Robust Speed Control of a Low Damped Electromechanical System: Application to a Four Mass Experimental Test Bench

Abstract

Robust speed control of a low damped electromechanical system with backlash is studied, when the controlled load angular speed can not be measured. The proposed control strategy combines a Luenberger observer and a robust CRONE controller (CRONE is a French acronym for"Commande Robuste d’Ordre Non Entier"). The observer provides estimation of both load angular speed and disturbance torque applied to the load. Through the computation of only three independent parameters (as many as a PID controller), the CRONE controller permits to ensure the robust speed control of the load in spite of plant parametric variations and speed observations errors. The proposed control strategy is applied to a four mass experimental test bench.

Keywords:

• Adjustable Speed Drives
• Robust Speed Control
• CRONE Control
• Modeling
• Machine Tool Drives
• Fractional Differentiation
• Low Damped System

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Serge Poullain

Serge Poullain was born in Bayeux, France, in 1961. He received the Msc degree in robotic and electromechanical engineering and the Ph.D degree in control systems both from the Université de Technologic de Compiègne(UTC), France, in 1986 and 1991 respectively. In 1992, he joined Alcatel Alstom Recherche Laboratories, Marcoussis, France, where he was in charge of research activities in the fields of superconducting electromechanical systems and automatic control. In 1999, he joined the Power Electronics Research Team (PERT) of Alstom Technology and then of Alstom T&D, Massy, France, where he was in charge of a research team in control activities. Since 2004, he is in charge of control activities within Power Electronics Activities R&D Department of AREVA T&D, Massy, France. His research interests are in the area of automatic control for industrial electrical systems, applications of robust control, sliding mode observers, and discrete-time nonlinear control for both Adjustable-Speed Drives (ASD) and electrical networks.

Jocelyn Sabatier

Jocelyn Sabatier was bom in France in 1970. He graduated from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts et Métiers (ENSAM) in 1992. He received the Ph.D. degree in Control Theory from Bordeaux 1 University in 1998. He is the author or co-author of about 20 publications. He is actually a Research Assistant at the University Institute of Tecnology of Bordeaux 1 University at the Analog and Digital Electronics Department. His current research interests are in the area of systems (distributed parameter systems, fractional systems, time varying systems, nonlinear systems) and control theory.

Patrick Latteux

Patrick Latteux was born in France in 1949. He received Electrical Engineering degree from ENSIEG (Ecole Nationale Supérieure Electricien de Grenoble) in 1973. At Jeumont Schneider, he worked in power electronic activities, then in the field of modelling, simulation and control for electrical engineering. In 1997, he joined Alcatel Alstom Recherche Laboratories, Marcoussis, France, where he was in charge of research activities in the field of automatic control. In 1999, he joined the Power Electronics Research Team (PERT) of Alstom Technology and then of Alstom T&D, Massy, France, where its R&D activities were focussed on control systems for power converter. Since 2004, he is in charge of a research activity in control for power converter at AREVA T&D, Massy, France.

Jean Luc Thomas

Jean-Luc Thomas (IEEE M’M2) was born in Fontainebleau, France, in 1961. He received his engineering degree in automatic control, the DEA degree in Physics & Metrology and the Ph.D. degree in control engineering all from the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers (CNAM), Paris, France, in 1990, 1991 and 1995, respectively. He received the HDR degree in 2004 from the INPG, Grenoble. In 1980 he joined R&D Department in Power Electronics of Jeumont-Schneider, France. In 1994, he joined Alcatel-Alsthom-Recherche Laboratories, Marcoussis, France, where he was in charge of the Control Research activities in the Department of Electrical Engineering. He became an Associate Professor in 1996 at the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers (CNAM), Paris. Since, he teaches the Electric Motor Control course in Department of Electrical Engineering. In 1999, he joined ALSTOM Technology, then ALSTOM T&D in 2002, Massy, France, where he was the head of the Power Electronics Research Team (PERT) up to 2004. He is currently the R&D Director of Power Electronic Activities at AREVA T&D, Massy, France. He is also currently member of the Executive Council and International Steering Committee of the European Power Electronics conference (EPE). His research interests are in the areas of microcomputer automatic control for industrial electrical systems, applications of robust control and nonlinear control for adjustable-speed drives (ASD) with a special emphasis on induction motor control. Recently his research focused on advanced control for transmission and distribution large power systems (VSC-HVDC, FACTS, ....).

Alain Oustaloup

Alain Oustaloup was born in France in 1950. He obtained the engineering diploma from Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Electronique et de Radioélectricité de Bordeaux (ENSEIRB) in 1973, the doctor-engineer title in 1975, then the doctorate in sciences degree from Bordeaux I University in 1981. He is currently Professor at the ENSEIRB where he is in charge of the Automatic Control department. He is manager of the CRONE team at the Automatics and CIM laboratory of Bordeaux I University / ENSEIRB, and research evaluator for the French Ministry of Education and Research. He is mainly working on fractional differentiation, its synthesis and its application in engineering sciences. He is studying the close link between recursivity and fractional derivative, the main application of this latter in automatics being the CRONE control (a French acronym of « Commande Robuste d’Ordre Non Entier »). His own work is presented in a reference book edited by Hermes in 1995 and entitled «La dérivation non entière: théorie, synthèse et applications». As for awards, he received the Afcet Tropy in 1995 and the Silver Medal of CNRS in 1997.