid Applications

by Oscar Danilo Montoya, Federico Martin Serra, Walter Gil-González, Eduardo Maximiliano Asensio and Jonathan Emmanuel Bosso

Actuators 2022, 11(1), 5; https://doi.org/10.3390/act11010005 - 29 Dec 2021

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 1868

Abstract

This paper describes the output voltage regulation control for an interleaved connected to a direct current (DC) microgrid considering bidirectional current flows. The proposed controller is based on an interconnection and damping passivity-based control (IDA-PBC) approach with integral action that regulates the output voltage profile at its assigned reference. This approach designs a control law via nonlinear feedback that ensures asymptotic stability in a closed-loop in the sense of Lyapunov. Moreover, the IDA-PBC design adds an integral gain to eliminate the possible tracking errors in steady-state conditions. Numerical simulations in the Piecewise Linear Electrical Circuit Simulation (PLECS) package for MATLAB/Simulink demonstrate that the effectiveness of the proposed controller is assessed and compared with a conventional proportional-integral controller under different scenarios considering strong variations in the current injected/absorbed by the DC microgrid. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Control Schemes for Actuators)

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15 pages, 3872 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Gain-Scheduled Control of Asymmetric Thrust Magnetic Bearing

by Shuyue Zhang and Jihao Wu

Actuators 2021, 10(12), 329; https://doi.org/10.3390/act10120329 - 13 Dec 2021

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2598

Abstract

The thrust position of the magnetic levitation rotor can be changed, bringing convenience to the practical application of cold compressors. This paper derives the mathematical model of asymmetric thrust magnetic bearings for a cold compressor and analyzes the changes in the system characteristics with the equilibrium position. By constructing PID controllers associated with the structural parameters of the magnetic bearing, the adaptive adjustment of the control parameters under different balanced position commands is realized. The simulation and experimental results prove that the gain-scheduled control method proposed in this paper can achieve a robust stability of the rotor in the range of 50 to 350 μm, and not at the cost of the response speed, adjustment time, and overshoot. The research results have reference significance for the structure design of asymmetric thrust magnetic bearings and play an important role in the commissioning and performance improvement of cold compressors. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Control Schemes for Actuators)

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24 pages, 10737 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Electromagnetic Actuator System Using Witty Control System

by Der-Fa Chen, Shen-Pao-Chi Chiu, An-Bang Cheng and Jung-Chu Ting

Actuators 2021, 10(3), 65; https://doi.org/10.3390/act10030065 - 22 Mar 2021

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2589

Abstract

Electromagnetic actuator systems composed of an induction servo motor (ISM) drive system and a rice milling machine system have widely been used in agricultural applications. In order to achieve a finer control performance, a witty control system using a revised recurrent Jacobi polynomial neural network (RRJPNN) control and two remunerated controls with an altered bat search algorithm (ABSA) method is proposed to control electromagnetic actuator systems. The witty control system with finer learning capability can fulfill the RRJPNN control, which involves an attunement law, two remunerated controls, which have two evaluation laws, and a dominator control. Based on the Lyapunov stability principle, the attunement law in the RRJPNN control and two evaluation laws in the two remunerated controls are derived. Moreover, the ABSA method can acquire the adjustable learning rates to quicken convergence of weights. Finally, the proposed control method exhibits a finer control performance that is confirmed by experimental results. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Control Schemes for Actuators)

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