A new semi-active suspension control strategy through mixed H_2/H_∞ robust technique

A new semi-active suspension control strategy through mixed H2/H∞ robust technique was developed due to its flexibility and robustness to model uncertainties.A full car model with seven degrees of freedom was established to demonstrate the effectiveness of the new control approach.Magneto-rheological(MR) dampers were designed,manufactured and characterized as available semi-active actuators in the developed semi-active suspension system.The four independent mixed H2/H∞ controllers were devised in order to perform a distributed semi-active control system in the vehicle by which the response velocity and reliability can be improved significantly.The performance of the proposed new approach was investigated in time and frequency domains.A good balance between vehicle's comfort and road holding was achieved.An effective and practical control strategy for semi-active suspension system was thus obtained.This new approach exhibits some advantages in implementation,performance flexibility and robustness compared to existing methods.     

Comparison of two suspension control strategies for multi-axle heavy truck

Two simple and effective control strategies for a multi-axle heavy truck, modified skyhook damping (MSD) control and proportional-integration-derivative (PID) control, were implemented into functional virtual prototype (FVP) model and compared in terms of road friendliness and ride comfort. A four-axle heavy truck-road coupling system model was established using FVP technology and validated through a ride comfort test. Then appropriate passive air suspensions were chosen to replace the rear tandem suspensions of the original truck model for preliminary optimization. The mechanical properties and time lag of dampers were taken into account in simulations of MSD and PID semi-active dampers implemented using MATLAB/Simulink. Through co-simulations with Adams and MATLAB, the effects of semi-active MSD and PID control were analyzed and compared, and control parameters which afforded the best comprehensive performance for each control strategy were chosen. Simulation results indicate that compared with the passive air suspension truck, semi-active MSD control improves both ride comfort and road-friendliness markedly, with optimization ratios of RMS vertical acceleration and RMS tyre force ranging from 10.1% to 44.8%. However, semi-active PID control only reduces vertical vibration of the driver’s seat by 11.1%, 11.1% and 10.9% on A, B and C level roads respectively. Both strategies are robust to the variation of road level.     

Designing and characteristics analysis of electric suspensions with symmetrically arranged two slider-rods

An innovative design of electric suspensions was developed in this study to help realize slow active suspension easily and quickly. This design was driven by screw through double slider-rod arranged symmetrically as a substitute for two springs. Based on a mathematical modeling, suspension parameters were introduced for a certain type of wheeled vehicles. The functions and its mechanism in regulating terrain clearance and adjusting attitudes were subsequently explained respectively, together with its semi-active control mechanism and characteristics In conclusion, our data in the study show that the new mechanical design of suspensions not only could realize adjusting terrain clearance and static vehicle pose, but also had an ideal stiffness that could realize a semi-active suspension function through adjusting suspension''s stiffness. Therefore it can bequite suitable for off-road wheeled vehicles and military wheeled vehicles.     

H∞ Theory and its Application to the Position of Rolling Mill Control System

The controller designed according to classical or modern control theory will not satisfy the performance requirements when the controlled object in industrial field can not be described by exact mathematical model or the disturbance of the controlled system. In order to make the controlled system stable and having good performance, H∞ control theory was put forward to solve this practical problem. Taking the position of a rolling mill as the controlled object, it was rectified by optimal engineering way. Then, three different plans were put forward according to Bang-Bang control, LQ control and H∞ control, respectively. The result of the simulation shows that the controller designed according to H∞ method whose robust performance and ability to restrain colors disturbance is satisfactory.     

Electrorheological Damper and Its Application for Semi Active Suspension System

A semi-active control of vehicle suspension system with electrorheological (ER) damper is presented. ER fluid characteristics are introduced based on the Bingham plasticity model first. Then ER damper working force is given. Finally a quarter car model with ER damper is constructed. The skyhook control strategy is adopted to simulate the amplitude-frequency characteristics and the vibration of suspension system under random road excitation on the basis of ER damper characteristics. The response curves of the vertical acceleration, the suspension dynamic working space and the tyre dynamic loading are obtained. Simulation results show that the acceleration is reduced effectively and then the ride comfort is improved by the skyhook control law.     

Hybrid He／H∞ force／position control based on neural networks

A neural network control scheme with mixed H2/H∞ performance was proposed for robot force/position control under parameter uncertainties and external disturbances. The mixed H2/H∞ tracking performance ensures both robust stability under a prescribed attenuation level for external disturbance and H2 optimal tracking. The neural network was introduced to adaptively estimate nonlinear uncertainties, improving the system‘ s performance under parameter uncertainties as well as obtaining the H2/H∞ tracking performance. The simulation shows that the control method performs better even when the system is under large modeling uncertainties and external disturbances.     

Stiffness-damping matching method of an ECAS system based on LQG control简

A novel method of matching stiffness and continuous variable damping of an ECAS （electronically controlled air suspension） based on LQG （linear quadratic Gaussian） control was proposed to simultaneously improve the road-friendliness and ride comfort of a two-axle school bus. Taking account of the suspension nonlinearities and target-height-dependent variation in suspension characteristics, a stiffness model of the ECAS mounted on the drive axle of the bus was developed based on thermodynamics and the key parameters were obtained through field tests. By determining the proper range of the target height for the ECAS of the fully-loaded bus based on the design requirements of vehicle body bounce frequency, the control algorithm of the target suspension height （i.e., stiffness） was derived according to driving speed and road roughness. Taking account of the nonlinearities of a continuous variable semi-active damper, the damping force was obtained through the subtraction of the air spring force from the optimum integrated suspension force, which was calculated based on LQG control. Finally, a GA （genetic algorithm）-based matching method between stepped variable damping and stiffness was employed as a benchmark to evaluate the effectiveness of the LQG-based matching method. Simulation results indicate that compared with the GA-based matching method, both dynamic tire force and vehicle body vertical acceleration responses are markedly reduced around the vehicle body bounce frequency employing the LQG-based matching method, with peak values of the dynamic tire force PSD （power spectral density） decreased by 73.6%, 60.8% and 71.9% in the three cases, and corresponding reduction are 71.3%, 59.4% and 68.2% for the vehicle body vertical acceleration. A strong robustness to variation of driving speed and road roughness is also observed for the LQG-based matching method.     

Automobile active suspension system with fuzzy control

A quarter-automobile active suspension model was proposed. High speed on/off solenoid valves were used as control valves and fuzzy control was chosen as control method.Based on force analyses of system parts, a mathematical model of the active suspension system was established and simplified by linearization method. Simula-tion study was conducted with Matlab and three scale coefficients of fuzzy controller (kc,kcc,ku) were acquired.And an experimental device was designed and produced. The results indicate that the active suspension system can a-chieve better vibration isolation performance than passive suspension system, the displacement amplitude of automo-bile body can be reduced to 55%. Fuzzy control is an effective control method for active suspension system.     

Cooling hot rolling steel strip using combined tactics

The coiling temperature control of a typical steel strip mill was investigated.Due to the high speed of a strip and complex circumstance,it is very hard to set up a cooling model with high accuracy.A simplified dynamic model was proposed,based on which a cooling control scheme with combined feedforward,feedback and adaptive algorithms was developed.Meanwhile,the ge- netic algorithms were used for the optimization of model parameters.Simulations with a model validated using actual plant data were conducted,and the results have confirmed the effectiveness of the proposed control methods.At last,a simulation system for coiling temperature control was developed.It can be used for new product trials and newcomer training.     

Active suspension with optimal control based on a full vehicle model

The 7-DOF model of a full vehicle with an active suspension is developed in this paper. The model is written into the state equation style. Actuator forces are treated as inputs in the state equations. Based on the basic optimal control theory, the optimal gains for the control system are figured out. So an optimal controller is developed and implemented using Matlab/Simulink, where the Riccati equation with coupling terms is deduced using the Hamilton equation. The all state feedback is chosen for the controller. The gains for all vehicle variables are traded off so that majority of indexes were up to optimal. The active suspension with optimal control is simulated in frequency domain and time domain separately, and compared with a passive suspension. Throughout all the simulation results, the optimal controller developed in this paper works well in the majority of instances. In all, the comfort and ride performance of the vehicle are improved under the active suspension with optimal control.     

Investigation on full vehicle height control algorithm using feedback linearization method

Aiming to improve the control accuracy of the vehicle height for the air suspension system, deeply analyzing the processes of variable mass gas thermodynamics and vehicle dynamics, a nonlinear height control model of the air suspension vehicle was built. To deal with the nonlinear characteristic existing in the lifting and lowering processes, the nonlinear model of vehicle height control was linearized by using a feedback linearization method. Then, based on the linear full vehicle model, the sliding model controller was designed to achieve the control variables. Finally, the nonlinear control algorithm in the original coordinates can be achieved by the inverse transformation of coordinates. To validate the accuracy and effectiveness of the sliding mode controller, the height control processes were simulated in Matlab, i.e., the lifting and lowering processes of the air suspension vehicle were taken when vehicle was in stationary and driving at a constant speed. The simulation results show that, compared to other controllers, the designed sliding model controller based on the feedback linearization can effectively solve the "overshoot" problem, existing in the height control process, and force the vehicle height to reach the desired value, so as to greatly improve the speed and accuracy of the height control process. Besides, the sliding mode controller can well regulate the roll and pitch motions of the vehicle body, thereby improving the vehicle''s ride comfort.     

Adaptive switching control of a class of nonlinear systems based on mixed multiple models

The transient behaviors of traditional adaptive control may be very poor in general. A practically feasible approach to improve the transient performances is the adoption of adaptive switching control. For a typical class of nonlinear systems disturbed by random noises, mixed multiple models consisting of adaptive model and fixed models were considered to design the switching control law. Under certain assumptions, the nonlinear system with the switching control law was proved rigorously to be stable and optimal. A simulation example was provided to compare the performance of the switching control and the traditional adaptive control.     

Nonlinear adaptive optimal control for vehicle handling improvement through steer-by-wire system简

A control algorithm for improving vehicle handling was proposed by applying right angle to the steering wheel, based on the nonlinear adaptive optimal control （NAOC）. A nonlinear 4-DOF model was initially developed, then it was simplified to a 2-DOF model with reasonable assumptions to design observer and optimal controllers. Then a simplified model was developed for steering system. The numerical simulations were carried out using vehicle parameters for standard maneuvers in dry and wet road conditions. Moreover, the hardware in the loop method was implemented to prove the controller ability in realistic conditions. Simulation results obviously show the effectiveness of NAOC on vehicle handling and reveal that the proposed controller can significantly improve vehicle handling during severe maneuvers.     

Flocculating Properties and Production of the Compound Bioflocculantby Rhizobium Radiobacter F2 and Bacillus Sphaeicus F6

A compound bioflocculant CBF,produced by mixed culture of Rhizobium radiobacter F2 and Bacillus sphaeicus F6, was investigated with regard to its production and flocculating properties. The optimization of the culture medium constituents including carbon source,nitrogen source and C / N ratio,metal ions and ionic strength on CBF production were studied. Flocculating properties of CBF were examined by a series of experiments and CBF had good flocculating activities in kaolin suspension with divalent cations and stable over wide range of p H. Studies of the flocculating properties revealed that the flocculation could be stimulated by cations Ca2+,Mg2+,Fe2+,Al3+and Fe3+. In addition,it was stable at 4-30 ℃ in the presence of Ca Cl2. It was found to be effective for flocculation of a kaolin suspension under neutral and weak alkaline conditions( p H 7. 0- 9. 0),and flocculating activities of higher than 95% were obtained when the CBF concentrations among 6- 14 mg / L at p H 8. 0. The results of this study indicate that CBF is a potential replacement of conventional synthetic flocculants and is widely applied in water treatment and downstream processing of food and fermentation industries.     

Fuzzy robust path tracking strategy of an active pelagic trawl system with coordinated ship and winch regulation简

A fuzzy robust path tracking strategy of an active pelagic trawl system with ship and winch regulation is proposed. First, nonlinear mathematic model of the pelagic trawl system was derived using Lagrange equation and further simplified as a low order model for the convenience of controller design. Then, an active path tracking strategy of pelagic trawl system was investigated to improve the catching efficiency of the target fish near the sea bottom. By means of the active tracking control, the pelagic trawl net can be positioned dynamically to follow a specified trajectory via the coordinated winch and ship regulation. In addition, considering the system nonlinearities, modeling uncertainties and the unknown exogenous disturbance of the trawl system model, a nonlinear robust H2/H~ controller based on Takagi-Sugeno （T-S） fuzzy model was presented, and the simulation comparison with linear robust H2/H∞ controller and PID method was conducted for the validation of the nonlinear fuzzy robust controller. The nonlinear simulation results show that the average tracking error is 0.4 m for the fuzzy robust H2/H∞ control and 125.8 m for the vertical and horizontal displacement, respectively, which is much smaller than linear H2/H∞ controller and the PID controller. The investigation results illustrate that the fuzzy robust controller is effective for the active path tracking control of the pelagic trawl system.     

Decentralized H∞ state feedback control for large-scaleinterconnected uncertain systems with multiple delays

Decentralized H∞ control was studied for a class of interconnected uncertain systems with multiple delays in the state and control and time varying but norm-bounded parametric uncertainties. A sufficient condition which makes the closed-loop system decentralized asymptotically stable with H∞ performance was derived based on Lyapunov stability theorem. This condition is expressed as the solvability problem of linear matrix inequalities. The method overcomes the limitations of the existing algebraic Riccati equation method. Finally, a numerical example was given to demonstrate the design procedure for the decentralized H∞ state feedback controller.     

A modified structure internal model robust control method for the integration of active front steering and direct yaw moment control

Taking into account the nonlinearity of vehicle dynamics and the variations of vehicle parameters,the integrated control strategy for active front steering(AFS)and direct yaw control(DYC)that can maintain the performance and robustness is a key issue to be researched.Currently,the H∞method is widely applied to the integrated control of chassis dynamics,but it always sacrifices the performance in order to enhance the stability.The modified structure internal model robust control(MSIMC)obtained by modifying internal model control(IMC)structure is proposed for the integrated control of AFS and DYC to surmount the conflict between performance and robustness.Double lane change(DLC)simulation is developed to compare the performance and the stability of the MSIMC strategy,the PID controller based on the reference vehicle model and the H∞controller.Simulation results show that the PID controller may oscillate and go into instability in severe driving conditions because of large variations of tire parameters,the H∞controller sacrifices the performance in order to enhance the stability,and only the MSIMC controller can both ensure the robustness and the high performance of the integrated control of AFS and DYC.     

Motion stability and control of supercavitating vehicle with variable cavitation number

Cavitation number and speed are capable of variation during the motion of supercavitating vehicle underwater,for example,under the condition of accelerated motion stage and external disturbance.The dynamic model and control challenge associated with the longitudinal motion of supercavitating vehicle with variable cavitation number and speed have been explored.Based on the principle of cavity expansion independence the properties of cavity and the influence on planning force of body were researched.Calculation formula of efficiency of the fin was presented.Nonlinear dynamics model of variable cavitation number and speed supercavitating vehicle was established.Stabilities of the open-loop systems of different situations were analyzed.The simulations results of open-loop systems show that it is necessary to design a control method to control a supercavitating vehicle.A gain schedule controller with guaranteed H∞ performance was designed to stabilize the dive-plane dynamics of supercavitating vehicle under changing conditions.     

Sub-pixel mapping method based on BP neural network

A new sub-pixel mapping method based on BP neural network is proposed in order to determine the spatial distribution of class components in each mixed pixel.The network was used to train a model that describes the relationship between spatial distribution of target components in mixed pixel and its neighboring information.Then the sub-pixel scaled target could be predicted by the trained model.In order to improve the performance of BP network,BP learning algorithm with momentum was employed.The experiments were conducted both on synthetic images and on hyperspectral imagery(HSI).The results prove that this method is capable of estimating land covers fairly accurately and has a great superiority over some other sub-pixel mapping methods in terms of computational complexity.     

Prestiction friction compensation in direct-drive mechatronics systems

LuGre model has been widely used in friction modeling and compensation. However, the new friction regime, named prestiction regime, cannot be accurately characterized by LuGre model in the latest research. With the extensive experimental observations of friction behaviors in the prestiction, some variables were abstracted to depict the rules in the prestiction regime. Based upon the knowledge of friction modeling, a novel friction model including the presliding regime, the gross sliding regime and the prestiction regime was then presented to overcome the shortcomings of the LuGre model. The reason that LuGre model cannot estimate the prestiction friction was analyzed in theory. Feasibility analysis of the proposed model in modeling the prestiction friction was also addressed. A parameter identification method for the proposed model based on multilevel coordinate search algorithm was presented. The proposed friction compensation strategy was composed of a nonlinear friction observer and a feedforward mechanism. The friction observer was designed to estimate the friction force in the presliding and the gross sliding regimes. And the friction force was estimated based on the model in the prestiction regime. The comparative trajectory tracking experiments were conducted on a simulator of inertially stabilization platforms among three control schemes： the single proportional-derivative （PD） control, the PD with LuGre model-based compensation and the PD with compensator based on the presented model. The experimental results reveal that the control scheme based on the proposed model has the best tracking performance. It reduces the peak-to-peak value （PPV） of tracking error to 0.2 mrad, which is improved almost 50% compared with the PD with LuGre model-based compensation. Compared to the single PD control, it reduces the PPV of error by 66.7%.