Research Theme

Pneumatic muscle actuator (PMA) becomes famous and widely used in industrial automation process and medical applications (such as exoskeleton for rehabilitation), due to its power-to-weight ratio. Unfortunately, the major challenge in controlling PMA precisely is due to the problem of high nonlinear and its time varying characteristics.

In practical, it is difficult to estimate correctly the model parameters, which governs the dynamics of a pneumatic actuator. Thus, a practical control which has a simple design procedure and capable to demonstrate high positioning and robust performance is needed to overcome the above-mentioned problem.

The practical control, namely nominal characteristic trajectory following (NCTF) control, is proposed as a solution to perform high positioning and robust performances. This research focuses on improving the positioning performance of the PMA system through practical control strategies, modeling methods, and metrology solutions.

Decade by decade, the industry still has favored classical controllers such as PID and/or lead-lag elements, due to their structure simplicity, high adoptability, easy understanding and design. There features are significant in selecting controller design procedure for industrial application. However, the classical controllers have met limitation when higher positioning and robust performances are required.

This research proposed nominal characteristics trajectory following (NCTF) controller as a practical control which emphasizes a simple and straightforward design procedure in order to achieve the promising results in positioning and continuous motion control as the end objectives.

The ball-screw mechanism is a mechanism that widely used in industry. The practical control method that is able to improve its positioning performance is highly needed in industry, that important to increase the productivity and quality.

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