Adding Robustness to Cascade Control of DC Motor Velocity via Disturbance Observers

Abstract

Since the conventional cascade controller for electric motor drives requires accurate information about the system parameters and load conditions to achieve a desired performance, this paper presents a new practical control structure to improve the robust performance against parameter uncertainties. Two first-order disturbance observers (DOB) are incorporated with the cascade structure, to preserve the nominal performance. The analysis of the robust performance of the DOB is presented by using the singular perturbation theory. Simulation results suggest that the proposed controller can be used effectively as an additional compensator to the conventional cascade scheme.