Closed-loop automatic tuning of PID controller for nonlinear systems

In this paper, a robust control system is first proposed which is suitable for the control of a class of nonlinear systems. A parallel connection of a relay to a proportional integral derivative (PID) controller collectively forms the robust controller. The relay ensures robust control by providing a high feedback gain, but it also induces a control chattering phenomenon. Instead of viewing chattering as an undesirable yet inevitable feature, the chattering signals are used as natural excitation signals for identifying an equivalent PID controller using the recursive least squares algorithm. No other explicit input signal is required. Analysis is provided on the stability properties of the control scheme. Simulation results for the level control of fluid in a spherical tank using the scheme are presented.     

基于目录服务的跨平台账户管理

讨论了多重帐户问题在计算机网络管理中诸多弊端。提出以目录服务（Novell NDS）为基础，实现跨平台（NetWare、WindowsNT和Solaris）的帐刻统一管理的方案及详细实施实例。     

客户关系管理辨析

从管理策略的视角对客户关系管理的涵义、内容、与营销、电子商务、供应链管理和流程再造的关系以及企业实施的成熟度等方面进行了辨析，认为客户关系管理是企业生存法则的回归。     

Comments on “Equivalence of characterizations of fixed models”

In this note we present a proof to the conjecture given in the above paper, and therefore establish the equivalence of characterizations of fixed modes for the general case.     

Facilities management, building maintenance and modernization link

The widening of interest and scope of property management and maintenance has attracted a greater diversity of professional disciplines into facilities management. Dr Quah, coordinator of CIB W70 on Management, Maintenance and Modernization of Building facilities, expresses her personal views on the current fascination with the subject.     

Approximate feedback linearization of discrete-time non-linear systems using virtual input direct design

The design of feedback-linearization and poles-placement controllers for discrete-time non-linear plants, using Input/Output/State measurements only, is typically addressed via indirect design. In this paper we propose the use of a new technique, based on a Virtual Input Direct Design (VID²) approach. The main feature of such a technique is to reduce the control design problem into a standard non-linear mapping approximation problem, without calling for the preliminary construction of an appropriate model of the plant. As compared with the existing methods, the new one requires less computational effort, while taking full advantage of the non-linear approximation software tools already available. In this paper, the new method is described, a simple theoretical analysis is given, and some numerical examples are presented.     

Design and control of an olefin metathesis reactive distillation column

This paper considers the design and control of a reactive distillation column in which one reactant is consumed and two products are formed (A?B+C). The volatilities are α_B>α_A>α_C, i.e. the reactant is intermediate boiling between the two products. The metathesis of 2-pentene is considered as the demonstrative example. The column has a single feed of the intermediate boiling reactant. The distillate contains mostly light component and the bottoms mostly heavy.Three designs are considered: the base case (low-conversion/low-pressure), a low-conversion/high-pressure case and a high-conversion/high-pressure case. The base design is obtained from the literature, and the other two steady-state designs are optimized with respect to the total annual cost. All the designs are found to be openloop stable. Five control structures are studied for the base design. Then the best two structures are applied to the remaining two designs. This category of reactive distillation exhibits less challenging problems than other categories since it uses a single feed, which eliminates the need for the control structure to perfectly balance two fresh feeds.Simulation results demonstrate that effective dynamic control is provided by a control structure that uses two temperatures to maintain the purities of both product streams. No internal composition measurement is required. This structure is found to be robust and stable and rejects loads and tracks setpoints very well.     

Adaptive predictive control algorithm based on Laguerre Functional Model

Laguerre Functional Model has many advantages such as good approximation capability for the variances of system time‐delay, order and other structural parameters, low computational complexity, and the facility of online parameter identification, etc., so this model is suitable for complex industrial process control. A series of successful applications have been gained in linear and non‐linear predictive control fields by the control algorithm based on Laguerre Functional Model, however, former researchers have not systemically brought forward the theoretical analyses of the stability, robustness, and steady‐state performance of this algorithm, which are the keys to guarantee the feasibility of the control algorithm fundamentally. Aimed at this problem, we introduce the principles of the Incremental Mode Linear Laguerre Predictive Control (IMLLPC) algorithm, and then systemically propose the theoretical analyses and proofs of the stability and robustness of the algorithm, in addition, we also put forward the steady‐state performance analysis. At last, the control performances of this algorithm on two different physical industrial plants are presented in detail, and a number of experimental results validate the feasibility and superiority of IMLLPC algorithm. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Sensorless control of synchronous reluctance motors using on‐line parameter identification method not affected by position estimation accuracy

This paper presents a novel on‐line parameter identification method for sensorless control of Synchronous Reluctance Motors (SynRMs). Although conventional sensorless control methods based on mathematical models usually need some complex measurements of motor parameters in advance, the proposed identification method does not require them and can be realized on‐line. The proposed method identifies motor parameters under sensorless control, so rotor position and velocity cannot be used to identify these parameters. However, the proposed method does not need rotor position and velocity, and identified parameters are not affected by these estimation errors. The sensorless control using identified motor parameters is realized, and the effectiveness of the proposed method is verified by experimental results. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 155(3): 62–69, 2006; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.20258     

Minimum switching control for adaptive tracking

The switching adaptive control method has been used for quite a few years to solve the adaptive stabilization and model reference adaptive control problems. However, a serious problem with the switching control method is that the number of ‘candidate’ controllers can potentially be very large, especially for multi‐input–multi‐output systems. In this paper, we consider a class of minimum‐phase multi‐input–multi‐output plants with some mild compactness assumptions. Given any polynomial reference input, we provide a switching control law which guarantees exponentially stability of the closed‐loop system with exponential tracking performance. The main contribution of the paper is that we give the minimum number of candidate controllers required for switching. In particular, the number is equal to 2 for single‐input–single‐output plants (one for each sign of the high‐frequency gain), and is equal to 2^m for m‐input–m‐output plants. That is, the number is independent of the degree and the relative degree of the plant. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.