Control for pneumatic actuator systems using feedback linearization with disturbance rejection

Though a pneumatic actuator is widely used in industrial applications, it is not easy to control due to the nonlinearities. We apply a method of feedback linearization for a pneumatic actuator system to handle them. It is shown that any SISO pneumatic system with a linearizable load and an isothermal pneumatic actuator is linearizable by state feedback. A method of feedback linearization with step-type disturbance rejection is proposed by measuring disturbances. Experimental results with a rubber artificial muscle actuator verify the validity of the proposed method.