Tensor Product Model Transformation-based Controller Design for Gantry Crane Control System – An Application Approach

The Tensor Product (TP) model transformation is a recently proposed techniquefor transforming given Linear Parameter Varying (LPV) state-space models into polytopicmodel form, namely, to parameter varying convex combination of Linear Time Invariant(LTI) systems. The main advantage of the TP model transformation is that it is executablein a few minutes and the Linear Matrix Inequality (LMI)-based control design frameworkscan immediately be applied to the resulting polytopc models to yield controllers withtractable and guaranteed performance. Various applications of the TP modeltransformation-based design were studied via academic complex and benchmark problems,but no real experimental environment-based study was published. Thus, the main objectiveof this paper is to study how the TP model transformation performs in a real world problemand control setup. The laboratory concept for TP model-based controller design,simulation and real time running on an electromechanical system is presented.Development system for TP model-based controller with one hardware/software platformand target system with real-time hardware/ software support are connected in the uniquesystem. Proposed system is based on microprocessor of personal computer (PC) forsimulation and software development as well as for real-time control. Control algorithm,designed and simulated in MATLAB/SIMULINK environment, use graphically orientedsoftware interface for real-time code generation. Some specific conflicting industrial tasksin real industrial crane application, such as fast load positioning control and load swingangle minimization, are considered and compared with other controller types.