Based on the Lyapunov stability theorem, two adaptive variable structure control (AVSC) schemes with perturbation estimation are proposed in this thesis for two different classes of nonlinear systems with model uncertainties and external disturbance, so that the robust tracking problems can be solved. The class of systems firstly considered is the one which has square input matrix gain, the other is the one which has non-square input matrix and an output function. All systems considered contain perturbation in the input matrix gain. By introducing a perturbation estimation process embedded in both proposed control schemes, not only the perturbation can be estimated, but also the control energy can be reduced. In addition, the proposed control schemes also contain an adaptive mechanism in order to automatically adapt the unknown upper bound of perturbation estimation error, so that the property of uniformly ultimate boundedness for the closed-loop system is guaranteed. Finally, four numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed control schemes.

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In this dissertation three robust control strategies are proposed for a class of multi-input multi-output dynamic systems with matched or mismatched perturbations. Firstly, an adaptive variable structure observer and controller are introduced for solving the regulation problems, where some state variables are not measurable. By utilizing adaptive mechanisms in the design of sliding mode controller, one can enable the controlled systems not only to generate a reaching mode in finite time, but also to suppress the mismatched perturbations during the sliding mode. Secondly, the design of adaptive sliding mode controllers with application to robot manipulators is presented to solve the tracking problems. The dynamic equations of the controlled systems contain a perturbed leading coefficient matrix and can be either positive definite or negative definite. The asymptotical stability of the controlled systems will be attained if the proposed control scheme is employed. Thirdly, a design methodology of adaptive sliding mode controller based on T-S fuzzy model is proposed to solve tracking problems. It is shown that the trajectories of the controlled systems can be driven into a designated sliding surface in finite time, and the property of asymptotical stability is also guaranteed. All these three control schemes are designed by means of Lyapunov stability theorem. Each control scheme contains three parts. The first part is designed for eliminating measurable feedback signals. The second part is used for adjusting the convergent rate of state variables (or tracking errors) of the controlled system. The third part is the adaptive control mechanism, which is used to adapt some unknown constants of the least upper bounds of perturbations, so that the knowledge of the least upper bounds of matched or mismatched perturbations are not required. Several numerical examples and an application of controlling robot manipulator are demonstrated for showing the feasibility of the proposed control methodologies.

The main focus of about this thesis is to design an anti-interference depth controller for underwater remotely operated vehicles(ROV). Since the underwater remotely operated vehicle experiences combination effects of nonlinearities, uncertain and time-varying parameters, and unknown disturbances, demand of robustness for the controller needs to be extremely strict. Therefore, an anti-interference depth controller using PID control and Sliding-mode control is developed. The Matlab simulation tool is employed to simulate the depth control performance of the behavior of the ROV. The simulation is also considered about the model uncertainty of ROV.

Based on the Lyapunov stability theorem, an adaptive variable structure observer and a controller are proposed in this thesis for a class of mismatched perturbed multi-input multi-output (MIMO) dynamic systems with unmeasurable states to solve regulation and tracking problems. In order to estimate the unmeasurable states, a design methodology of variable structure observers is presented first. Then the controller is designed so that the trajectories of the controlled systems are able to reach sliding surface in a finite time. Some adaptive mechanisms are embedded in the sliding surface function and sliding mode controllers, so that not only the mismatched perturbations are suppressed effectively during the sliding mode, but also the information of upper bounds of some perturbations are not required. When the controlled system is the sliding mode, the stability or asymptotical stability is guaranteed. A numerical example and a practical example are given to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed design technique.

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Cooling fans, widely used in desktop and laptop computers, have been designed toward the tendency of low noise and low consumption power. This thesis purposes a efficient low-noise double-loop control method to regulate the fan speed according to environmental temperature. The proposed controller consists of three parts. The first part is a command generator which generates a train of pulses with its frequency varying proportionally with temperature. The second part is a phase locked loop which intends to synchronize the command pulses with the pulses fed back from the Hall IC of the motor. The third part is an inner loop quantized control that switches the fan according to the error signal sent by the phase locked loop. This double-loop design of feedback achieves accurate fan speed regulation with the nice properties of low noise and high efficiency. The experimental results show an average regulation error of 0.4188% in the fan speed range of 306.6~1953 R.P.M which corresponds to the temperature range 10~70 Celsius.

This thesis presents a comparison of controller designs and a system software design for a general Guidance, Navigation and Control (GNC) system. The first part of the thesis investigates four control algorithms based on Lyapunov Direct Method in conjunction with sliding mode and adaptive control. These algorithms address three practical issues in controller design: maximum actuation limitation, external disturbances, and imperfect dynamic models. Each of the algorithms is proven to be globally asymptotically stable within its constraints. A simulation is then used to model a cube-satellite attitude maneuver using each of the controllers to evaluate its performance. The second part of this thesis discusses the development of a high-level flight software architecture capable of handling common tasks, including ground station communication and attitude maneuvers, as well as power or device failures. / text

The Reaction Wheel Pendulum (RWP) is an interesting nonlinear system. A prototypical control problem for the RWP is to stabilize it around the upright position starting from the bottom, which is generally divided into at least 2 phases: (1) Swing-up phase: where the pendulum is swung up and moves toward the upright position. (2) Stabilization phase: here, the pendulum is controlled to be balanced around the upright position. Previous studies mainly focused on an energy method in swing-up phase and a linearization method in stabilization phase. However, several limitations exist. The energy method in swing-up mode usually takes a long time to approach the upright position. Moreover, its trajectory is not controlled which prevents further extensions. The linearization method in the stabilization phase, can only work for a very small range of angles around the equilibrium point, limiting its applicability. In this thesis, we took the 2nd order state space model and solved it for a constant torque input generating the family of phase-plane trajectories (see Appendix A). Therefore, we are able to plan the motion of the reaction wheel pendulum in the phase plane and a sliding mode controller may be implemented around these trajectories. The control strategy presented here is divided into three phases. (1) In the swing up phase a switching torque controller is designed to oscillate the pendulum until the system’s energy is enough to drive the system to the upright position. Our approach is more generic than previous approaches; (2) In the catching phase a sliding surface is designed in the phase plane based on the zero torque trajectories, and a 2nd order sliding mode controller is implemented to drive the pendulum moving along the sliding surface, which improves the robustness compared to the previous method in which the controller switches to stabilization mode when it reaches a pre-defined region. (3) In the stabilization phase a 2nd order sliding mode integral controller is used to solve the balancing problem, which has the potential to stabilize the pendulum in a larger angular region when compared to the previous linearization methods. At last we combine the 3 phases together in a combined strategy. Both simulation results and experimental results are shown. The control unit is National Instruments CompactRIO 9014 with NI 9505 module for module driving and NI 9411 module for encoding. The Reaction Wheel Pendulum is built by Quanser Consulting Inc. and placed in UT’s Advanced Mechatronics Lab. / text

TiNi shape memory alloy is characterized by shape memory and superelastic effects which occur due to reversible martensite transformation. It has been recently found that TiNi alloy has superior dent and wear resistance compared to other conventional materials. The stress-induced martensite transformation exhibited by this alloy contributes to its dent and wear resistance. Much work is required to establish the fundamental principals governing the superelastic behavior of TiNi under wear and indentation conditions. Understanding the superelastic behavior helps to employ superelastic TiNi in applications where high impact loading is expected as in gears and bearings. In this study the superelastic behavior of shape memory alloys under reciprocating sliding wear and indentation loading conditions was investigated. The deformation behavior of superelastic Ti-Ni alloys was studied and compared to AISI 304 stainless steel. Dominant wear and deformation mechanisms were identified.