Novel Sliding Mode Vibration Controller With Simple Model-Free Design and Compensation for Actuator’s Uncertainty

This study proposes an active vibration control method with a simple design process without using a plant model. The proposed method is robust against the actuator’s parameter uncertainty. To realize model-free control of the controlled object, a virtual structure represented by a single-degree-of-freedom system is inserted between the controlled object and the actuator. A controller, which compensates for the uncertainties of the actuator’s parameters, is designed using the sliding mode control theory. By designing a controller using a model composed of the virtual structure and the actuator, model-free design can be easily performed with few design variables. After the virtual structure is introduced, the controller can be designed using the same process as a traditional model-based control theory. An advantage of the sliding mode control system is it can provide high robustness against the uncertainty in the actuator’s parameters. The robustness to the actuator’s uncertainty and vibration suppression performance of the proposed method are verified by controlling a two-degree-of-freedom time-varying system. Finally, the applicability of the proposed method to an actual mechanical system is confirmed by vibration control experiments.