Decentralized tracking for a class of interconnected nonlinear systems using fuzzy variable structure control with application to a drill and dry jet mixing machine

Abstract

In this paper we have presented a novel decentralized fuzzy variable structure controller (DFVSC) for the tracking problem of a class of uncertain interconnected nonlinear systems. The decentralized variable structure control principle is utilized to deal with model uncertainties, nonlinear interactions between subsystems, control input gain uncertainties and external disturbances. A fuzzy logic function is applied to eliminate the chattering problem and improve the tracking performance. The proposed DFVSC is applied to a drill and dry jet mixing machine. The performances of the proposed DFVSC are compared with the conventional decentralized variable structure control (DVSC) and suboptimal PID control (SPIDC) by computer simulation. Simulation results show that the proposed DFVSC can achieve excellent transient performance, faster response, better precision and good robustness against system parameter uncertainties, various airflow conditions and uncertain time-varying external disturbance.