Dry Clutch Control for Automated Manual Transmission Vehiclesanalyses the control of a part of the powertrain which has a key role in ride comfort during standing-start and gear-shifting manoeuvres. The mechanical conception of the various elements in the driveline has long since been optimised so this book takes a more holistic system-oriented view of the problem featuring: a comprehensive description of the driveline elements and their operation paying particular attention to the clutch, a nonlinear model of the driveline for simulation and a simplified model for control design, with a standing-start driver automaton for closed loop simulation, a detailed analysis of the engagement operation and the related comfort criteria, different control schemes aiming at meeting these criteria, friction coefficient and unknown input clutch torque observers, practical implementation issues and solutions based on experience of implementing optimal engagement strategies on two Renault prototypes.

Nonlinear Control of Vehicles and Robots develops a unified approach to the dynamic modeling of robots in terrestrial, aerial and marine environments. The main classes of nonlinear systems and stability methods are summarized and basic nonlinear control methods, useful in manipulator and vehicle control, are presented. Formation control of ground robots and ships is discussed. The book also deals with the modeling and control of robotic systems in the presence of non-smooth nonlinearities. Robust adaptive tracking control of robotic systems with unknown payload and friction in the presence of uncertainties is treated. Theoretical and practical aspects of the control algorithms under discussion are detailed. Examples are included throughout the book allowing the reader to apply the control and modeling techniques in their own research and development work. Some of these examples demonstrate state estimation based on the use of advanced sensors as part of the control system.

Active Braking Control Design for Road Vehicles focuses on two main brake system technologies: hydraulically-activated brakes with on–off dynamics and electromechanical brakes, tailored to brake-by-wire control. The physical differences of such actuators enjoin the use of different control schemes so as to be able fully to exploit their characteristics. The authors show how these different control approaches are complementary, each having specific peculiarities in terms of either performance or of the structural properties of the closed-loop system. They also consider other problems related to the design of braking control systems, namely: • longitudinal vehicle speed estimation and its relationship with braking control system design; • tire–road friction estimation; • direct estimation of tire–road contact forces via in-tire sensors, providing a treatment of active vehicle braking control from a wider perspective linked to both advanced academic research and industrial reality.

Reset Control Systems addresses the analysis for reset control treating both its basic form, and some useful variations of the reset action and reset condition. The issues regarding reset control – concepts and motivation; analysis tools; and the application of design methodologies to real-world examples – are given thorough coverage. The text opens with a historical perspective which moves from the seminal work of the Clegg integrator and Horowitz FORE to more recent approaches based on impulsive/hybrid control systems and explains the motivation for reset compensation. Preliminary material is also included. The focus then turns to stability analysis for systems using techniques which account for various time- and frequency-domain criteria. The final section of the book is centered on control systems design and application. The PI+CI compensator is detailed as are a proposed frequency domain approach using quantitative feedback theory and ideas for design improvement. Design examples are given.

Control of Integral Processes with Dead Time provides a unified and coherent review of the various approaches devised for the control of integral processes, addressing the problem from different standpoints. In particular, the book treats the following topics: How to tune a PID controller and assess its performance; How to design a two-degree-of-freedom control scheme in order to deal with both the set-point following and load disturbance rejection tasks; How to modify the basic Smith predictor control scheme in order to cope with the presence of an integrator in the process; and how to address the presence of large process dead times. The methods are presented sequentially, highlighting the evolution of their rationale and implementation and thus clearly characterising them from both academic and industrial perspectives.

This book deals with a novel and practical advanced method for control of tandem cold metal rolling processes based on the emerging state-dependent Riccati equation technique. After a short history of tandem cold rolling, various types of cold rolling processes are described. A basic mathematical model of the process is discussed, and the diverse conventional control methods are compared. A detailed treatment of the theoretical and practical aspects of the state-dependent algebraic Riccati equation technique is given, with specific details of the new procedure described and results of simulations performed to verify the control model and overall system performance with the new controller coupled to the process model included. These results and data derived from actual operating mills are compared showing the improvements in performance using the new method. Material is included which shows how the new technique can be extended to the control of a broad range of large-scale complex nonlinear processes.

Drives and Control for Industrial Automation presents the material necessary for an understanding of servo control in automation. Beginning with a macroscopic view of its subject, treating drives and control as parts of a single system, the book then pursues a detailed discussion of the major components of servo control: sensors, controllers and actuators. Throughout, the mechatronic approach – a synergistic integration of the components – is maintained, in keeping with current practice. The authors’ holistic approach does not preclude the reader from learning in a step-by-step fashion – each chapter contains material that can be studied separately without compromising understanding. Drives are described in several chapters according to the way they are usually classified in industry, each comprised of its actuators and sensors. The controller is discussed alongside. Topics of recent and current interest – piezoelectricity, digital communications and future trends – are detailed in their own chapters.

Control of Solar Energy Systems details the main solar energy systems, problems involved with their control, and how control systems can help in increasing their efficiency. Thermal energy systems are explored in depth, as are photovoltaic generation and other solar energy applications such as solar furnaces and solar refrigeration systems. This second and updated edition of Advanced Control of Solar Plants includes new material on: solar towers and solar tracking; heliostat calibration, characterization and offset correction; solar radiation, estimation, prediction, and computation; and integrated control of solar plants. This new edition contains worked examples in the text as well as proposed exercises and simulation models and so will be of great use to the student and academic, as well as the industrial practitioner.

The series Advances in Industrial Control aims to report and encourage technology transfer in control engineering. The rapid development of control technology has an impact on all areas of the control discipline. New theory, new controllers, actuators, sensors, new industrial processes, computer methods, new applications, new philosophies ..., new challenges. Much of this development work resides in industrial reports, feasibility study papers and the reports of advanced collaborative projects. The series offers an opportunity for researchers to present an extended exposition of such new work in all aspects of industrial control for wider and rapid dissemination. The water and wastewater industry has undergone many changes in recent years. Of particular importance has been a renewed emphasis on improving resource management with tighter regulatory controls setting new targets on pricing, industry efficiency and loss reduction for both water and wastewater with more stringent environmental discharge conditions for wastewater. Meantime, the demand for water and wastewater services grows as the population increases and wishes for improved living conditions involving, among other items, domestic appliances that use water. Consequently, the installed infrastructure of the industry has to be continuously upgraded and extended, and employed more effectively to accommodate the new demands, both in throughput and in meeting the new regulatory conditions. Investment in fixed infrastructure is capital-intensive and slow to come on-stream. One outcome of these changes and demands is that the industry is examining the potential benefits of, and in many cases using, more advanced control systems.

Industrial Process Identification and Control Design is devoted to advanced identification and control methods for the operation of continuous-time processes both with and without time delay, in industrial and chemical engineering practice. The simple and practical step- or relay-feedback test is employed when applying the proposed identification techniques, which are classified in terms of common industrial process type: open-loop stable; integrating; and unstable, respectively. Correspondingly, control system design and tuning models that follow are presented for single-input-single-output processes. Furthermore, new two-degree-of-freedom control strategies and cascade control system design methods are explored with reference to independently-improving, set-point tracking and load disturbance rejection. Decoupling, multi-loop, and decentralized control techniques for the operation of multiple-input-multiple-output processes are also detailed. Perfect tracking of a desire output trajectory is realized using iterative learning control in uncertain industrial batch processes. All the proposed methods are presented in an easy-to-follow style, illustrated by examples and practical applications. This book will be valuable for researchers in system identification and control theory, and will also be of interest to graduate control students from process, chemical, and electrical engineering backgrounds and to practising control engineers in the process industry.