Abstract
A smart digital controller for pneumatic servo positioning axis is discussed in this paper. The controller is based on a non-linear state feedback control algorithm and it has much intelligence. Through close theoretical analysis and a large amount of experiments a concept is developed, which lets the controller itself find the optimal control parameterset according to the system data given quite easily by a user. With the controller, satisfactory characteristics can always be obtained even for those pneumatic servo axes with lage variations in dimension or working under some extreme special conditions, e. g. for cylinder length from 50mm to 3000mm, diameter from 16mm to 125mm or mass load from 0.5 KG to 1500 KG.
In this paper, theories for modelling and design of the controller are given and the principles of the non-linear state feedback strategy are discussed. Some intelligent algorithms employed in the controller to further improve the dynamic and static performances of a pneumatic servo positioning axis are also reported. Finally, a brief description of some additional important features of the controller and several practical applications are introduced.
