A new variable structure control design with stability analysis for MIMO systems

This paper presents a new generical approach for the design of variable structure control (VSC) systems free of chattering. The work in this paper is proposed for cases where the output of VSC is the input of a system that cannot tolerate chattering. This paper presents the plant augmentation method to mitigate the chattering problem and describes the associated design of the VSC system. The application of this method leads to the application of the phase plane method in studying the dynamics of MIMO nth-order system. This approach is applied to designing a VSC of a MIMO heating system for hot water and space heating. The simulation results confirm the theoretical expectation. The problem of chattering is solved and the approach results in a robust VSC system free of chattering.