Observer-based nonlinear precise control of pneumatic servo systems

Pneumatic systems are used in a wide range of industrial robotic and automation systems due to their interesting properties. However, air compressibility, friction, and the other nonlinear characteristics of a servo pneumatic system are difficulties, which contribute to use modern controllers. Conventional linear controllers face steady-state error and uncertainty. Nonlinear modeling with model-based control is a good choice to deal with this problem. In this paper, behavior equation of flow and pressure, friction, and other nonlinear factors are studied. Afterward to reach precise position tracking and low steady error, sliding mode control is proposed. In this way, measurement of pressures and other states of system is required. To reduce the cost of using pressure sensor, observation of pressure with nonlinear high gain observer is suggested. It was seen that the new proposed approach solved the observability problem of servo pneumatic systems. Pressure signal of each sides of cylinder are observed simultaneously by measurement of piston position. Finally, stability of designed controller is studied in the presence of observed states. Experimental results validate the advantage of using designed controller-observer instead of conventional proportional-integral-derivative controller with different input signals in the presence of high friction actuator.