Control of MagLev System Using Supertwisting and Integral Backstepping Sliding Mode Algorithm

Magnetic Levitation systems are nonlinear, frictionless and noiseless which use electromagnetic fields to hover ferromagnetic objects in air. For this purpose, we have proposed Supertwisting and Integral Backstepping sliding mode controllers. The designed controllers ensure the air gap to be maintained at the desired value while tracking the magnetic flux and momentum to their respective references. The stability analysis of the proposed controllers has been presented using Lyapunov theory which proves the global asymptotic stability of the system. The performance of the proposed controllers is analyzed using ODE 45 solver in MATLAB/Simulink environment. The proposed controllers reduce the chattering and improves the dynamic response of the system. Robustness of the proposed controllers has been checked by adding noise and disturbance in system’s state space model. Furthermore, comparison of proposed controllers with each other, with conventional PI and recently published nonlinear controllers for MagLev system in terms of dynamic response has also been presented. The results show that the dynamic behavior of supertwisting sliding mode controller is best among analyzed controllers.